2015 Best of Jewish News

Wi th Admiration and Respect to All of This Year’s Honorees and Their Families

Our Historic Congregation Shares Our Love and a Special Mazel Tov to:

The Fran & Larry Frazin Family

The Dottie & Murray Goodman Family

The Andrea & H. Jerry Lewkowitz Family

The Terry Reuben & Lon Taubman Family

The Best Kept Secret in

From the editor

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www.jewishfreeloan.org

The calendar may say 2015, but we at Jewish News have been spending a lot of time lately living in the past.

Delving into the rich and interesting history of the Valley Jewish community for this year’s Best of Jewish Phoenix was a welcome task; we thoroughly enjoyed hearing stories of community life in decades past, reading the Jewish News archives and getting a close look at 350 years of advertising history at Michael Pollack’s museum.

We’d like to thank the 10 families we highlighted – not only for their participation in this year’s issue, which included interviews, photo shoots and video sessions – but for their longtime commitment to the Valley Jewish community, a commitment that in some cases spans nearly 100 years. What we have today is because of the foundation laid by earlier generations, and we are truly grateful not only to those who have gone before, but to those who are currently engaged in building a strong future.

From all of us at Jewish News, we wish you the best in 2015.

Jennifer Goldberg Special Content Editor

that cares about the

Retro reading

Jewish News was quite different back in the day

BY JENNIFER GOLDBERG

Since the first issue of Jewish News was printed on Jan. 15, 1948, the community has changed dramatically, but so has the publication that’s chronicled it all. We love to look through the archives of the paper and marvel at the way things used to be — from the former locations of the Jewish Community Center and the bar/bat mitzvah announcements of today’s community leaders, to the outdated fashions and absurdly low prices featured in the vintage advertising. Check out nine ways that the Phoenix Jewish News of yesteryear is different from its modern-day counterpart.

1. All the news that’s fit to print (on the front page)

Pick up a copy of today’s Jewish News, and you’ll typically see a lot of pictures on the front cover teasing articles that are located inside the paper, plus the beginning of one or two of the week’s most important stories. Back in the day, though, the front page of the Jewish News was about quantity of news rather than visual interest. A look at the front page of the Jan. 10, 1958, issue reveals 15 different items, from “Western Jewish Federations Open Conference Here” (something that would be front page-worthy even in 2015) to “House Guest for Kays” (not so much). We love powerful images, so we think we’ll stick with our current format.

2. Home sweet home

Like our modern paper, the Jewish News of decades past was packed full of the names of members of the community doing interesting and noteworthy things. Unlike today’s paper, the names printed decades ago were likely to have their home address attached to them. Baby announcements, Passover greetings, funeral notices — the addresses of the parties involved were always printed, presumably so interested readers could drop off a card or a casserole or a present. But believe it or not, Jewish News used to print the home addresses of families who were about to go away on vacation, including one couple who planned to spend the next year in Israel! We think it’s sweet that back in the day, the community was so trusting, but we can’t imagine publicizing the details of whose houses would be left unattended for extended periods; these days, we let people do that on their own on Facebook.

3. We love Lil

Before there was Valley View, On the Move, the food column and the Milestones section, there was Lil’s Letter, the regular column from Jewish News contributor Lillian Feiler. Feiler’s missive, which ran in the 1960s, was different in each issue; one column might include a wrap-up of a recent ladies’ event, some anniversary congratulations and notes on recent awards won by Jewish high-schoolers, while the next lists who just got back from vacation, gives Passover recipes and shares her thoughts about the role of the Jewish housewife. Always sweet, never snarky, Lil’s Letter offered an invaluable look at the day-to-day life of the Valley Jewish community.

4. Just the facts?

Rarely a week goes by that the Jewish News doesn’t print a lifecycle announcement — birth, b’nai mitzvah, engagement, wedding or obituary. Today, we use a standardized format to present the details of the announcement in a simple and objective manner, so it’s fun to look back and read the charmingly antiquated ways we used to do it. Engagement and wedding announcements, which today are headlined only by the names of the couple, were a little more flowery back then:

“Hutt-Meshel Betrothal Told at Fete”; “Rabbi Takes Bride”; and “Nuptial Rites Join Miss Ross and Mr. Pearl.” Obituaries got the same poetic treatment: “Comic Succumbs in Philadelphia” (an obituary for actor Zero Mostel); “Death Takes Cecil Andres”; and “Illness Fatal to David Markowitz.” Today’s journalism standards dictate we stick to the basic language, but we still love the formal tone of the old days.

5. The case of the missing grooms Engagement and wedding announcements have always been a component of Jewish News, but if you looked at the notices in the 1950s and ’60s, you might wonder who all those girls were marrying. While it wasn’t an official policy, the photos that ran with virtually all the engagement and more than half of the wedding announcements were of the bride/bride-to-be only — even if the bride was an out-of-towner marrying into the Valley Jewish community. Fortunately, the tide started to turn in the 1970s, and we were treated to far more photos of smiling grooms alongside their radiant brides.

6. Ho-ho-huh?

Say what you like about the secularization and commercialization of Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter — they’re still, you know, Christian holidays. Ads for Easter hams or Christmas trees would never make it into the Jewish News today, but in the very early years of the paper, the odd holiday ad did show up on our pages, like a toy store advertising Easter gifts for children or furniture store Coles announcing that its Christmas poinsettias were now available. Today, we make sure that ads that run in the Jewish News are designed for its readership.

7. Adults-only ads

And speaking of ads you would never see in the Jewish News today, there was a brief period in the freewheeling early ’70s when you could check the paper to find out what X-rated movies were playing around town. No, seriously. Jewish News regularly advertised what was playing at the now-gone Kiva Theatre in Scottsdale and the still-around Valley Art Theatre in Tempe, and while some of the offerings were movies we’d take our mother to, like Charlie Chaplin’s classic “City Lights,” others, like “Without a Stitch” and “The Stewardesses” … maybe not so much. We don’t know if anyone complained, but the ads didn’t make it past 1972.

8. Recipes for dollars

Judaism has long been a religion with a focus on food, so it’s unsurprising that one of Jewish News’ earliest features (advertised in the Jan. 27, 1950, issue) was a contest that invited women in the Jewish community to send in their best recipes. The prize? One whole dollar, plus the obvious bragging rights. The first winner of the contest was Mrs. Aaron Citron, who won with her cheese pie recipe; Mrs. Ira Selwyn’s huber grits soup (we had to Google it, too) was the runner-up. The cooking contest feature didn’t last long, sadly, but it gave way to occasional recipe columns from Jewish Telegraphic Agency and other sources.

9. Way out east?

As the boundaries of what we consider to be the Greater Phoenix metropolitan area continue to be pushed in every direction, it’s funny to think of what a small (geographical) world it was in the not-so-distantpast. While today, most people would consider Scottsdale and Paradise Valley to be smack-dab in the center of community life, back in the 1960s and ’70s, they were “out there” enough to be included in a special column. Scottsdale Scene was the original name of the feature that debuted in the mid-1960s, written by Marilyn Zaslaw. It transitioned into a column called Valley East and finally East Beat, a regular feature that shared news from the wilds of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tempe and Mesa. We wonder what the 1970s reader would think of a Valley Jewish community that stretches from Anthem to Sun Lakes, from Surprise to Gilbert.

The ECKSTEIN-NEWMARK FAMILY

The Eckstein-Newmark family has been active in the Valley Jewish community for five generations. “Our grandparents were involved in the Jewish community from the time that they came in 1926,” says Diane Eckstein, who along with sister, Florence, and brother, Stephen Newmark, represent the third Valley generation in their line.

At the risk of sounding biblical, here’s a brief rundown of their families’ Valley history: Their maternal grandparents, Max and Sadie Reiter, came to the Valley with their daughter, Pearl, in 1926. Their father, Cecil Newmark, arrived in the Valley on his own in 1929.

