By Donald H. Harrison

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz – The Jewish communities of Greater Phoenix and of San Diego County both hover around the 100,000 mark in population, but one of the important differences between the two areas can be found at the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus in suburban Scottsdale.

If a visitor to San Diego were to try to visit the equivalent of what can be found in and adjacent to the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, he would have to start his journey in Carmel Valley to visit the San Diego Jewish Academy, and then drive down to La Jolla to see the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, Jacobs Family Campus.  From there, he would next head south to the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego to visit the Agency of Jewish Education on Mercury Street, and then proceed to Murphy Canyon Road to visit the side-by-side offices of the United Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation.

Notwithstanding all that effort, the visitor still wouldn’t see everything that can be found at the Scottsdale facility, because San Diego has no equivalent to the Phoenix area’s  Council for Jews with Special Needs, an organization that provides assistance and programming for children and young adults with disabilities. Within a couple miles of the center, the Council operates a residence for Jews with special needs.

The 30-acre campus features a 150,000 square foot activities building which now houses the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, the Jewish Community Foundation, the Jewish Community Center, the Bureau of Jewish Education and the Council for Jews with Special Needs. 


Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus houses five agencies in a single building.  The King David School
is immediately adjacent.  Steve Kennedy, shown on 2nd floor overlook,  is the facility's manager

Facilities manager Steve Kennedy said the five agencies now under the same roof prior to 2002 were scattered throughout Phoenix, which adjoins Scottsdale. As in San Diego County, the Jewish community here has seen a demographic shift from the south to the north.  Needing to follow their clientele, the agencies achieved economies by locating themselves in the same mega-facility, and thereby providing the Phoenix  Jewish community with a central address.

Philanthropists Bill and Ina Levine not only donated land for the Jewish Community Campus but also for the adjoining King David School, which currently offers classes for kindergarteners through eighth graders, but is scheduled to soon add the high school levels of 9^th through 12^th grade.  Pre-schoolers meanwhile are served in colorful and roomy facilities on the first floor of the JCC. In all, there typically will be 700 pupils on campus each weekday.

The community wanted to name the facility for both Levines, but Bill insisted that it be named only in honor of his late wife. He used to own Outdoor Systems, a giant billboard company, before selling it to Viacom. 

The campus is well guarded with visitors required to prove who they are and to wear special identification issued to them.  More security awaits them before they can gain access to various internal areas of the center. 

Visitors also are exposed to numerous lessons on Jewish history. The front entryway to the center has a wall boasting four television screens on which are flashed images and text about the history and accomplishments of the Jewish people.  In the main corridor an art exhibit currently on display depicts scenes from the life of the biblical King David.

Kennedy, who was recruited because of his background in construction, maintenance and facilities management for the Arizona Department of Transportation as well as for some private industries, has acquired the nickname “the Irish mashgiach,” because of his knowledge of the kashrut required to keep the center a place where any Jew will eat.  The café downstairs serves kosher foods, and all catering in the facility also is kosher.  That may have the effect of introducing many non-Jews to kosher foods, because the facility often hosts civic functions.   Yesterday, for example, they were setting up some rooms for a meeting of firefighters.

Kennedy has trained his staff to intervene if they see people unfamiliar with the rules of the campus taking out a sandwich from a brown bag brought from their homes.  Such carry-ins are prohibited in the public places.  With a daily average between 500 and 1,000 people using the facility each weekday, spiking sometimes to 1,500 during special events, policing for kashrut requires considerable vigilance.

Upstairs in the offices, beyond the public areas, employees of the various agencies are permitted to bring whatever food they wish to consume, Kennedy said. 

Whereas the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus has many of the same facilities that the Lawrence Family JCC in La Jolla has—especially in the areas of sports and exercise—the Scottsdale facility lacks the large, versatile theatre that is enjoyed in La Jolla. 

The Lawrence Family JCC is on city land and needs to accommodate the schedules of Jewish and non-Jewish members alike, whereas the Scottsdale facility is on privately owned land.  To retain its kosher rating, the facility closes on Friday night, although it has been permitted to reopen for “recreation only” on Saturdays, according to Kennedy.  Its café is shut down and no money changes hands between the center’s clients and employees on the Shabbat, he adds.

As in La Jolla, membership in the JCC is open to anyone, regardless of religion.  Employees also come from a variety of religious backgrounds.  The total work force in the building, including office workers in the agencies, numbers about 300 persons, Kennedy said. The campus actually is run by a sixth non-profit agency, the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, LLC, which was created by the Jewish community specifically to be the facility’s landlord. The corporation has its own 18-member board with the five agencies having one board member appointment each.

Perhaps not unexpectedly, additional Jewish agencies and organizations have expressed interest in relocating to the campus, but physically there just isn’t any more room for them, Kennedy said.  The Hebrew Free Loan Association and the Anti-Defamation League were among those that inquired about renting office space, he said. Meanwhile, religious institutions like Chabad are locating within a mile of the campus.

Kennedy said an experimental night-time lighting system brightly illuminates the outdoor recreational areas while minimizing the amount of light that “bleeds out” to the surrounding neighborhood.  The Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus is one of the first facilities to utilize the system.

The  facilities manager noted proudly that the outdoor recreational areas will be in a spotlight of another kind this coming August.  That’s when an estimated 4,000 Jewish athletes from around the world will gather on the campus and at other event venues in Phoenix for the Maccabi Games.