Phoenix attorney Jerry Lewkowitz still chuckles over the high crime of his youth: sneaking out of Temple Beth Israel on Judaism’s holiest day.

“You’re supposed to fast on Yom Kippur,” he says, “but we would sneak to the grocery store and buy candy bars.”

Many of Lewkowitz’s childhood memories – not all of them so mischievous – were formed inside the Valley’s first synagogue. Indeed, the historic building at 122 E. Culver Street is a backdrop for much of Phoenix’s Jewish experience.

Soon it will be again.

This is the hope of Lewkowitz and other supporters behind the Arizona Jewish Historical Society’s campaign to purchase and restore the 1921 building, which also served two Baptist congregations over the decades. In December, AJHS completed more than $1 million in renovations. Scheduled to hold a “soft opening” this spring, the Cutler-Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center’s main reception hall will be available to rent for Jewish or non-Jewish social and religious events.

Weekly religious services will not be held at the site. However, AJHS President Louise Leverant says the group already has a leg up on its next phase: the design of museum exhibits tracing the Valley’s Jewish story. “The building is our main exhibit. It is our history,” she says.