Pearl and Cecil married in 1938. Much later, the two Newmark daughters married the two Eckstein

brothers; Flo married Paul and Diane married John.

The Ecksteins’ first relative to arrive in the Valley was their uncle Otto Bendheim, in 1937. Their maternal grandparents, Albert and Frieda Bendheim, got out of Germany in 1938, right before Kristallnacht, and followed their son to the Valley.

Their daughter, Liese, married Albert Eckstein. They met in Germany before coming to the United States. Paul Eckstein recalls, “My father drove my mother and my brother and me to Phoenix in May 1944 to live with my grandparents, while he spent the last year of World War II running part of a hospital in the west of England. My father returned to Phoenix on Sept. 5, 1945, the day before my fifth birthday and opened his medical practice several months later. His first office was his car because

BY SALVATORE CAPUTO

PHOTO BY KEN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

BACK ROW L-R: Tim Eckstein, Keri Eckstein, Paul Eckstein, Flo Eckstein, Diane Eckstein, John Eckstein, Jennifer Eckstein, Katherine Eckstein, Dan Nadel. FRONT ROW L-R: Lauren Eckstein, Owen Eckstein

office space was not available.”

That was two generations ago for this extended family. Flo and Paul had two sons, Tim and Michael, and Diane and John had two daughters, Jennifer and Katherine. Stephen married Jayne Lapidus, and had two sons, Ken and Ben. Tim Eckstein married Keri Gamiel, and they had two children, Lauren and Owen. Only Katherine (New York) and Michael (the Bay Area) have moved away.

Diane recalls that her father and her grandmother, like so many who moved here in the early 20th century, were told to head west because the climate would be good for their health. And it seems they immediately rolled up their sleeves to help the community.

“[The Reiters] were among the founders, I think, of Beth El Congregation,” Flo says, and her grandfather was involved in B’nai B’rith. Diane recalls that their father, as a volunteer, served as the cantor for Beth Israel for seven years. The Ecksteins were involved at Beth Israel and in support of various charities, Flo recalls.

Pearl Newmark, the last survivor of the extended family’s first two generations, died last year at age 98. She had started the Valley’s first Hadassah chapter, had worked as legal secre tary and in a magazine subscription business that she and Cecil owned before they bought Jewish News in 1961. She worked as editor of the paper through the 20 years the Newmarks owned it and continued as editor and senior editor for three years after they sold it to Flo and Paul in 1981. She became the first execu tive director of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society in 1984, serving for 12 years.

Of the next generation, both Flo and Diane had been social workers; John is an internist with the Mayo Clinic; Paul is an attorney with Perkins Coie; and Stephen has his own law firm.

Paul’s law career has included historic moments, including acting as co-counsel for the Arizona Senate in the impeachment of former Gov. Evan Meacham and working with Lambda Legal on the case that legalized gay marriage in Arizona. Their volunteer involvement covers the waterfront of both Jewish and broader communal groups. Diane, for instance, has served on the boards of Hillel, AZJHS, Hospice of the Valley, and she and John have been very active in Citizenship Counts. Since retiring as Jewish News publisher in 2013, Flo has been an ASU trustee and president of the Camp Colley Foundation, which supports a City of Phoenix camp for at-risk children, and part of the Senior Services Task Force for the Jewish Community Association.

Of the next adult generation here, Tim is a criminal defense attorney with Osborn Maledon. He has been a Wexner Heritage fellow and involved with American Jewish Committee. Jennifer teaches at Pardes Jewish Day School. Keri volunteers at Pardes (including co-chairing the school’s gala with Tim and being in charge of the yearbook), which their children attend.

“There’s a lot of save-the-world people in our family,” Flo says, adding that their dedication to community service “was totally learned by example.”

L’dor v’dor.

An MDA paramedic treating an injured soldier during this past summer’s conflict with Hamas.

The FRAZIN-LERNER FAMILY

Marc Lerner first came to the Valley 22 years ago to interview for the job of camp and youth director of Congregation Beth Israel.

“The first person I ever met in Arizona – I’d never

been to Arizona – was the immediate past president of the temple, who happened to be Fran Frazin,” Lerner says. “She picked me up from the airport, toured me around the Valley, I took a nap at her house and had Shabbat dinner. So the first meal I

BY SALVATORE CAPUTO

PHOTO BY KEN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

BACK ROW L-R: Marcy Lerner, Marc Lerner, Jonah Lerner, Lynn Frazin Lerner. MIDDLE ROW: Solomon Lerner. FRONT ROW L-R: Fran Frazin, Larry Frazin

ever ate in Phoenix proved to be at my future in-laws’ house.”

He met Frazin’s daughter Lynn, who was on the camp committee at the time. “So she was part of the group that hired me.”

This was around Thanksgiving, and after he was hired, Lerner drove into town on Jan. 1, 1993, to start the job. “I called [Lynn] on Jan. 2. We went out on Jan. 4, we were engaged by Memorial Day and we were married the following February.”

The Lerners’ story started the latest chapter in the saga of a multigenerational Valley Jewish family, which began in 1952, when Sol and Esther Geller arrived here with their daughter, Fran, and became members of Beth El Congregation. The second chapter began soon after when Bernard and Beatrice Frazin arrived here in 1956 with their son, Larry, and joined Beth Israel.

Fran’s parents were involved in B’nai B’rith and B’nai B’rith Women. “That was the main thing for them,” Frazin said of her parents’ Jewish community involvement.

“Larry was already involved in B’nai B’rith when I met him,” she says. “In fact, it was through my father knowing him in B’nai B’rith that he had someone set up a blind date, which of course they did not tell me about until after we were married.”

She and Larry were married by Rabbi Albert Plotkin at Beth Israel on Dec. 1, 1962, and began their own family. “Within 13 months after we were married, we had our first, and by the time we had our seventh anniversary, we had all five [children],” Frazin said. (Lynn Lerner is the only one still living in the Valley.)

With both sets of parents actively involved in Jewish communal life, the Frazins followed in their footsteps. Frazin eventually wound up on the national board of B’nai B’rith Women (BBW became the independent Jewish Women International in 1995) and of the Anti-Defamation League (which in those days was also a program of B’nai B’rith).

Larry was also involved in B’nai B’rith International, becoming president of its Herman Lewkowitz Lodge. Both she and her husband “went through the chairs” on the Beth Israel board (she first landed on the board as president of the Sisterhood, and he first served as treasurer) and both served terms as president.

Lerner says that their involvement set an example of Jewish commitment for their children, all of whom are Jewishly involved in their own communities. “They were living it every day, and that’s a big deal,” he says.

Lerner, who grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, in a small Jewish community, counts Jewish camp as a major influence on his own commitment that ultimately brought him to his life in Phoenix and made his story part of the Frazin family’s story. As immediate past president of Beth Israel, he has been on the board 12 years and “sat in all the chairs.” He was also a fellow of the Wexner Heritage Program to build Jewish leadership in 2009-2011 and in 2013 was a member of the ADL’s Glass Leadership Institute.

Now, the next generation is growing up at Beth Israel: Jonah, a high school senior; Marcy, a sophomore; and Solomon, a recent bar mitzvah and seventh-grader. “They’re all deeply involved,” Lerner said. “They’re all knee-deep in camp life and youth group life and the activities. I think it’s our daily life.”

The GOODMAN FAMILY

When 14-year-old Murray Goodman moved to Phoenix from Philadelphia in 1953, he didn’t know that some day he would join the family furniture business. As the story goes, Murray’s father, Ed, was diagnosed with asthma and the doctor advised him to move to a drier climate. So Ed made a visit to Arizona for three weeks via train to see if he felt better. The dry climate did the trick, and he decided to move his family to Phoenix. Ed had a

cousin with access to some surplus military furniture and bought it, hoping to sell the goods in Phoenix. He found a trucker who transported watermelons from Phoenix to Philadelphia and had an empty truck heading back to Phoenix. Unfortunately, the trucker hit a low bridge in Tennessee or Kentucky, wiping out half the inventory, according to Murray. “We almost went out of business before we even started the business.” Last year, Goodmans Interior Structures celebrated its 60th anniversary.

