Arlyn Sharon Dunetz
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Arlyn Sharon Phoenix (; born December 31, 1944), commonly known as Heart Phoenix, is an American social activist and mother of actors River, Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer Phoenix.


Early life

Phoenix was born on December 31, 1944, in The Bronx, New York City, the daughter of Margaret (née Lefkowitz; 1916–1998) and Meyer Dunetz (1910–1996). Arlyn was raised with her two sisters, Rhoda and Merle (Sun). Her mother's family was from Hungary, and her father's family was from Russia. Although Arlyn's family was Jewish and celebrated the
Jewish culture Jewish culture is the culture of the Jewish people, from its formation in ancient times until the current age. Judaism itself is not a faith-based religion, but an orthoprax and ethnoreligion, pertaining to deed, practice, and identity. Jewi ...
and
holidays A holiday is a day set aside by Norm (social), custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate ...
, they did not attend
synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
.


Adult life

Phoenix left New York in 1968 and moved to California, where she met her future husband John Lee Bottom (1947–2015). They traveled together along the West Coast, picking fruit and vegetables along the way, and their first son River was born August 23, 1970. Soon after their first daughter Rain was born in 1972, they joined the religious group The Children of God and toured Mexico, Puerto Rico and South America as missionaries of the cult for several years. It was during this time that their son and daughter Joaquin and Liberty (Libertad) were born. Arlyn and John renamed themselves for a brief period, taking the
biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
names Jochebed and Amram, respectively. The couple eventually grew disillusioned with the Children of God and left in 1977. Arlyn would later state that she and her husband were opposed to the cult's increasingly distorted rules, particularly the practice of flirty fishing. They returned to the US in late 1977 and lived in Winter Park, Florida, where Arlyn gave birth to her youngest child, Summer. Around this time, they legally adopted the surname "Phoenix" (Arlyn later changed her name to "Heart" in 1988) and began to embrace veganism as their new diet and lifestyle. The parents took their five children and headed back to California, where Arlyn got a job as an executive secretary for NBC. She later hired an agent, Iris Burton, who eventually got all of her children acting work. John and Arlyn divorced in 1997. She is now married to her third husband, Jeffrey Weisberg. Phoenix was the Executive Director of The Florida School of Traditional Midwifery for five years, one of ten accredited direct entry midwifery schools in the country. In 2012, she co-founded the non-profit organization River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding which provides and promotes the best practices and principles of peacebuilding and global sustainability. She is on the Board of Directors of Peace Alliance, an organization which supports the creation of a United States Department of Peace.


References


External links


River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phoenix, Arlyn 1944 births Activists from New York (state) American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent Living people People from the Bronx
Arlyn Arlyn or Arlyne may refer to: Given name * Arlyn E. Danker (1927–2016), American politician * Arlyn Phoenix (born 1944), American social activist *Arlyne Brickman (1934–2020), mafia informant Surname * Debra Arlyn (born 1986), American pianist ...