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October 8, 1999/28 Tishri 5760, Vol. 52, No.6
Picture-postcard Perfect
LENI REISS
Senior Contributing Editor
This sign on a piece of property situated on Highway 179 indicates the future home of the Jewish Community of Sedona's synagogue and com-munity center.
Photos by Leni Reiss
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Surrounded by the beauty of the red rocks, basking in the aura of a sunny Arizona autumn afternoon, a spirited inter-denominational, multi-generational crowd of 200-plus joined together on Sunday, Sept. 26, to literally and figuratively plant Jewish roots on 2 acres of land at the intersection of Meadowlark Drive and Highway 179, the main road into Sedona.
Dedication ceremonies were held at the site of what will be the first permanent Jewish place of worship in this picturesque town north of Phoenix.
Congregants of the Jewish Community of Sedona have moved to the area from New Orleans and New York; from South Dakota and North Carolina; from Leipzig, Germany, and Vienna, Austria; and also from Phoenix. They have united in an effort to craft a Jewish presence in the Verde Valley community they now call home, with the support of the community-at-large.
"What better place can there be?" Sedona Mayor Alan Everett, a guest at the dedication ceremony, told Jewish News. "For all of us, this is God's country. For our Jewish neighbors to have their own special place is a continuum in our development. Our population base is expanding, and all religions are represented."
On the day prior to the site dedication, several Jewish residents of Sedona met at the home of Sharon and Gary Shuster to reminisce about the past and share their hopes for the future.
The Shusters, for whom Phoenix is home base, have had a second residence in Red Rock country since the mid-'60s. Seated in her living room, with its wraparound vista of rugged red rock and fall foliage, Sharon Shuster nods as her husband explains, "It always has been a goal for us to be part of a Jewish community here. Sharon and I were in at the very beginning, trying to get people involved, and now our goal is to have a building in place in two years."
The Shusters are among some 100 donors who made it possible to purchase the property ("an excellent value at $250,000," Gary Shuster says) where the synagogue/community center will be built. Architects now are being interviewed to develop plans for a 6,000-8,000 square foot, two-story facility that will include a sanctuary, multi-purpose room, rabbi's study, library/office combination, three classrooms and a kitchen.
According to Skip Fox, a retired dentist who came to Sedona with his wife, Elaine, nearly a decade ago from the New York area, "We bought the land for cash, and we want to build the building without a mortgage. But at this point, we have only about $35,000 in our building fund and we need to raise about $1.6 million. We have our work cut out for us."
While Elaine Fox admits that she sometimes craves "really good kosher pastrami," the Foxes agree that they are "spiritually and physically entrenched in their new community," and have been from the outset, when they came to Sedona as tourists, "fell in love with it and bought some land."
"This is a comfortable place for Jews to live," says Elaine Fox. "Our life is very fulfilling."
Extended family
Anni Rachootin, who volunteers her services as the nascent congregation's historian, was a practicing psychologist in Los Angeles when eight years ago she came to visit some cousins who had moved to Sedona, "got a P.O. box, went home and packed - and never looked back."
"In L.A., I was a once-a-year Jew. Here it is at least once a month. I feel that I am coming home to my heritage," she says, "and JCS is like extended family to me."
Retired businessman and JCS president Joe Knauer laughingly recalls that when he moved to Sedona about 13 years ago, his wife, Sue, "called every Jewish name in the phone book."
He talks of the "huge influx" of young families to the Sedona area, and he says it wouldn't surprise him "if there are at least 300 Jewish heads of household now. There's something in the air here. There is an affinity for Jews. Maybe it's what we call 'Red Rock fever.' "
Responsible in good part for educating Sedona's Jewish children about their heritage, Dorit Hackett, a native Israeli, believes that "God had a reason for me to come here - to help to shed light on their Judaism."
Of the approximately 40 youngsters in the Jewish community, 25 now attend classes by age group "every day but Shabbat" in Hackett's home. She has been teaching Judaism to Sedona kids since 1985.
"When we built our house," Hackett explains, "we built a classroom instead of a garage. So in two years (when the synagogue is built), I can convert the room back to a garage - and stop parking my car under a makeshift tent."
In addition to educating the kids, Hackett arranges opportunities for her students to meet other Jewish youngsters.
"Many of them feel that they are the only Jewish kids in the world," she says. "This year, I arranged a trip to Phoenix so they could go on an outing with several hundred others. One of my kids took me aside and whispered in my ear, 'Can they all be Jewish?' "
Fruits of Hackett's labors were evident at the dedication, as a dozen youngsters serenaded guests with a medley of Hebrew songs.
Worship in Shangri-La
Albert Plotkin, rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth Israel in the Valley, serves as spiritual leader for the Sedona congregation. He heads north "monthly or more" to conduct services and oversee life cycle events.
"The beauty of the red rocks lifts my heart," says Plotkin. "Sedona has been my Shangri-La."
The rabbi recalls that he and his late wife, Sylvia, "fell in love with the place more than 50 years ago."
He says of the Jewish Community of Sedona: "This congregation is God's gift to me. It is the best thing that has happened to me since I retired from Beth Israel."
Once building commences, will stained glass windows be part of the plan?
"Probably not," says Joe Knauer. "The setting and the views are irresistible on their own. We are living in a picture postcard. The places of worship here don't need that type of enhancement."
Anyone interested in donating to the building fund should call the JCS office, 520-204-1286.
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