BY

MARILYN HAWKES

PHOTO BY KEN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

BACK ROW L-R: Murray Goodman, Stephanie Goodman, Adam Goodman, Ryan Goodman. FRONT ROW L-R: Dottie Goodman, Talia Goodman, Ava Goodman

In 1965, Murray married Dottie Satz, whom he had met at Rabbi Albert Plotkin’s home when he attended an open house for Jewish college students. They were married by Plotkin at Temple Beth Israel, where Dottie’s family had been affiliated since the late 1930s. The couple lived in west Phoenix close to the Jewish Community Center, Dottie says. “That was really the center of our social life.” Murray became more involved with the JCC, eventually becoming president as well as serving on many committees throughout the years and helping to raise funds to build the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center in Scottsdale.

The Goodmans, who are members of Congregation Beth Israel, raised two boys: Adam, who is now president and CEO of Goodmans Interior Structures, and Scott, who is senior vice president of global product development at Mattel, Inc., in California. Adam and his wife, Stephanie, are also members of Congregation Beth Israel and have three children, Ryan, 14, Talia, 12, and Ava, 8. Scott and his wife, Stephanie, live in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, and have four children, Justin, 18, Megan, 16, Zachary, 14, and Josh, 9.

Adam now heads up Goodmans Interior Structures, but Murray still comes to the office with regularity. “We don’t know the day or even the year that I took over,” Adam says. “The way my father describes it is poetic: It’s like a relay race, where his strides were getting shorter and my strides were getting longer and we never quite saw the baton pass.”

Adam not only followed in his father’s footsteps by joining the family business, he also walks the line when it comes to volunteering in the Jewish community. He currently serves as vice chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix and has served two terms on the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center board, including holding the position of board chair in 2013.

“Contrary to what the mythology is, I don’t remember anyone sitting down and saying, ‘This is the way we Goodmans do things.’ So much of parenting is through observation and I observed,” he says.

A favorite family story beautifully represents the Goodmans’ menschlike behavior: When Adam was 8 years old, he went to the JCC carnival and won $100 at the cakewalk. “My dad said to me, ‘It would be a good idea to give some of that back. You didn’t do anything to earn this money. You’ll be fine with half of that amount or whatever amount you think.’ ” After that, his father asked him what he liked about the JCC. “I love the gym. I love basketball,” Adam says. His father then asked him, “Is there something at the JCC you think this money could be used for?” Adam replied that the JCC could use a few more basketballs. “Before I left, I gave back $50. That absolutely made an impression,” he says.

Being an integral part of the community is important to all the generations of Goodmans. “It’s a gift to be able to call yourself part of this community and I want to be able to extend that gift and pass it on to my children – the sense of obligation to give back and to help grow and support the community,” Adam says. “That’s what you do.”

Through the advertising ages

Pollack museum features 3-D pieces

BY JENNIFER GOLDBERG

PHOTOS BY JOEL ZOLONDEK

Abustling commercial real estate office in Mesa is an unlikely site for a museum, but the headquarters of Michael A. Pollack Real Estate Investments is home to not just one, but three unique collections that reflect Michael Pollack’s passion for the past.

“It’s been a pleasure to be able to assemble this much history in one place,” Pollack says.

The headliner is the Pollack Advertising Museum, a singular collection of more than 8,000 threedimensional advertising objects. Amassed over the course of about 40 years, the pieces in the collection span hundreds of years of advertising history. Along with familiar faces like Captain Morgan, Big Boy, the Marlboro Man and Ronald McDonald, there are plenty of less-recognizable objects, relics of defunct companies, discontinued products and bygone eras.

There are beer taps and lingerie forms. There are vintage lunchboxes and enormous, moving beer displays. There are advertisements for liquor, for freckle remover, for radios, for tea, for fast food, for candy, for tires, for watches, even a piece from the E. Hammerschmidt company in Germany, advertising sausages that killed vermin; the piece, made out of terra-cotta clay, dates to the 1600s and is the oldest item in Pollack’s collection.

I ask Pollack if he can share a story or two about interesting ways he’s acquired some of the items.

“Don’t get me started,” he says. “There are so many stories. I can talk to you about how I’ve acquired some of these pieces for days and days and days.”

Pollack’s enthusiasm for the collection is on display as he moves from aisle to aisle pointing out highlights.

His collection of Baranger Motions is a key component of the museum; Pollack calls it his “special area.” These animated pieces, which advertised jewelry and watches, displayed a wide variety of simple moving scenes, like jousting knights, dancing couples, flying saucers and cavemen. The sought-after pieces were only produced until the mid-1950s. The Baranger company, which was based in Pasadena, California, manufactured 152 different types of displays, Pollack says; he has 142 in his collection.

Elsewhere in the building, you’ll find the other two vintage collections that Pollack has built: two rooms full of slot machines. One has newer pieces (newer meaning mid-20th century), including an impressive selection of life-sized machines in the shape of Western figures designed by renowned artist Frank Polk; of the 80 pieces Polk made, Pollack has 37. The other slot machine museum holds even older games; most of those date to the late 19th- and very early 20th century, and function

using wheels, rather than the reels of the newer machines, Pollack says.

“This is an incredible assemblage of antique slot machines, if I do say so myself,” Pollack says.

He doesn’t collect the slot machines because he likes to gamble (he doesn’t); the collection was inspired by his parents, who also collected them. In fact, the inspiration for all Pollack’s collections can be found in his childhood.

Pollack, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, developed an interest in vintage treasures as a way to make money as a teenager, he says. On Saturday morning, he’d go to the flea markets and buy beer signs for $10 to $20 each. On Saturday night, he’d restore them, cleaning them up and replacing motors to make them work; on Sunday, he’d sell them to antique stores for $100 each.

“I’ve always had a fascination with advertising,” he says. “Advertising to me is such an important part of our everyday lives because everywhere we go, we’re being exposed to it, and when you can find advertising that’s in the third dimension, to me that’s extremely creative.”

Pollack’s interest in vintage advertising transitioned from a business to a collection “when I could afford for it to transition,” he says. “What was nothing more than a way to make a few extra bucks as a little side business became this elaborate passion to try to find as much of the history as I could that had to do with three-dimensional

This page: Michael Pollack stands in the doorway to his three-dimensional advertising museum. Facing page: A moving display for Lone Star beer is surrounded by thousands of advertising objects.

advertising displays.”

The knowledge he has gained collecting has made him an expert in the field; the Louvre museum in Paris contacted him a number of years ago when mounting a special exhibition on three-dimensional advertising, and Pollack was featured last year on an episode of “Barry’d Treasure,” an antiques show on A&E.

After the “Barry’d Treasure” episode aired, requests to see the museum, which is viewable by appointment, skyrocketed, Pollack says. However, “we don’t allow many appointments anymore because we’re so busy. I just can’t do that much, unfortunately, because I’d love for everyone to be able to see it.”

Pollack is kept insanely busy by the demands of his bustling commercial real

A patriotic female figure advertises Chesterfield cigarettes.

Top: Pollack has more than 140 Baranger displays in his collection.

Above: Pollack discusses his museum. The object he is touching is a 17th-century piece advertising vermin-killing sausages.

Right: Buster Brown is one of the many recognizable faces in the museum.

Above left: Hundreds of beer taps line the shelves of the museum.

Above right: Pollack stands with a life-size version of Humphrey Bogart in one of the slot machine rooms.

Left: Pollack owns a large collection of Frank Polk slot machines designed to look like Western characters.

estate business; Michael A. Pollack Real Estate Investments currently owns or controls more than 60 commercial properties in metropolitan Phoenix alone, according to the company’s website. Pollack’s day starts around 7 in the morning and doesn’t end until 3 a.m. or later, he says, but he’s not complaining.

