When he was sworn in as a new member of the Scottsdale City Council on Monday, Adam Kwasman used his family’s copy of a Hebrew Bible published by the late renowned Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.
Kwasman served as a Republican member of the Arizona state legislature from 2013 until 2015. He was elected to the Scottsdale council on Nov. 5, and when he begins his term on Jan. 14, he believes that he will be the council’s first Orthodox Jewish member in history, he told JNS.
“I am a proud member of Congregation Beth Tefillah, and a congregant of Rabbi Pinchas Allouche, who has a deep connection to the Steinsaltz Yeshiva and considers the late Rabbi Steinsaltz to be his mentor,” Kwasman told JNS.
Steinsaltz, a Chabad rabbi who died at the age of 83 in August 2020, was one of the most well-known, modern-day commentators on Jewish scripture and rabbinical writings, best known for his Hebrew translation and commentary on the Talmud.
“Rabbi Steinsaltz’s influence weighs heavily on the Scottsdale Jewish community and my own family,” Kwasman told JNS, noting that his family, with Allouche’s help, became more religiously observant.
“This Chumash is the first one my wife and I bought as a couple when we were first married,” he told JNS. “The Steinsaltz edition of the Chumash has imagery embedded within the text that makes the narrative come alive in a way that is absolutely incredible.”
“I connect deeply with that mission of trying to take what was past and make it present,” he added. “Now this Chumash is not just an heirloom that we will be able to pass down, but has a communal, historical significance to it that is indicative of the beauty of our community.”
Kwasman told JNS that his faith will inform his legislative goals for the city.
“Even though I am a former Arizona state legislator, I wasn’t observant when I served in the statehouse, so my greatest achievement came after not being in office,” he said. “I want to continue some of my work from that time, like when I helped pass the moment of silence legislation with former Gov. Doug Ducey which was signed into law on what would have been the 120th birthday of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.” (The Lubavitcher Rebbe died at age 92 on June 12, 1994.)
He added that he hopes the city will adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred, “which can be implemented at the municipal level to ensure that schools aren’t teaching alternative histories about Israel.”
Kwasman hopes that his religious observance inspires others.
“I campaigned as an observant Jew, proudly wearing my yarmulke, and if I can be an inspiration to the Jewish community in a time of hardship then I’ve won,” he said. “That’s the real victory.”
