Lanny Morrison is more than just a mover and a shaker. He’s a driving force at Heichal Baoranim (Temple in the Pines) in Flagstaff. With his relentless enthusiasm and vision, the 70-year-old congregant and past president of six years has made remarkable accomplishments, not only in his professional life but also in the life of the synagogue.
Arriving in the hip and artsy university town in 2006, Morrison hit the ground running and shows no sign of stopping. He still works part-time for Xerox in health policy consulting. Morrison and his wife made the move from Maryland to be near children and grandchildren and be in proximity to a university and synagogue. Finding a welcoming and spiritual home at Heichal Baoranim, Morrison has nurtured and expanded the horizons of this small Reform community that touts a commitment to meeting the needs of a wide range of religious needs as the only egalitarian synagogue in town. As a hub of outdoor recreational activities, the area was also a huge lure for his wife, Lynne Nemeth. “She loves the outdoors,” says Morrison, adding she is the executive director of the Flagstaff Arboretum.
The first things Morrison tackled at the synagogue were the aesthetics of the building – the lackluster classrooms, outdated kitchen, dark wood paneling, the not-so-stellar carpeting and old chairs.
“None of these things were conducive to creating a welcoming environment, and the congregation was ready for a change,” he explains. Becoming part of the board and eventually president, Morrison led Torah study, adding a new layer of depth to the evolving congregation. “My wife, who has a master’s degree in vocal performance, became the cantorial soloist after members in the congregation heard her voice,” he relates. “She’s also been instrumental in forming the choir.”
Of paramount importance was the fact the congregation had no ordained rabbi; lay people and student rabbis filled the void. Realizing that an ordained spiritual leader would provide continuity and have a major positive impact, Morrison once again stepped up to the plate. He and the congregation engaged Rabbi Nina Perlmutter, a denizen of Prescott, to be the student rabbi. Following her graduation from the Academy for Jewish Religion California in 2009, she became the congregation’s rabbi, commuting back and forth part-time between Prescott and Flagstaff.
“Lanny’s been a great synagogue president, because he’s a knowledgeable Jew who brings Jewish values to whatever he does,” says Perlmutter. “He models menschlichkeit for all ages with his love of Torah study, willingness to help in ways big and small, and care for the Jewish and larger community. He’s also a member of the board of directors for the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra and has been active with the local food bank.”
A strong advocate for progressive social causes, Morrison helped partner the congregation with the Northern Arizona Interfaith Council, an organization that works on social action issues such as public education funding, health care, immigration and housing. “In addition, we work with the Shared Earth Network that focuses on environmental issues such as energy efficiency. We’re kind of a blue dot in a sea of red,” he jokes.
Social issues are an integral part of the temple’s dynamic as well, and to that end, Morrison helped spearhead the Men’s Club. The group typically meets over food and drinks to decide what projects to address. The group’s first philanthropic act was to provide aid to families affected by the typhoon in Japan. The second was building up a scholarship fund at the synagogue for lower income people to attend Camp Stein. Currently the group plans to build an outdoor patio for a variety of celebrations.
“Every community needs a vibrant and honorable leader if it is to thrive and grow,” says Bob Braudy, president of the Men’s Club. “Since Lanny and Lynne arrived in Flagstaff eight years ago, Lanny has exemplified Judaism in our mountain community. As president of Heichal Baoranim for six years, he strongly advocated and improved the quality of Jewish education for children, represented our temple at interfaith meetings, increased Jewish outreach programs into the community and pushed the community to explore potential anti-Semitic incidents. My wife, Judi, and I would not be as involved in Heichal Baoranim if it were not for Lanny’s efforts on behalf of Judaism.”
While still absorbed in a number of temple events, Morrison did something “outside the box” last August that perplexed, surprised and mystified many congregants … he became a bar mitzvah for a second time. “For his mitzvah project, we counted all things Lanny has done for the temple,” says Perlmutter. The after party was held at the venerable Little America, replete with a string quartet from the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. The impetus, according to Morrison, was a disparaging comment made to him by his rabbi at his original bar mitzvah. “He told me I had a ‘mess-mitzvah,’ ” says Morrison. “I asked him repeatedly what he meant, but he would never tell me. He repeated the phrase until my adult years, and it always stuck with me.”
Morrison related a humorous story from his son’s bar mitzvah rehearsal. “While at the bimah, I literally froze. I couldn’t get the words to come out,” he says. “The rabbi asked me what was going on, and I explained what happened years ago with my rabbi’s unkind remarks. My son’s rabbi assured me he and my father-in-law would support me if I got stuck. ‘All your son is going to remember is that you were up there,’ he said. I got on such a roll I ended up doing 17 more lines than I was supposed to and that I never practiced. They physically had to take the yad out of my hand to give it to the next person.”
While having a bar mitzvah at age 70 is certainly something to marvel at, Morrison amazed the congregants even more by upping the ante. While studying for his bar mitzvah, he decided to run for the Arizona House of Representatives in Legislative District 6. “SB1062 was the impetus. It would have promoted discrimination based on seriously held religious beliefs, and that was the last straw for me,” says Morrison. “I faced discrimination growing up, and I wasn’t going back there.”
Morrison lost the election, but he still maintains his trademark gusto and resolve.
Before embracing Flagstaff, Morrison had what he calls a “checkered background.” A consultant in the health policy arena for many years, his first job was with the mental health department in Illinois. “My educational background includes bio statistics, epidemiology and mathematical economics,” he explains. “As a program evaluator and clinical therapist, I worked with groups such as the Peace Corps volunteers to get patients out of institutions who had been in for a very long time. Some of them had been in hospitals since Prohibition. We worked hard to get people placed in the community in apartments and with family. We built a network of community facilities and organized to establish local mental health boards to set up community mental health centers. In the new facility we built, patients were in no more than 30 days – a lot shorter than the 11 years averaged by patients leaving the institutions.”
Morrison has also taught at Northern Arizona University, worked as a strategic planner for a Fortune 500 company (Tenet Healthcare), was involved in a health policy think tank in Minnesota and worked for health-care reform advocating for the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973.
Morrison says of his future: “I will continue to be involved in volunteer activities, both Jewish and secular, and have not ruled out running for public office again. In addition, I will spend more time with Lynne and visiting the children and grandchildren.”
Melissa Hirschl is a Gilbert-based freelance writer and multi-media artist. She has written for a variety of publications in the Phoenix area as well as in New York.