During the Great Recession of 2009, “I’ll never forget one day: It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, and I got on my cell phone and I called myself at my office, just to make sure the phones were working,” he says. “I have been in the real-estate business full time for more than 41 years, and in 41 years, I can honestly say that I’ve seen it all out there in markets. So I don’t complain when we’re busy. Busy is good.”

Like the teenage boy who fixed up the old beer signs, the forte of Pollack’s real-estate business is renovating and redeveloping under-performing commercial properties, a task that not only challenges him creatively but also improves the surrounding community, a consideration that strikes a chord with Pollack.

“If I was to sum up what I’m all about at this point in my life and at this point in my career, I guess it would be that whether I’m preserving antiquities for my museum, or whether I’m trying to preserve an entire neighborhood by renovating an important part of it, I think for the time that I have left here on this earth, my goal is to every day strive to make a positive difference somewhere,” Pollack says.

Pollack is known for his charity work in both the Jewish and general communities; his most visible contribution to the Jewish community in the Valley is the Pollack Chabad Center for Jewish Life, which opened in Chandler in 2013.

“For me,” Pollack says, the goal is “to live life to its fullest each and every day, and if along the way I can continue to make that positive difference in different areas, whether they be Jewish areas, non-Jewish areas, in neighborhoods, or the music I’m able to play, then that’s what I’m going to continue to do as long as the good Lord says I can continue to do it.”

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The JALOWIEC FAMILY

The first time that Sam and Rose Jalowiec visited Arizona searching for a place to retire, they looked around and all they saw was cactus. But when their only son, Phillip, moved to Scottsdale in 1977 for a job with Motorola, they reconsidered. In 1979, Sam and Rose, both Holocaust survivors, sold their home and business in Chicago and followed Phillip to the

desert.

Around the same time, Phillip started a relationship with Cheryl Cepelowitz, a pharmacist from Toronto, who was touring Arizona with a friend. “We had a one-year long-distance romance and decided after we spent thousands of dollars – at that time, it cost a lot of money to call – that it was cheaper for her to move here,” he says.

BY MARILYN HAWKES

PHOTO BY KEN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

BACK ROW L-R: Cheyenne Jalowiec, Jeremy Jalowiec, Cheryl Jalowiec, Phillip Jalowiec, Joshua Jalowiec. FRONT ROW L-R: Rose Jalowiec, Jennifer Jalowiec

After cutting through immigration red tape, Cheryl and Phillip were married at Beth El Congregation in 1980, ready to begin their new life in Arizona. There was one small problem, however: Cheryl had been a pharmacist in Canada, but there was no reciprocity. “Before we started a family, we decided that she needed to get her degree because some day she might want to go back to work,” Phillip says. Cheryl attended pharmacy school at University of Arizona for a year and commuted back and forth to the Valley. This past December, she marked 27 years as a pharmacist with Fry’s Food Stores. Phillip worked in upper management and consulting for many years in the IT industry and now teaches computer courses for Maricopa Community Colleges.

As they raised their three children, Joshua, Jeremy and Jennifer, the Jalowiecs became more deeply involved with Beth El Congregation. “Jeremy, who is now 29, had his bris on the bimah of Beth El,” Phillip says. The children attended Beth El Preschool and then Solomon Schechter Day School, which was located at Beth El Congregation.

While driving their children to soccer practice, dance lessons and school functions, the Jalowiecs found time to be engaged in the Phoenix Jewish community. Phillip served on Beth El’s board and both Cheryl and Phillip volunteered at the Beth El Preschool putting on shows and helping out where needed. Joshua, Jeremy and Jennifer all attended Jewish camp during the summer, and Jeremy had his bar mitzvah in Israel.

When their children got older, the Jalowiecs became involved with USY (United Synagogue Youth) and Phillip volunteered with Interfaith Cooperative Ministries through Beth El as well as various committees at the Jewish Community Center.

As the son of Holocaust survivors, Phillip was instrumental in founding the Phoenix Holocaust Survivors’ Association, serving as the organization’s president for its first 10 years. His late uncle, Phoenix resident Carl Ofisher, and his late wife, Ruth, were also survivors. PHSA recently celebrated its 30th anniversary.

The Jalowiecs’ daughter, Jennifer, serves as operations manager for Hillel at Arizona State University and is the secretary of Beth El Congregation’s board. She recently finished a term on Young Jewish Phoenix’s board and in 2013, went to Israel as a representative of the Jewish Community Association of Greater Phoenix at the General Assembly. Before going to graduate school, she also worked briefly at Jewish News as subscriptions administrator.

Growing up with the grandparents nearby, the Jalowiec children lived a close, multigenerational existence. And although her brothers are not actively involved in the Phoenix Jewish community, they’re a very important part of the Jalowiec story, Jennifer says. “We’re such a family unit and I don’t think I would be who I am without my brothers.” Joshua is director of IT Operations at Safeguard Security and Communications; and Jeremy, who is married to Cheyenne, is a drummer in a local band and is the community relations liaison for Valley Hospital.

Even though their children are grown, Phillip says he and Cheryl continue to pass down Jewish traditions to them and stay active in the community. “Contributing and participating is part of being a Jew. You stand on the shoulders of the people who came before. Don’t ever act like you deserve. You owe, you owe, you owe,” he says. “We contribute what we can.”

The LEVERTOV FAMILY

Rabbi Zalman Levertov and his wife, Tziporah, were chosen in 1976 by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher rebbe, to represent Chabad in the state of Arizona.

“The Chabad mission is that the representative of Chabad is responsible for Jewish needs, Jew-

ish education, Jewish outreach to the entire Jewish community in the state,” Rabbi Levertov says. “When we began, we were the first [Chabad representatives] here.”

At that time, he was told there were about 30,000 Jews in the Greater Phoenix area. The young couple moved to Tempe in 1977, a month before Purim, and

BY LEISAH WOLDOFF

PHOTO BY KEN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

L-R: Rabbi Levi Levertov, Rabbi Zalman Levertov, Rabbi Mendy Levertov, Rabbi Dov Levertov, Rabbi Shlomy Levertov, Rabbi Yossi Friedman

slowly began building a name for Chabad by doing outreach. They set up a table at the Jewish Community Center in Phoenix to meet members of the community, giving out free candlesticks to girls and their mothers so that they could light Shabbat candles and helping men lay tefillin. For Purim, they distributed 5,000 Purim kits throughout the state and a few hundred people attended a Megillah reading at the JCC.

That year, Shabbat services were held in a garage near Third Avenue and McDowell Road in Phoenix and, the following year, the Levertovs – and the synagogue – moved into a house at Maryland and 15th Street. Chabad of Arizona moved into its current location at 2110 E. Lincoln Drive, Phoenix, in September 1990.

Since its inception, Chabad has offered free High Holiday services “so a lot of people who couldn’t afford or weren’t affiliated came to us.” They also ran a Talmud Torah, which included many children of single parents who couldn’t afford membership elsewhere. “Slowly, that’s how we built up our community.”

In 1984, a Chabad center was established in Tucson, and then, in 1992, Levertov’s brother, Yossi, started one in Scottsdale. “And then it slowly spread out.”

After the Levertovs’ seven children started getting married, they chose to follow in their parents’ footsteps.

“For a parent, it’s a great nachas when their children follow in their same footsteps as them and succeed,” says Levertov. “A father is never jealous of his children that they be better than him. I’m very happy and proud of our children.”

Each of their children has taken on a specific role in Chabad of Arizona, based on their interests; the couple’s oldest son was the first to return home.

Rabbi Mendy Levertov and his wife, Leah, started Chabad of North Phoenix in 2004 and also run The Friendship Circle, a program for families who have children with special needs.

Rabbi Moshe Levertov and his wife, Sashie, started Aleph Bet Preschool and Kindergarten and he has also worked with young professionals.

