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JANUARY 5, 2024 | TEVET 24, 5784 | VOLUME 76, NUMBER 9
Orthodox Jewish city council candidate ‘hopes to ignite the flame of Yiddishkeit’ SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
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n Wednesday, Dec. 6, Adam Kwasman, Scottsdale resident and former Republican state legislator, announced his intention to run for the Scottsdale City Council. Kwasman announced his candidacy on “The Conservative Circus” podcast. He told host James T. Harris that he’s running because of the importance of local politics. “You and your wife care more about what is happening on the NextDoor app than about what squabbles are happening in Washington, D.C.; local is where it’s at,” Kwasman told Harris. Kwasman and his family are members and volunteers of Congregation Beth Tefillah in Scottsdale and Chabad of Phoenix. He is excited about the possibility of becoming the lone Orthodox Jew elected in Arizona. “I proudly wear my kippah and tzitzit in my campaign material,” he told Jewish News in an email. “Jews need to stand up in leadership roles wherever they can. We will fight for G-d’s Light in this world by leading our communities, both formally and informally,” he wrote. Kwasman also heads the Arizona chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition with his wife, Orit, and said that his conservative bona SEE CANDIDATE, PAGE 2
Justa Center, a place for homeless seniors and second chances, ‘on sounder footing’ despite growing homelessness crisis SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
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n February, Dean Scheinert will mark his first anniversary as executive director for the Justa Center, a safe haven for homeless senior citizens located in downtown Phoenix, at the edge of the now-disbanded homeless encampment known as The Zone. Scheinert, a member of Temple Solel in Paradise Valley, acknowledged that the job is stressful, in no small part because his organization serves an ever-growing population. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its 2023 annual report on the nation’s unhoused population. In the last year, 653,104 people — about 20 of every 10,000 people — experienced homelessness, up 12% from 2022. Arizona is no exception. The state has the fourth-highest rate Dean Scheinert, executive director of Justa Center, in his COURTESY OF JEWISH NEWS of unsheltered homelessness, with almost 54% of unhoused office. people sleeping on the street or another place not meant for habitation. Still, even with the heavy demands of his job, Scheinert loves coming to work every day, something he can’t say about his previous career in finance. “This is good stress. I’m stressed but I know I’m in the right place. In finance, there was stress for inconsequential reasons, like ‘I gotta get this stock trade’ or ‘I gotta get this proposal done,’ just to make somebody else more money,” he told Jewish News. Presently, his major hurdles at work are because he has fewer resources overall, “but I know this is where I want to be and that helps mitigate some of the stress because I have the energy to approach it,” he said. A year ago, the organization struggled to meet its payroll but now “we are on a very positive trajectory and are on a sounder financial footing, thanks especially to grants and gifts,” Scheinert said. SEE CENTER, PAGE 3
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