The “People’s Rabbi” Remembered at the Cutler Plotkin Jewish Center
The late Rabbi Albert Plotkin was renowned for his interfaith work in Phoenix for over half a century—and for his ability to cut a rug. “He was a featured dancer at many weddings and Bar Mitzvahs,” says Barbara Lewkowitz, an Arizona Jewish Historical Society board member. “We would stop and watch him with his partners; he was definitely Dancing with the Stars material!”
On the 15th anniversary of Rabbi Plotkin’s passing at age 89 in 2010, the Cutler Plotkin Jewish Center is honoring the memory of one of its namesakes.
“He made learning fun and had so much energy, with his background as an actor and dancer,” says Lawrence Cutler, the driving force behind the Cutler Plotkin Jewish Center, named after Rabbi Plotkin and his late parents, Bettie and James Cutler. The Center, located just north of Downtown Phoenix near Burton Barr Central Library at 122 E. Culver St, is open M-F from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. It includes a museum, education center, and event venue and is one of the most hallowed sites in Phoenix.
The building was once the home of Beth Israel, the Valley's first permanent Jewish congregation. The synagogue opened in 1921. “The historical significance is incredible as it was built to be the first meeting place for the roughly 125 Jews in Central Arizona, who previously had no place to worship,” Cutler says. The congregation moved to a larger site in 1949.
A Chinese Christian church and then a Hispanic Baptist church moved into the building until the property was put on the market in 2010. “They were going to sell it to be redeveloped as apartments,” Cutler says. “Rabbi Plotkin and others heard about it, thought we should buy it and create a place for the Jewish community, and convinced them to sell it to us.”
Cutler told Rabbi Plotkin his plans to name the Center after him at lunch before he died. “He was so touched that he started crying,” Cutler says. “It couldn’t be a more perfect legacy for him. The beautiful part is the site’s interfaith nature and various religious faiths and ethnicities—it was a holy space to pray.”
Rabbi Plotkin had an unusual route to becoming the longtime spiritual leader of Phoenix’s Jewish community. Born in 1920, he grew up in South Bend, Indiana, with his parents, who were Russian immigrants. Early on, he displayed a talent for song and dance.
“He was ready to go into vaudeville!” says Lewkowitz. Plotkin was offered a job with a Major Bowes talent show out of New York City. Instead, he graduated from the University of Notre Dame with honors and was ordained by the Hebrew Union College in 1948.
When Rabbi Plotkin arrived in Phoenix in 1955, he had a wife, Sylvia, and two daughters, Janis and Debra. He shaped the Phoenix congregation and made friends across the ecumenical community. “Rabbi
Plotkin was the spokesperson for the Jewish community,” Cutler says. “Anytime a TV station wanted to know about Jewish holidays, they contacted him. He brought people together, whether they were Jewish or not.”
There are many in the Valley whose lives were impacted by Rabbi Plotkin, including Jerry and Lynn Harris, who were married by him in 1962. “Rabbi Plotkin was so popular in Phoenix that I’m convinced he would have won had he run for mayor,” Jerry Harris says.
Lynn Harris says Rabbi Plotkin was beloved throughout the community. “Because of his warm, deep devotion and interaction in the interfaith community, many from non-Jewish faiths and congregations called him "Their Rabbi."
Through it all, Rabbi Plotkin never lost his love for song and dance. “Rabbi Plotkin loved opera, and he had the opportunity to perform in the Arizona Opera Company's production of Tourendo in 1994,” says Lewkowitz. “He told me it was probably as good as being one of the few non-Catholics invited to meet Pope John II during his visit to Phoenix in 1987.”
Douglas C. Towne is the editor of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine, www.arizcc.com