Building for the future on the foundations of the past
In 1965, a young rabbi and his wife came to a city of 10,000 Jews with a vision. Sixty years later, their school is still the beating heart of Jewish Phoenix.
Our founders
Rabbi David & Rebbetzin Odette Rebibo
In 1965, Rav Joseph Kaminetzky, then head of Torah Umesorah – National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, recommended Rabbi David Rebibo as the best choice to open a Jewish day school in the southwestern city of Phoenix.
An alumnus of Yeshivat Chachmei Tzarfat in Aix-les-Bains, France, and the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn, Rabbi Rebibo moved to Phoenix with his wife Odette and founded the city's first Jewish day school. Not everyone believed in the idea — but since most of the first families were not from Orthodox homes, Rabbi Rebibo set a lasting policy of accepting children from all streams of Judaism. In time, some of the school's most active parents belonged to the local Reform temple.
Rebbetzin Odette Rebibo was a partner in every part of the work — teaching, bookkeeping, and doing whatever else was needed to keep the young school running well. Rabbi Rebibo also founded Beth Joseph Congregation and the Greater Phoenix Vaad HaKashruth, and helped build the community institutions that make Jewish life in Phoenix possible today.
The Rebibos retired to Israel in 2019. Rabbi Rebibo passed away in Jerusalem in 2024. His legacy lives on every day: at PHA, all Jewish students are welcome, regardless of affiliation.
Milestones
Sixty years in Phoenix
- 1965
PHA opens its doors
On September 7, the Phoenix Hebrew Academy opens with 40 students in kindergarten and grades 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 — in a house at 337 East Bethany Home Road, where Rabbi Rebibo had spotted a "for sale" sign just weeks before.
- 1965
Kosher Phoenix takes root
Rabbi Rebibo founds the Greater Phoenix Vaad HaKashruth, which still certifies kosher establishments and products today.
- 1966
Beth Joseph Congregation
An Orthodox congregation is established that today shares the PHA campus.
- 1970s
A permanent home
The school purchases a larger facility at 515 East Bethany Home Road — our campus to this day.
- Today
Building for the future
A full campus for Jewish life, a preschool rated four stars by Quality First, and a new generation of PHA students learning, davening and growing together.