{"id":10235,"date":"2015-01-16T00:03:52","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T08:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=10235"},"modified":"2015-01-14T13:09:00","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T21:09:00","slug":"red-rocks-jewish-lullabies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2015\/01\/16\/red-rocks-jewish-lullabies\/","title":{"rendered":"Red rocks, Jewish lullabies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s Sedona Jewish community is spread out over the surrounding Verde Valley. (photo by Lauren Kramer)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever you do, please don\u2019t write about vortex or New Age stuff!\u201d I was socializing after Friday night services with congregants at Sedona\u2019s synagogue when one of them, overhearing I was a travel writer, approached me with this earnest request. The \u201cvortex stuff\u201d was nonsense, she added \u2013 a real estate ploy that had gotten way out of control. Her warning: avoid the vortex at all costs.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d come to this Arizona city of 10,000 to check out the red rocks for which it is famous, and couldn\u2019t resist stopping into shul for services. The synagogue was bustling with locals and visitors as Rabbi Alicia Magen\u2019s melodic voice wafted through the sanctuary, serenading us with Sabbath lullabies as she strummed her guitar. After services, my husband and I joined the congregation for a kiddush, noshing on enchiladas and cheesecake as we chatted with locals. Most were retirees from afar who had settled in Sedona, lured by its combination of rugged good looks and the many amenities and festivals, created to cater to the two million visitors who come each year.<\/p>\n

Some of them are only too happy to partake in the \u201cNew Age stuff\u201d I\u2019d been warned about, an industry spawned from the notion that vortexes, or spiritual energy points, are clustered around Sedona. Vortex tour brochures touted everything from spiritual growth and self-improvement to yoga and personal guidance at those sites.<\/p>\n

But you either believe in that stuff, or you don\u2019t \u2013 and, since I don\u2019t, I chose to head out on horseback for a better view of the monolithic red stones that have made Sedona a tourism magnet. And it\u2019s no exaggeration to say this: they truly are magnificent. The first time you glimpse them, as you head towards Sedona on Highway 179, you could easily be forgiven for distracted driving. You round a corner and there they are: striking, massive, dignified and unmistakably fiery red.<\/p>\n

Later, on a bumpy pink Jeep tour that takes us closer to the red rocks, I learn that these are not mountains but sand dunes that rise up to 6,592 feet. The rocks get their blazing hue from hematite, a reddish form of iron oxide deposited as water seeped through layers of ancient sandstone millions of years ago. Time has carved spirals, hills and camelback shapes into the sandstone, structures that extend their arms to the sky and create a vivid backdrop that can\u2019t help but startle and amaze. \u201cNo matter how long I live here, I never get tired of the view,\u201d one congregant told me.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
The author and her husband appreciate Sedona\u2019s red rocks, which are not mountains but sand dunes that rise up to 6,592 feet. (photo by Lauren Kramer)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The average age is 65-plus at Sedona\u2019s Shabbat service; somewhat puzzled, I inquired if there were any children in the community. There are kids, indeed, I was told, but their families can\u2019t afford to live in the city, where home prices start at $500,000 and climb to $2 million. Instead, they have established homes in the surrounding Verde Valley, in areas like Cottonwood, Camp Verde and Prescott. The Sedona Jewish Centre, whose facilities include the synagogue and a Hebrew after-school program, serves the entire valley.<\/p>\n

With our Jeep bumping over rocky terrain in the Coconino National Forest, just minutes from Sedona\u2019s retail strip, our guide pointed out agave plants, prickly pear cactus and Arizona cypress trees. Though it may look dry and arid, red rock country is biologically rich, with a range of different plant communities that support a huge variety of wildlife, from peccary herds to fox and coyote, bears, badgers and roadrunners. For archeologists, the ground below us is a living museum littered with fragments from the past, including pottery shards from the Sinagua people who resided in the area until 1400 AD.<\/p>\n

Later, back in Sedona\u2019s uptown cluster of stores, I sampled the fruit of the desert: syrupy sweet prickly pear ice cream and a plate of hot cactus fries, before ambling around the strip. Its stores are a touristy mix of art and pottery galleries and made-in-China souvenirs, interspersed with resort timeshare sales people inside so-called tourist info offices. So I cut short the window-shopping and instead, hit the road to try an adventure treetop experience called Flagstaff Extreme.<\/p>\n

I admit, I was scared when I strapped on a harness and climbed ladders into the upper reaches of Ponderosa pine trees. I nearly talked myself out of the experience, and it was only my husband\u2019s coaxing assurances that the obstacles looked scarier than they were, that kept me moving. But after a few minutes of navigating through the forest\u2019s pines using swings, ziplines and bridges, my confidence soared. The wind was blowing through the treetops as I found courage I never knew I had. After completing each of the five levels of adventure, an exhilarating wave of achievement washed over me, propelling me forward.<\/p>\n

On my final day in Arizona, we joined Mary McDowall for an ATV tour a half-hour from Sedona in Prescott National Forest. The owner of Arizona Offroad Tours, she took us 25 miles into the hilly Verde Valley, pointing out desert willows, manzanita, hollies and other desert shrubs along the way. \u201cThis is one of the most beautiful parts of the state,\u201d she said, gesturing at the million-acre forest around us and the mountain plateaus in the distance. Clambering on the spanking new ATVs we powered up a dirt road, then took a sharp turn from it and zoomed noisily along a meandering, dry creek bed created by the swirling waters of flash floods during monsoon season. It was a striking contrast to the boutiques and gift shops we\u2019d been browsing a day earlier in Sedona.<\/p>\n

McDowall agreed. \u201cYou go to Sedona, you\u2019re going to see Ferraris,\u201d she said with a shrug. \u201cIt\u2019s touristy. But if you\u2019re an outdoor person, this is the place for you, because there\u2019s nature everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauren Kramer<\/strong>, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond, B.C. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you go:<\/strong><\/h4>\n