The Levertovs’ only daughter, Rivky Friedman, and her husband, Rabbi Yossi Friedman, started Chabad of Anthem and run Camp Gan Israel. Rabbi Friedman also runs adult education programs for Chabad of Arizona.

Rabbi Levi Levertov and his wife, Chani, started Smile on Seniors in Arizona, and he also teaches adult education classes in downtown Phoenix.

Rabbi Dov Levertov and his wife, Mussie, run programs for children and teens, and he is also the associate rabbi for Chabad of Phoenix’s synagogue, Beit Menachem.

Rabbi Shlomy Levertov and his wife, Chaya, opened Chabad of Paradise Valley in spring 2014, and he also operates Chabad of Arizona’s “Roving Rabbis” summer outreach program.

The Levertovs’ youngest son, Yisroel, got married in November 2014 and is studying in a yeshiva in New York.

Rabbi Zalman and Tziporah Levertov have more than 20 grandchildren. “You invest in your children, then you see the growth in your grandchildren,” the rabbi says, noting that at his youngest son’s wedding, they were fortunate to have four sets of grandparents present.

There are currently 24 Chabad rabbis in Arizona, with five in Tucson and the rest across the state: Anthem, Chandler, Flagstaff, Gilbert, Glendale, Goodyear, Mesa, North Phoenix, Paradise Valley, Phoenix, Prescott, Scottsdale and Tempe.

“I have felt that our job is to do the work that we can and build a good name for Chabad,” Levertov says.

“I feel that we’ve succeeded. It’s not over, but we’ve succeeded.”

The LEWKOWITZ FAMILY

Just two years after Arizona became a state in 1912, Herman Lewkowitz arrived in Phoenix fresh out of Kansas City Law School.

“In those days there was just dust, dirt and muddy streets,” says his son, Jerry Lewkowitz, a lifelong Phoenix resident, attorney and Jewish community leader.

In 1921, Herman married Carrie Epstein, whom Jerry describes as “the toast of the town.” They had to import a rabbi from El Paso, Texas, to conduct the

ceremony, because at that time, Phoenix had no rabbi or synagogue. “My parents were the first Jews to be married by a rabbi in Phoenix,” Jerry says. Herman became known as a defense attorney and handled the infamous Winnie Ruth Judd murder case.

Shortly after the wedding, Herman, along with other organizers, founded Congregation Beth Israel in the building that now houses the Cutler✡Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center, which Jerry was instrumental in purchasing and renovating after years of use by

BY

MARILYN HAWKES

PHOTO BY KEN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

BACK ROW L-R: Herman Lewkowitz, Kip Thompson, Andrea Lewkowitz, Geoffrey Gonsher, Steve Casselman. FRONT ROW L-R: Cathy Lewkowitz, Beth Thompson, Jerry Lewkowitz, Barbara Lewkowitz, Elaine Casselman

Beth Israel as well as two Baptist congregations.

Herman was an active participant in the Jewish and secular community. “My dad became president of every organization he ever joined,” Jerry says. He served as president of Congregation Beth Israel and B’nai B’rith and was commander of the American Legion and the Elks Lodge. After Herman’s death in 1951, the B’nai B’rith lodge was named after him. Carrie was also very active in the community, serving as president of Congregation Beth Israel’s Sisterhood and helping to found the Valley’s Council of Jewish Women.

Herman and Carrie had three children: Burton, Nona Segal Lewkowitz and Jerry. In 1953, Jerry married Patricia Korrick. They had three children: Barbara Lewkowitz (married to Geoffrey Gonsher); Herman (married to Cathy); and Beth Thompson (married to Kip). The siblings have nine children and five grandchildren. Jerry also has a stepson, Steve Casselman, who is married to Elaine; they have three children and four grandchildren.

Now married to Andrea, Jerry and his wife practice law together at the Lewkowitz Law Office, specializing in liquor licensing and zoning.

Jerry has continued the legacy of volunteerism and community service that was modeled for him by his parents. In addition to establishing the Cutler✡Plotkin center, he has served as president, chairman, board member and founder of many organizations both Jewish and secular, including Congregation Beth Israel, Anti-Defamation League, Kivel, Camp Charles Pearlstein, Arizona Jewish Historical Society, B’nai B’rith, Hillel, Jewish Community Center, Crisis Nursery, Phoenix Zoo, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, March of Dimes and Phoenix Boys Choir, along with many others. He is a past recipient of the ADL Torch of Liberty Award; the Arizona Jewish Historical Society Heritage Award and Valley Leadership’s Man of the Year Award.

Following their parents’ lead, Herman, Barbara and Beth embrace the value of community service. “If you watch, you can’t help but understand the importance of philanthropy, the importance of giving back in the community and volunteering,” Herman says. “You live it. If you have parents who are trailblazers and lead by example, you can’t help but continue to volunteer and provide philanthropic support.”

Herman is a past president of Congregation Beth Israel and Kivel, has been an active volunteer with B’nai B’rith, the Crisis Nursery Foundation and The Wellness Community (now the Cancer Support Community), among many other organizations. Barbara is active in the nonprofit world, has been affiliated with the Phoenix Boys Choir and has been a recipient of the Girl Scouts’ Woman of the Year Award; and Beth, who lives in Vale, Arizona, volunteers with Susan G. Komen, American Cancer Society and others.

Jerry has seen considerable change and growth in the Phoenix Jewish community over the decades and feels hopeful for the future. “From where I sit now, I am very impressed with those who are coming up. They’re interested and involved and they’re cultivating the seeds and the community will continue to grow and develop positively,” he says. “It’s not just passing the baton. You pass it and take pride.”

The MALLIN FAMILY

After Sol Mallin and Sylvia Rubinowitz were married in 1936, the couple moved to Prescott about three years later. “I took her out of the heart of New York City and transported her to this Wild West, and it was pretty wild at that time,” Sol Mallin told the Arizona Jewish Historical Society in a September 1984

interview. Sol and two of his brothers, Sam and Max, had moved to the Northern Arizona town to start a scrap business there, which became the Mallin Brothers Iron and Metal Co.

Although they found a few Jewish families in Prescott, there was no organized Jewish community, so Sylvia, who had studied at the Jewish Theological

BY

LEISAH WOLDOFF

PHOTO BY KEN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

BACK ROW L-R: Jason Klein, Sara Klein, Emily Mallin, Bruce Mallin, Risa Mallin, Mara Pernick, Avi Mallin. FRONT: Eliana Klein

Seminary in New York City, started Prescott’s first Hadassah chapter, holding meetings and activities in various churches around town, and a school for Jewish children. Sol served as chairman of the United Jewish Appeal.

“When the war started, we had an influx of quite a few Jewish people,” Sol said in the 1984 interview. There were a few Jewish miners in the mines and “there were about five or six children eligible for some Jewish education, and Sylvia taught them. It developed into a beginning, a nucleus of some Jewish active life.”

The couple had two children, Bruce and Judy (Gardenswartz Efron). When Bruce approached bar mitzvah age, Sylvia took him and his sister to Los Angeles where they stayed with her parents for about a year while Bruce trained for his bar mitzvah.

In 1951, the brothers opened a branch of their business in Phoenix and the family moved to Phoenix and joined Beth El Congregation, where Bruce became a bar mitzvah at its facility at Third Avenue and McDowell Road.

Over the years, Sol served as Beth El president and was active in Israel Bonds, and Sylvia taught in the synagogue’s religious school for more than 35 years. “They met through Young Judea so they were major Zionists always and had a major commitment to the Jewish community” and to religious life, says their daughter-in-law, Risa Mallin, who married Bruce in 1974, and they went on many interfaith missions to Israel through the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix.

Flash forward six decades later – Sol Mallin died in 1991 and Sylvia died in 2006 – and four generations of the Mallins have passed through the doors of Beth El’s building on Glendale Avenue, where an inscription to An

nie and Joseph Mallin, Sol’s parents, greets visitors to the building housing the synagogue’s preschool.

