Generations of giving
Randi and Alan Jablin continue their parents’ legacy of giving
By Salvatore Caputo
P hilanthropy is one of the foundations of Randi and Alan Jablin’s marriage.

“We promised each other as husband and wife that we would try to do good things together,” Alan said. “I think
we’ve done OK so far. We’re just kind of starting.”
And it’s been quite a start. The Scottsdale residents were married in 2012, donated two Torahs in 2015 – one to Beth Joseph
Congregation in memory of Randi’s parents and the other to Chabad of Mesa in memory of Alan’s parents – and in 2016
launched the Friedel Family Foundation Senior Transportation Fund to provide transportation services to homebound seniors.

“That was one of the most wonder-
ful years of my life as far as giving –
that we were able to give two Torahs
and set up the senior transportation
program within a year,” said Alan,
who was born in the displaced persons
camp at Bergen-Belsen after World
War II and brought by his parents
to the United States in 1951. They
settled in Detroit, where he grew up
and attended Detroit public schools,
including a performing arts high
school. He earned degrees in accoun-
tancy (Wayne State University) and law
(the Detroit College of Law, which has
since become Michigan State Univer-
sity College of Law), practiced law in
Photo by Joel Zolondek
14 BEST OF JEWISH PHOENIX 2017
his own firm in Detroit for 20 years
and later in the San Francisco Bay Area.

He landed in the Valley in 1999.

We promised each other
as husband and wife
that we would try to do
good things together.”
Randi, a native of Omaha, Nebraska,
arrived in the Valley after college
graduation to take a teaching job in the
Paradise Valley Unified School Dis-
trict. She grew up “extremely Reform”
in Omaha, where she was involved
in BBYO. She went to college at the
University of Arizona in Tucson, joined
the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority and led
the chapter. After college, she devel-
oped a thirst for Jewish knowledge that
led to deep involvement in the Jewish
Federation of Greater Phoenix, includ-
ing Women’s Philanthropy and the
National Young Leadership Cabinet.

Both thank their parents for their
philanthropic drive.

Randi said her parents set an example of
philanthropy in their “small, but mighty
Jewish community” in Omaha. Among
their efforts, they endowed the only
Jewish day school in Nebraska, now
known as the Friedel Jewish Academy,
and she and her sister continue to support
the interdenominational school attended
by Jews of liberal and Orthodox streams.

Alan said that his father taught him
that tzedakah meant that “even the
poorest person, who had nothing, was
still obligated to do something for
other people. If they couldn’t afford it,
they needed to volunteer their time or
just do something simple like having
someone over for a meal or something
like that, just to do something.”
Randi said her parents, particularly
her father, enabled her to be in a posi-
tion where she could give of her time
and resources throughout the years.

“I have two kids, Mathew and
Lyndsi, and I’m trying to instill in
them to be thankful for what they have
and to give back,” she said.

Alan has two daughters, Amy and
Erika, both married with children.

“We’re ambassadors for the [Ameri-
can Jewish] Joint Distribution Com-
mittee,” Alan said, noting that his
daughter, Amy, was a Goldman Fellow
for “the Joint.”
“I’m proud of her because she’s
doing good things,” he said, adding
that she started The Red Stone, an
organization that helps Jewish women
with fertility problems.

While the Jablins give to some non-
Jewish causes – Alan, for instance,
proudly says he is one of the founders
of the Musical Instrument Museum in
Phoenix – most of their philanthropy
is directed to Jewish groups, includ-
ing gifts to Valley synagogues across
the denominational spectrum. They
fervently believe in klal Yisrael, that all
Jews are responsible for one another.