Warmth Beyond Sunshine in Phoenix: Shaun and Gary Tuch

The distance between Phoenix and Los Angeles is just under 400 miles, but to Shaun Tuch, the two cities seem worlds apart.

Johannesburg-born and LA-bred, Shaun had no trouble finding his niche as an adult in his hometown, running his own business, davening in a shul where he felt he belonged, and co-founding a kollel known as the Pico Bais Medrash. But the high cost of living, and the abundance of both questionable values and homelessness taking its toll on the City of Angels had Shaun checking out other Jewish communities. A conversation with a friend who had settled in Phoenix turned out to be life-altering.

“I was like, ‘wait, Phoenix?’” recalls Shaun. “I hadn’t even thought about Phoenix, but he spoke so highly of it, telling me that the weather is great eight months out of the year, and that they had just gotten a new rabbi, and that the school was amazing, and that it was relatively inexpensive to live there.”

Shaun and his wife, Rachel, took a trip out to Phoenix, where they met Rabbi Shafir Roizman, rabbi of the Ohr HaTorah shul. With Shaun and Rabbi Roizman both born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the two forged an instant connection, and long after Shaun returned home, Rabbi Roizman’s thoughts on living in an up-and-coming community echoed in his mind.

Shaun and Rachel Tuch moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in 2021. Phoenix’s firmly established Jewish community and its amenities continue to draw families like the Tuchs who were looking for a change of pace. Courtesy of Shaun Tuch

“He said that in LA you have everything; everything is already done for you, but in Phoenix, you have the opportunity to make things happen,” says Shaun. “If you want to be a builder, Phoenix is a good opportunity.”

The fact that Phoenix wasn’t far from Los Angeles sweetened the deal for Shaun, and in the summer of 2021, he and Rachel packed up their four young children and made their big move to Arizona. The Tuchs took to Phoenix instantly, loving how it felt like LA in many ways but without the drawbacks of big-town life. They made the leap from apartment living to a house with a pool, and members of the local Jewish community set up a two-week-long meal train that had friendly faces showing up at their front door with food, welcoming them into their new home. Shaun was able to continue operating his business remotely (he runs Young Ninjas, a children’s sports company), while Torah Day School of Phoenix created a job that offered Rachel the flexibility she needed at that particular time in her life. Today, she is the school’s preschool director.

“In Los Angeles, it would have taken her forever to get a position like that, but when you live out-of-town, those skills are really desired,” explains Shaun.

“I’m Priced Out!”

Early in my presidency at the OU, I got a call from a man in Suffolk County. He told me, “My daughters got involved with NCSY—they love it. I love it. They’re becoming more observant. It’s amazing.”

Then he said, “But I can’t afford your product.”

I asked him what he meant.

He said, “I’ve got three kids, one with special needs. I can’t afford to move to West Hempstead or the Five Towns. I’m priced out—housing, tuition, everything. You’ve got the greatest product in the world, but I can’t afford it.”

That hit me hard. How many people are we trying to mekarev—only to bring them into a lifestyle they can’t afford?

That’s when I realized: we have to make Orthodox life more affordable. It’s not just about inspiration—it’s about access. And that’s why building affordable Jewish communities is so important to me.

—Steve Savitsky, former OU president and founder of the OU Savitsky Home Relocation Fair

Weary of LA’s heavy traffic and hectic pace, Gary and Tova Tuch relocated to Phoenix, following Gary’s brother Shaun. Courtesy of Gary Tuch

All in the Family

Just weeks after the Tuchs’ arrival in Phoenix, Shaun’s brother Gary, his wife, Tova, and their kids moved there as well. Gary was weary of the heavy traffic and frenetic pace of life in LA, while Phoenix had much to offer.

“I think we were both looking for a little bit of a change of pace, in terms of quality of life, and then in our search we narrowed our choices down to communities that had Jewish infrastructure, including mikvaot, shuls, schools and so forth,” shares Gary.

While Phoenix still doesn’t have a sefarim store, and it can’t compete with LA when it comes to restaurants, having fewer school choices was irrelevant to Gary.

“At the end of the day, there are three day schools here, but only one that we would send our children to,” he says. “It’s no different than in LA, where there was also only one place we would send our children to.”

As the fifth largest city in the country by population, Phoenix is far from a small city, and despite its proximity to the Sonoran Desert, it is anything but a spiritual midbar. There are over five shuls in Phoenix, with several others in nearby Scottsdale. In addition to having an eruv, Phoenix has two mikvaot, a keilim mivkeh, its own branch of TAG (Technology Awareness Group), and the community takes part in several national learning programs, including the Semichas Chaver Program. (Sponsored by the OU, the Semichas Chaver Program [SCP] is the fastest growing practical halachah learning program for men with locations worldwide.) Chaverim is up and running in Phoenix in partnership with Scottsdale’s Jewish community, and there has been no need to start a local branch of Hatzalah given the excellent response times of local emergency teams. The community also has a kosher eatery and multiple stores selling kosher products, with residents learning to anticipate their needs for things that aren’t available locally, stocking their freezers with items brought in through seasonal and monthly deliveries.

“Some people call that a downside,” says Shaun, “But I enjoy it. We make more food at home, and I look forward to it; although, when we go to LA, my kids have fun eating out.”

And while having food delivered always adds to the price, not having easy access to takeout can translate into monetary savings.

“There isn’t the let-me-just-stop-into-the-coffee-shop-for-the-$8-mocha-smoothie option here,” notes Gary. “You aren’t going to the gas station to pick up sushi. Those extra costs you have in larger cities because of convenience don’t exist here, plus property taxes are lower and income taxes are lower, and you have to take that all into account.”

If You Build It, They Will Come

Phoenix’s Jewish communal roots stretch back over a century, but the founding of the Phoenix Community Kollel in 2000 helped sow the seeds for the Yiddishkeit that exists locally today.

