((PKG)): PALM SPRINGS (PART 2)
((TRT: 06:26))
((Topic Banner: Inspiring the Powerful and Serving the Religious))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Genia Dulot))
((Map: Palm Springs, California))
((Main characters: 1 female; 2 male))
((Sub characters: 0 female; 0 male))

((NATS))
((Anne Rowe
Director of Heritage, Sunnylands))

Walter and Leonore Annenberg were both American diplomats and they were philanthropists. And in 1963, they decided to build a marvelous mid-century home here in the desert.

They paired up with a Quincy Jones, who was a famous architect in Southern California and beyond that, and they designed this masterpiece.

So the mid-century modern movement really occurred across the globe. And the way it was interpreted in Southern California took many shapes and forms.

In the Annenberg’s case, they had it in their mind and they brought to the table, to the architect, that they wanted a “Mayan influence”, they called it. They had toured through Mexico. They had toured the pyramids, and hence they wanted a pyramidal roof on their mid-century home.

When they designed this house, they were not yet diplomats. They were successful publishers. They were very wealthy power couple.

What happened was they built this home for themselves. And as the history of the home unfolded with one of the first guests being President Eisenhower, and it’s just snowballed from there. One dignitary came after another, and they saw the power of place here. They saw their friends coming out of Washington, D.C. and other places in the world, and coming to this tranquil environment. And they saw really interesting conversations happen here. And then later, it became more conscious effort to use this property for diplomatic outreach.

They were bringing people together from different worlds. For instance, on the patio, we know from the guest books, you would have Prince Charles with Bob Hope, with Frank Sinatra, and with Ronald Reagan.

There were some relationships forged through this property. For instance, it was actually Mr. Annenberg who introduced Ronald Reagan to Margaret Thatcher. That became a very famous pairing and a powerful pairing through the 80s. It impacted policy, you know, across the pond, so to speak.

What the Annenbergs wished for their property after their residency was that we continue to provide what they naturally provided, and make the home a place to gather people who have impact in the world, for the greater good, really to bring peace to the world. That was their goal. And so they asked us to do the same, to bring people, important people, to the property, to be in the home, to relax and have important conversations.

One of our recent guests was President Obama during his term, and he brought to the property, Chinese President, Xi Jinping, and they had an important summit here, and a lot of good work was decided out of that meeting here.

President Trump did not opt to use the property, but it certainly was available to him.

As a presidential retreat, President Biden is more than welcome to plan meetings here, and we would welcome him and his administration as we would any president.

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((Rabbi Steven Rosenberg

Temple Isaiah, Palm Springs))

This was the original chapel that was built in 1947.

In the [19]50s, in the United States, the American style was very different than the European style of synagogues. Everything that was almost the antithesis of the Baroque Victorian, very grand. Things were much more simplistic.

So, if you look at these pictures, mid-century architecture with synagogues was very utilitarian, with not much interpretation. That was the ark that looked like a box. That was the era.

The idea of we say, well, you know, do you get spirituality of it? That’s kind of a 21st century word.1950s, if you went to the average Jewish person and said, you know, where do you find your spirituality? They may not know what you’re talking about.

As a rabbi, I’d say, you know, I find our much more moderate space upstairs, for me, much more spiritual than this space.

This is…this served a purpose a long time ago. Is it relevant for the era that we live in now? Probably not, but it was then.

When Frank Sinatra‘s mother died, Rabbi Horowitz did one of the eulogies. The Sinatra family was so moved by what Rabbi Horowitz said, and Frank Sinatra came up to Horowitz and said, “If there’s anything you ever need, just call me. I’ll be more than happy to help you.”

Well, a few years later, they wanted to expand the temple, but they needed like four million dollars. Four million dollars, in 1982, is a lot more than today in U.S. dollars.

Mr. Sinatra to come help him to do some benefits or what not, and they raised, they raised all of that.

It is important when you walk into a worship space, regardless if it’s Jewish or Christian or Catholic, that you’re inspired when you walk in. When you come in from the back and you see this vista, with these gorgeous mountains, and through this window, it really gives such an impression of just majesty and the grandeur of God.

The building itself, this wing was really designed to look like Noah’s Ark. And if you notice, there is a lot of use of these colors of a rainbow. Part of the Noah’s story is that after the world floods and the waters recede, and God puts the rainbow in the sky, saying, “I am never going to destroy the world again.” It’s a sense of hope. It’s a sense, a promise of continuity.

We label ourselves as a contemporary progressive congregation. So, we welcome people, no matter what the color of their skin are, what the background is, what their sexual orientation is.

((Mitchell Karp

President, Temple Isaiah’s Board of Trustees))

With me being and openly gay president of a conservative movement temple, and with Rabbi Rosenberg, we want to make sure that this is a, quote, safe space for everybody.
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