Art lover's vision lives on

Judaica exhibits at home in new space

MICHELLE ACKERMAN
Staff Writer

The Tunisian Synagogue exhibit is a recreated composite of a small neighborhood synagogue in Tunis. The artifacts include traditional Sephardic wooden Torah cases.

It started with an offhand remark 33 years ago.

Rabbi Albert Plotkin, then spiritual leader of Temple Beth Israel, his wife, Sylvia, and the temple's house and grounds chairman, Harold Alpert, were discussing plans for the temple's new cultural wing.

When Alpert mentioned including a library in the cultural wing, Sylvia Plotkin suggested, "Well, how about a museum?" And so the temple's Judaica museum was conceived.

Sylvia Plotkin had always been fascinated with Jewish art. She had coordinated art shows for the temple, which commonly included objects from congregants' personal collections. Over time, Valley residents began to donate rather than loan cherished items to the fledgling museum.

To expand the collection, Sylvia Plotkin devised a once-in-a-lifetime patron contribution, which collectively became an acquisition fund. With this money she purchased Judaica from around the world, traveling to Israel with her husband 15 times to collect pieces.

"People would bring ceremonial (pieces) when they (moved) to Israel," Rabbi Plotkin explains. If they found themselves short of money, they sold pieces to shops or individuals, who in turn sold them to the Plotkins.

As the collection grew and the number of visitors increased, the temple established a modest budget with the intent of bringing in traveling exhibits. Then in 1981, the first major local mounting took place with "Pioneer Jews of Arizona," a photographic exhibit depicting the history of Jews in Arizona from 1850-1920.

The exhibit so intrigued some museum members that they later founded the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, using the exhibit information as their starting point.

"Pioneer Jews of Arizona" is now available on video.

The museum continued to grow, and in the spring of 1985 was named the Plotkin Museum in honor of the Plotkins. Sylvia Plotkin died April 26, 1996, and a year later the museum was renamed in her memory.

"The whole museum was really Sylvia. ... She was the mother and the visionary of the whole thing," says Rabbi Plotkin.

On the day she died, he recalls, she spent an hour with the architect working on designs for the new museum, which was to move along with the temple from 10th Avenue and Osborn Road in Phoenix to its current location at 10460 N. 56th St. in Scottsdale.

Although the new main gallery is no larger than it was at the original site, the exhibit space has expanded, says Pamela Levin, the museum's current executive director. "We're a museum without walls. ...We use the entire campus as our museum."

Artifacts are on display in cases in the religious school building, rotunda and throughout the spacious temple facility.

The nationally renowned museum owns some 1,000 pieces ranging from ceremonial objects, paintings, coins and stamps to archival documents and photographs. Visitors can place messages and prayers in a new to-scale replica of the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The museum also is home to a collection of 19th century artifacts from the Koskas Synagogue in Tunis, Tunisia. The artifacts, donated by Steven Orlikoff in 1986, are on display in a reconstructed, composite neighborhood synagogue complete with mosaic tiles and graceful arches.

The first phase of the permanent collection at the new location - a series of displays built upon the theme of holiness as manifested in Torah, Shabbat, holiday observances and life-cycle events - was previewed on March 12 and opened to the public on March 21. A second phase is expected to be completed this summer.

Exhibition designer Patrick Neary, who also designed both the Heard Museum and the Museum of Northern Arizona, drew the plans for the permanent collections and for installation of the Tunisian synagogue.

Levin, the museum's sole professional staff member, directs an extensive volunteer staff, including a collection management team who register, track and monitor items in the museum collection; hosts and hostesses who greet visitors; and trained docents who lead tours.

The museum maintains a folder for each item listing its origin, history and care information, plus details on how it came into the collection, Levin says.

Over the years, the museum has featured more than 50 temporary and traveling exhibits, including displays on Jewish communities in the Southern United States, Ethiopia, China and North Africa. The museum also loans pieces from its collection to museums around the country.

"We are a .... resource for (everybody) to tap into for their education about Judaism, Jewish culture, Jewish religion and Jews around the world," asserts Levin.

That wide-ranging commitment is laid out in the museum's mission statement, which reads in part: "The purpose ... is to be a teaching museum which will preserve the intellectual, cultural, social, and spiritual legacy of the Jewish past; to demonstrate the applicability of that legacy to the challenges of the present; and to transmit that legacy to the future."

As the museum, which offers a glimpse into the Jewish past, begins its future in its new location, it is also exploring joint projects with local entities including the Arizona Theatre Company and Phoenix Museum of History.

"We're really trying to get involved in the community," says Levin.

The Sylvia Plotkin Judaica museum is open Tuesday through Thursday, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Friday evenings after services, and some Sundays. Group tours can be arranged by calling the museum at (480) 951-0323. Visitors are asked to make a $2 donation.

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