“Everything started with the kollel,” explains Gary. “The rosh yeshivah, the rabbeim—they all came through the kollel, which became the heart of the community, and that spread outward.”

The kollel attracted Orthodox Jews to Phoenix, and the community blossomed with new arrivals moving in, and crucial elements of its Jewish infrastructure developed. Even as the kollel ultimately petered out over the years, Phoenix’s firmly established Jewish community and its amenities continued to draw families like the Tuchs who were looking for a change of pace.

In the four years since they arrived in Phoenix, Shaun and Gary have both rolled up their sleeves and thrown themselves into local life, doing their part to take the community to the next level. Both were all in on the growing movement to re-establish the kollel, an effort that was widely viewed by frum Phoenicians as a way to build on the city’s existing infrastructure and ensure that Yiddishkeit continues to bloom in the area. The brothers made multiple trips to Lakewood to seek guidance on the matter; the fact that they were representing Phoenix’s Jewish community gave them opportunities to speak with prestigious rabbanim who provided them with invaluable guidance.

Plans for the Phoenix Community Kollel are proceeding, with a tentative re-opening scheduled for Elul under the leadership of Rabbi Aron Stauber. Gary is still in the process of lining up eight families who will move to Phoenix to anchor the kollel, a number he would love to see grow even larger with time.

“The kollel can become the power plant for our community,” says Gary. “My hope is that the kollel will bring more people moving in, more people staying here, more investment in the community, more kids in the school, and so on, so that we can build a Jewish economy that will help sustain the size that we are now, and to grow even larger.”

Shaun and Gary have both rolled up their sleeves and thrown themselves into local life, doing their part to take the community to the next level.

As much as the kollel was close to his heart, Shaun took a step back from the project after being encouraged to take on the presidency at Ohr HaTorah. With the shul moving four times to keep up with its rapidly growing membership, it became clear that the all-volunteer, mom-and-pop approach that had worked for years was no longer enough. Seeking to professionalize the shul, Shaun consulted with Rabbi Asher Brander of the Los Angeles LINK Kollel to better understand how to transition the shul to the next level, hiring employees to fill key positions and systemizing the shul’s operations. “Our shul is not run like a mom and pop anymore; we have over 100 kids in the shul. It’s run like a business,” he says.

“Heimish is nice, but we are too big for that,” says Shaun. “We need to make sure that we can maintain a shul that isn’t just surviving but thriving.”

Being the president of a flourishing shul isn’t without its challenges, especially when unpopular decisions have to be made.

“We are raising membership dues, as they haven’t increased in a long time and the additional revenue is essential due to increased costs associated with our growth,” explains Shaun. “While I anticipate that not everyone will be happy about this, it is a necessary step to ensure the shul’s continued success.”

Shaun has been drawing on his business experience to guide him through his presidential responsibilities at Ohr HaTorah, particularly the lessons he learned over time about the importance of effective communication, collaboration, honesty and transparency.

“I’m constantly learning, and while I don’t always get things perfect, I try to learn from any missteps,” he says. “Ultimately, I’ve learned that significant achievements are rarely accomplished alone. I rely heavily on our dedicated team and volunteers here. It’s truly the people who drive our community forward.”

The Joy of Building

When I travel to different Jewish communities across the country, it’s amazing to hear people say, “When I moved to this town, there were thirty people in the community; now I don’t even know everyone.” Sometimes they will say, “We built the shul, we built the yeshivah.” That’s a tremendous feeling of accomplishment.

—Steve Savitsky

Big Fish in a Small Pond

As a rabbi in an emerging Jewish community, Rabbi Roizman knows firsthand that living out-of-town does come with its challenges, including not having major established Jewish institutions and rabbinic authorities living locally. But he firmly believes that the positives of living out-of-town outweigh the negatives, citing the lack of societal pressures in Phoenix, its innate natural beauty and the relaxed pace of life.

“When you live in-town, where everything is established, it is a well-oiled machine,” explains Rabbi Roizman. “Here, there is so much space and room for people to find their voice.”

The Tuch brothers are prime examples of that phenomenon, notes Rabbi Roizman, lauding Shaun and Gary for using their talents for building communal infrastructure, opportunities they probably never would have had in LA.

“You really count here,” says Rabbi Roizman. “You’re important. You’re significant.”

Those realities create a tangible sense of achdut in Phoenix, where community members feel truly connected to each other. One shining example of that special bond surfaced recently when a community member had a baby boy, and he and his wife just showed up to the brit, knowing that their friends and neighbors had taken care of all the details.

“They got there, and the food was all made, and everything was set up,” shares Gary. “All the children went to school late that day because everyone was at the brit, and that’s something that you just wouldn’t see elsewhere.”

Both Shaun and Gary are elated to be living in a place where they are building on foundations laid by those who originally established the local Jewish community, leaving their own mark on the city they now call home. They hope that others will appreciate the benefits of living in a place like Phoenix, where average temperatures can soar to a scorching 106 degrees in July, but the atmosphere is always delightfully warm and welcoming.

“There are so many opportunities, whether it is your shul, a kollel, helping with the mikveh or just doing your own thing,” say Shaun. “If you are passionate, you can contribute, or you can start something yourself, which people have done here. When we came to Phoenix, there was a defunct kollel—who were Gary and I to make a kollel? We are a bunch of ba’al teshuvah kids. But you just do it.”

“The community here is so beautiful and so diverse, something I haven’t seen anywhere else in my travels,” adds Gary. “When people come out here, they’re always surprised to see that it is a community that has everything we need. I think that’s something that people definitely need to come here to see for themselves.”

Sandy Eller is a freelance writer who writes for print and web media outlets, as well as private clients.