Bruce Mallin is an orthopedic oncologist and has served on the board of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Prescott. His wife, Risa, served as president for the Phoenix Hadassah for several years, as the director of Jewish National Fund in the early 1980s and as executive director of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society from 2002 to 2005. She also taught at Beth El’s religious school. Sol’s cousins Bob and Marcia Mallin are also members of Beth El.

Bruce and Risa have four children and six grandchildren who are continuing the Mallins’ commitment to the Jewish community.

Mara Pernick is a director of business development at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council and is active with the federation’s small business program. Her son, Max, is a member of the Jewish Community Foundation’s B’nai Tzedek Youth Philanthropy Program and BBYO.

Emily Mallin and her husband, Jason Klein, met while attending medical school in Israel. She is an academic hospitalist and was a founding fellow in the Valley Beit Midrash’s Start Me Up! fellowship. Jason, a cardiologist, is in

volved in Valley Beit Midrash’s HaRofeh: The Jewish Medical Society of the Valley. Their daughters, Eliana and Sara, spent their first few years at Beth El’s preschool – with their great-great-grandparents’ names on the building.

Hillary Frank and her husband, Ilan, live in Los Altos, California, with their three children. In 2005, they founded the Keren Or fund at Phoenix Jewish Free Loan, which provides loans for the ritual burial of babies who need a Jewish burial.

Avi Mallin is a physician’s assistant in a Phoenix emergency room and has gone on a federation Birthright trip.

“It makes us very proud to see the kind of people our children have become,” says Risa Mallin. “We are proud that they have continued to give to the community and that their children also have a love of Judaism and commitment to tikkun olam.”

The SCHUPAK-NEUBERG FAMILY

The late Eugene Schupak and his daughter Erika Neuberg both became local faces of AIPAC, but it was not so much the story of the baton being passed down l’dor v’dor

but about father and daughter finding the baton at the same time.

While Valley leaders such as Irv Shuman and Earl Katz introduced her father to the American

BY SALVATORE CAPUTO

BY KEN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO

BACK ROW: Lenore Schupak, Erica Schupak Neuberg, Steve Neuberg. FRONT ROW L-R: Zachary Neuberg, Rachel Neuberg, Elliot Neuberg

Israel Public Affairs Committee, Erika learned about it while she was working as a summer intern for a law firm in Washington, D.C.

That first AIPAC meeting fired her up, she says. “So I became a liaison for AIPAC for my college campus. Ironically … my father at the same time was getting exposed to AIPAC here in the local community. And my father became a powerful leader, first, locally and then nationally, very quickly.”

Before moving to the Valley decades ago, her dad was a nephrologist and – as one of three physicians from Harvard University’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital who founded National Medical Care in 1966 – a pioneer of outpatient kidney dialysis centers and in-home dialysis. The company did well, and he and his wife, Lenore, retired here in their 40s. Erika, the last of four children and the only one still living at home, began her junior year of high school in the then-remote Pinnacle Peak area of Scottsdale.

Being 10 years younger than her eldest sibling, she remembers growing up back in New Jersey in “a busy household” that led “a pretty secular life,” which included b’nai mitzvah and High Holidays services, but not much other Jewish activity. “My parents actually weren’t even that involved in philanthropy,” because they were so busy taking care of business and the growing family.

Things changed in the “second act” of their life, she says, “Philanthropy became really their No. 1 priority in life.”

Her dad was involved with Jewish causes such as Operation Exodus, United Jewish Appeal and Jewish Family & Children’s Service. He and her mother founded and funded the Shelter Without Walls. In 1990, they founded the Schupak Family Foundation. Her dad served on AIPAC’s National Board of Directors from 1996 until his passing in 2008 and was its national development chair from 2002 to 2004.

Lenore Schupak served on the board of Jewish Family & Children’s Service for many years. “Her No. 1 love is JFCS,” Neuberg says. “I watched her work with grace in her philanthropy.”

After college, Erika returned to the Valley for graduate studies at Arizona State University, where she met her husband, Steve Neuberg, who had moved here from Pittsburgh in the late 1980s to take a job as a professor of social psychology. They set down roots at Temple Emanuel of Tempe and “then that Jewish community connection became a very central part of our lives.”

While her father was becoming more deeply involved in AIPAC, she joined the local board for a while, but decided to focus on her East Valley commitments after being asked to chair a capital campaign at Temple Emanuel about 10 years ago.

Shortly after her father died, Neuberg became a fellow of the Wexner Heritage Program, and while that was going on, “AIPAC literally was decimated locally” for many reasons, she says. So she asked to join the board and soon was asked to chair it. She did that for 2 1/2 years and joined the national board two years ago.

“I want very much for the memory of my father and the love of my mother, who’s still alive, to be very central to my kids’ identities,” Neuberg says. The children – Rachel, 20, Zachary, 17, and Elliot, 14 – “are not religious kids and yet they know we have expectations for them to fulfill their responsibility as that next generation.”

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Where the deals were

The Valley department-store landscape of today is dotted with names that are familiar around the world: Macy’s, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue.

But in decades past, Phoenix shoppers patronized businesses that bore the names of local merchants, many of whom were Jewish immigrants who came to the Southwest seeking a bright future.

In the mid-20th century, three of the Valley’s prime shopping destinations were Diamond’s, Goldwaters and Korricks. These full-service department stores played a key role in Valley commerce for decades.

BY JENNIFER GOLDBERG

Diamond’s

Brothers Nathan and Isaac Diamond’s New York Store was a success in El Paso, Texas, so when the merchants arrived in Phoenix in 1897 they planned to open another one, but there was one problem: There was already a New York Store here, opened by Sam Korrick, a former El Paso employee.

Looking for a similarly cosmopolitan name, Nathan named his new Phoenix business The Boston Store. Located at Second and Washington streets, the store was racking up about $1 million a year in sales in the 1920s, according to a 2006 Jewish News Time Capsule column by Ira Morton. The downtown location was the first of the major department stores to get air conditioning, in 1934.

A mid-century store directory lists departments such as a blouse bar, bakery, pharmacy, stationery, needlecraft, bridal salon, toys and men’s hats.

Nathan’s sons Harold and Bert, and Isaac’s sons Herbert and Ralph eventually joined the business, which was renamed Diamond’s in 1947 for its 50th anniversary.

The business was sold twice in the 1950s and 1960s, although the name was retained; eventually, Diamond’s had locations at Park Central Mall, Thomas Mall and Metrocenter in Phoenix, Tri-City Mall in Mesa and Scottsdale Fashion Square. In the 1980s, the company was sold again and Diamond’s stores became Dillard’s.

The Diamond family was heavily involved in the Jewish community, and Harold, who died in 1973, in particular was a community leader for many years: “Harold was also president of the Herman Lewkowitz B’nai B’rith Lodge and chairman of the Jewish Welfare Fund. Of all the organizations he was involved with, Temple Beth Israel was closest to his heart. He was one of its founders, instrumental in moving the temple from its Culver Street location to Flower Street and in the hiring of Albert Plotkin as rabbi; he was also longtime chairman of the cemetery committee and served two terms as president,” Morton wrote in his 2006 column.

Clockwise from top: Diamond’s Tri-City Mall location, courtesy of thedepartmentstoremuseum.blogspot. com; Jewish News ad; Diamond’s Park Central location, courtesy of Creative Commons/patricksmercy; Jewish News ad; Harold Diamond, courtesy of AZJHS

Goldwaters

Today, Goldwater is a name better known for politics than retail, but long before Barry Goldwater ran for president in 1964, his grandfather Michael arrived in the United States from Poland. With his brother, Joseph, and eventually his sons Morris and Baron, he began a number of business ventures in California and around the state of Arizona, including a failed Phoenix store that closed in the 1870s. The Goldwaters established a successful store in Prescott, then, “about 1892, my father (Baron) wanted to move to Phoenix and my uncle (Morris) didn’t,” Barry Goldwater said in a 1976 oral history recorded by the Arizona Jewish Historical Society. “So they played a hand of casino and my father won, so they came to Phoenix.”

The first Goldwaters Department Store was located at 31 N. First St. in Phoenix, right next to its competitor Korricks. Baron, who died in 1929, was the store’s manager. A mid-century store directory lists departments such as a gourmet shop, boudoir slippers, the Young Phoenician shop, the millinery salon and the fur salon.

Additional locations opened at Park Central Mall in Phoenix and Scottsdale Fashion Square in the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1960s, the company was acquired by Associated Dry Goods Corp. The new owners kept the Goldwaters name, and in the second half of the 20th century stores opened at Metrocenter Mall in Phoenix, Fiesta Mall in Mesa and Paradise Valley Mall in Phoenix; outside of the Valley, Goldwaters had locations in Tucson, Albuquerque and Las Vegas.

In the 1980s, Associated Dry Goods Corp. was bought by May Department Stores, eventually turning the Valley Goldwaters locations into Robinsons-May stores.

The Goldwater family eventually departed from their Jewish roots, but they made an indelible mark on the general Valley community. Clockwise from top: Goldwaters in downtown Phoenix, courtesy of department storemuseum.blogspot.com; Jewish News ad; Michael Goldwater, courtesy of AZJHS; vintage postcard showing Goldwaters at Park Central Mall; Jewish News ad; Morris Goldwater, courtesy of AZJHS

Korricks

After working in Nathan and Isaac Diamond’s New York Store in El Paso, Texas, Sam Korrick moved to Phoenix and opened a store of the same name in 1895. Needing help with the business, Sam invited his younger brother Charles, who was still living in Poland, to join him; Sam died in 1903 of pneumonia, at age 33.

“All the merchants in the town closed their stores for a day because they felt such great respect for Sam Korrick,” including the Diamonds and the Goldwaters, said Ed Korrick, Charles’ son, in a 2000 oral history taken by the Arizona Jewish Historical Society.

Charles recruited his younger brother, Abe, to help him in the business, and in 1915, after two decades of success, the Korrick brothers moved their store to a larger building at 106 E. Washington St., Phoenix, and renamed it Korricks. The store directory lists departments such as a hosier, budget lingerie, the Pin Money shop, garden shop and the Bird Cage Tearoom.

The business flourished, and in 1961, Korricks opened a second location at Chris-Town Mall in Phoenix. The company was sold to The Broadway in 1962, although the brothers still had offices in the downtown store until it closed in 1966.

Charles Korrick was a leader in the Jewish community for decades; he was a longtime member and supporter of Temple Beth Israel, was the founding president of the Phoenix Jewish Community Council and was one of the first local people to be honored by the State of Israel Bonds Organization in 1959, among other honors and titles.

An editorial in the Jewish News after his death in 1972 reads, “Charlie Korrick, the history of the Jewish community and the history of Phoenix itself are too deeply intertwined and interwoven to be capable of separation.

“We needed him then, just as today we need the memory of Charlie Korrick to serve as constant proof of how vast an influence the life of one man can have.”

Clockwise from top: Korricks at Chris-Town Mall; Jewish News ad; Sam Korrick’s New York Store in Phoenix in 1895, courtesy of AZJHS; interior photo of Korricks in downtown Phoenix, courtesy of departmentstore museum.blogspot.com; Jewish News ad; Jewish News file photo of Charles Korrick

The SHEINBEIN FAMILY

When Irwin Sheinbein first moved to Scottsdale in 1959, there were only two traffic lights on Scottsdale Road: one on Camelback Road and one on McDowell Road. There was lots

of open space, lots of places to run around, he remembers, a contrast to his hometown of Washington, D.C. But the biggest transition for him, at age 9, was going from an Orthodox day school to public school. “That was the biggest psychological

BY

LEISAH WOLDOFF

BY KEN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO

BACK ROW L-R: Adam Winegarden, Julie Sheinbein, Aaron Sheinbein, Anthony DiSanti. CENTER ROW L-R: Deborah Winegarden (holding Sadie Winegarden), Tina Sheinbein, Irwin Sheinbein, Jennifer DiSanti. FRONT ROW L-R: Jacob DiSanti, Jonah Langerman, Abigail DiSanti

transition I had to make.”

There were about 120 fourth-graders, “and three of us were Jewish. So three days a week, we left class early so we could drive to Beth El, which was at Third Avenue and McDowell, to go to Hebrew school.” The family also attended Beth Hebrew, a Phoenix Orthodox congregation.

Sheinbein’s parents, Jack and Billie, were among the founding families of the Phoenix Hebrew Academy, which opened in 1965, a year after Irwin graduated eighth grade. “They recognized a need for a day school in Phoenix,” he says.

(Although he was never a student at the school, Irwin has served on the school’s board for many years and is currently president.)

As part of a group of Jewish families living in the Scottsdale area, the Sheinbeins also were instrumental in starting a Conservative synagogue there. “Har Zion actually started in my parents’ home,” Irwin said. Har Zion was founded in 1961 and he became a bar mitzvah there in 1963. (Har Zion merged with Congregation Or Chadash in 2014 to become Congregation Or Tzion.)

Once Beth Joseph Congregation opened in 1965, the Sheinbeins became members; Irwin and his wife, Tina, are still members. Jack and Billie were also involved with Israel Bonds and Billie was a member of Hadassah. “They were always involved in the community,” Irwin says.

When Irwin was in high school, he became active in the boys’ youth group AZA, which met at Phoenix’s JCC on Maryland Avenue. It was there where he met his future wife, Tina Levitt, who was active in BBYO.

Tina moved to Phoenix in 1960 with her parents, Sol and Gladys Levitt.

“My family joined Beth El right away, when it was still at Third and McDowell,” she says. She became a bat mitzvah and was confirmed there.

Soon after moving to Phoenix, the Levitts joined the JCC when it was at 16th Street and Camelback Road in Phoenix. Tina says she has vivid memories of the JCC’s pool and the gym; as well as of the JCC’s next location on Maryland Avenue. “The joke used to be, you put the keys in the car and it goes from the house to 1718 W. Maryland,” she says; she also worked as a C.I.T. and then a counselor at the JCC’s summer camp.

Both Irwin and Tina attended Arizona State University, where they were active in Hillel and started the first United Jewish Appeal campaign in the Valley. Today, Irwin owns American Metals, a scrap-metal recycling company, and Tina is the executive director of Jewish Free Loan.

The couple, who were married in 1971 at Beth El’s current facility, have four children: Jennifer DiSanti, who is active at Temple Emanuel of Tempe; Julie Sheinbein, who has worked at the preschools of Temple Chai and Temple Solel and whose two children attend Pardes Jewish Day School; Aaron, an adult with special needs who lives in Tempe; and Deborah Winegarden, who works at Temple Chai’s preschool. The Sheinbeins have five grandchildren.

They have passed along their commitment to community to their children in two ways, Irwin says, by telling their children about his own parents’ involvement and also by their own example – attending meetings, taking their children to community events when appropriate and “trying to instill in them the responsibility that they have as a member of the Jewish community.”

The TAUBMAN-REUBE N FAMILY

Terry Taubman lovingly says that her family considers themselves “mutts.” What she’s referring to are the many Jewish synagogues and organizations that her family has belonged to and been associated with over the 43 years they’ve lived in the Valley. “It’s not that we jumped around; we were just affiliated

everywhere,” she says. When Taubman moved to Phoenix in 1971 with her former husband, Howard Reuben, she sought out Rabbi B. Charles Herring at Congregation Beth Israel, whom she knew from Pennsylvania, and joined his synagogue. After a move to Central Phoenix several years later, the couple affiliated

BY MARILYN HAWKES

PHOTO BY KEN BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

BACK ROW L-R: Jeff Stanlis, Molly Reuben, Terry Taubman, Lon Taubman, Sadie Reuben, Adam Reuben. FRONT ROW L-R: Benjamin Stanlis, Ruby Stanlis

with Beth El Congregation, as well as Torah Synagogue, a long-shuttered Modern Orthodox congregation. Taubman’s parents followed her to Phoenix, and her father, Phillip Chodock, was a founding member of Scottsdale’s Jewish War Veterans Post 210 more than 35 years ago.

In 1989, Taubman became executive director of Congregation Beth Israel after serving as cultural arts and development director for the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Phoenix. She will retire this year after 26 years of service with the synagogue. During her tenure, she helped move the 90-year-old Reform congregation from downtown Phoenix to its current home at 56th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

Now married to Phoenix attorney Lon Taubman for 25 years, Terry has a “combined family” of six children and six grandchildren – from her first marriage: Adam, Sadie, Molly (married to Jeff Stanlis with children Benjamin and Ruby) and Jacob (married to Renee Neier) Reuben; and Len’s children, Lance (married to Lara with daughter, Maxine) and Brent (married to Mello with children Malii, Aja and Thandiwe) Taubman.

Over the years, Taubman’s children attended the Phoenix Hebrew Academy and Valley Jewish Day School, went to summer camp at Camp Charles Pearlstein (now Camp Daisy and Harry Stein), Chabad day camp and Camp Lebeau through the JCC. While in college, Jacob served as an intern for AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) in Washington, D.C.

Today, the Taubman-Reuben-Stanlis clan continues their widespread affiliation in the Valley. Sadie, an ordained Reform rabbi, is now the education director at Congregation Or Tzion, a Conservative synagogue; Molly and Jeff’s son, Benjamin, is in kindergarten at Phoenix Hebrew Academy, an Orthodox day school; and their daughter, Ruby, attends the Chanen Preschool at Congregation Beth Israel, where Molly is a member of the Chanen Preschool Committee. Both she and Jeff are involved with the Anti-Defamation League and went through its leadership program; and the whole mishpacha are members of Congregation Beth Israel.

“If there’s a story in my family, it’s not that we built buildings and it’s not that we were the greatest philanthropists, but we’ve made an impact by rippling through the whole community,” Taubman says. “We’ve been grateful to have the community shape us as we helped to shape the community. It’s been a blessing.”

Sadie expresses a similar sentiment about her family’s presence in Jewish Phoenix. “My mom made sure that we felt comfortable in any Jewish place, and she exposed us to all different aspects of Judaism without us knowing there was any difference,” she says. “She (taught) us that it’s about being Jewish – not just loyalty to one place or one thing – it’s loyalty to the Jewish community.”

Recently, when Taubman’s son, Adam, celebrated his 41st birthday, she asked what gift he would like. He surprised her by requesting a commemorative leaf on the tree at Beth Israel that will say, “Thank you Beth Israel from the Reuben-Taubman-Stanlis family.” That gesture represents the heart of her family, Taubman says. “My children really have the essence of Jewish life. That’s my legacy.”

1920s

Brenda Meckler, shown here in 1928, was a writer, producer and director who helped establish the Phoenix Little Theatre in 1922.

A 1926 Passover seder is held in the sanctuary of Temple Beth Israel, which is now the site of the CutlerPlotkin Jewish Heritage Center in Phoenix.

Temple Beth Israel’s first confirmation class poses at the temple in 1920.

This shot shows Phoenix’s Central Avenue looking north, in 1924.

Photos courtesy of the Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at Arizona Jewish Historical Society

all of

families

their commitment

We are proud that our Congregation Beth Tefillah members, the Neuberg/Schupak families, are part of this impressive group of families.

“And all who care truly for the community, may G-d give them their reward. May He remove from them all sickness, heal their bodies, and forgive their sins. May He send blessings and success in all the works of their hands. Amen”

From the Shabbat Mussaf Prayer

Rabbi and Mrs. Philip Jaffa stand in front of Temple Beth Israel in 1935.

Albert Einstein and his wife, Elsa, visit the Grand Canyon in 1931.

A young Arnold Smith, who grew up to become a community leader and philanthropist, rides a horse to school in 1934 Phoenix. Photos courtesy of the Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at Arizona Jewish Historical Society

Rabbi Yechiel Dow, a local shochet (butcher) and rabbi for Temple Beth Israel and later Beth El Congregation, poses with his family.

The Junior Council of Jewish Women meets at The Westward Ho in 1936.

A 1949 photo in the Jewish News promotes the third annual Beth El Men’s Club carnival and bazaar; prizes included the pictured refrigerator and bicycle, plus a stove, toasters and clocks.

of Israel in 1949

Congregants attend the dedication ceremony for Temple Beth Israel’s location at 10th Avenue and Flower Street in Phoenix on Sept. 11, 1949.

Ladies of the Business and Professional Women’s division of Hadassah discuss arrangements for their upcoming membership tea in a 1949 photo.

Photo courtesy of the Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at Arizona Jewish Historical Society

Photo from Jewish News archives

Members of the Arizona Brandeis Zionist District celebrate the first anniversary of the State

at Temple Beth Israel.

Photo courtesy of the Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at Arizona Jewish Historical Society

Temple Beth Israel was located at 10th Avenue and Flower Street in Phoenix in 1949.

Photo courtesy of the Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at Arizona Jewish Historical Society

Photo from Jewish News archives

1950s

More than 500 people attended a ceremony marking the completion of a sefer Torah at Beth Hebree Congregation in 1951.

Members of the Jewish Community Council elect officers and campaign for a new center at Beth El Congregation in Phoenix in 1950.

Children play baseball at the Phoenix Jewish Community Center in 1955.

Members of Beth El Congregation celebrate Israel’s third anniversary.

Nominees for Queen Esther prepare for the Beth

Photo courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Markow Photography

Photo courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Markow Photography

Photo courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Markow Photography

Photo courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Markow Photography

El Purim Ball in 1953.

Photo courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Phoenix Jewish News Collection

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Photograph by Jacqueline Byers

1960s

Members of the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee sort through books for a 1969 Brandeis Women’s Book Sale.

Members of the Jewish Community Center on Maryland Avenue in Phoenix cool off in the pool in 1969.

Jewish community members dress up for a costume fashion show benefiting the Hadassah women’s organization in Oc-

Musicians perform in an outdoor concert at the Kivel

Photo courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Phoenix Jewish News Collection

Members of Congregation Beth Shalom of Sun City plan for the synagogue’s future home in 1969.

Photo courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Phoenix Jewish News Collection

Presidents of Beth Hebrew’s Sisterhood and Mother’s Auxiliary welcome visitors to an open house at the synagogue in 1964.

Photo courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Phoenix Jewish News Collection

Photo courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Phoenix Jewish News Collection

tober 1960.

Photo courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Markow Photography

Nursing Home in 1961.

Photo courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Markow Photography

1970s

Visitors attend the opening of Temple Beth Israel’s Camp Charles Pearlstein in Prescott in 1975. The camp is now called Camp Daisy and Harry Stein.

Beth El Gan Students perform “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in 1977.

Photos courtesy of Pearl and Cecil Newmark Archives at AJHS/Phoenix Jewish News Collection

Members of the Center Seniors enjoy traditional foods at a 1972 Hanukkah party.

Members of Temple Emanuel attend the synagogue’s first oneg Shabbat in June 1976.

Preschoolers celebrate Purim at the Phoenix Jewish Community Center in 1970.

When you support the Campaign for Jewish Needs, you help to strengthen and sustain a vibrant Jewish community and to meet critical needs here in Phoenix, in Israel and around the world.

The Federation helps countless people overcome poverty, hunger and despair, and funds valuable programs that sustain Jewish identity and enriches lives. By investing in our community today, we ensure its future. The Federation develops and supports programs, agencies and communal organizations that have strengthening Jewish identity as a goal.

Become a part of the Federation movement and protect and enhance

worldwide!