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COMMUNITY CENTER ? The above photo shows the entrance to the Jewish Community Center in Las Vegas which was constructed in 1946 and already has proved to be too small for the growing: Jewish population here. Plans for expanding the Center already are under discussion by the board of directors. By John F. Cahlan When, a mas plants an off-sized acorn he may, if the ele-ments are right and the proper care provided, come up witfi a fairly larged sized oak tree, ac-cording to an old saw which, says in a lot fewer words, mighty oaks from little acorns grow. . The old sage, who spoke those words so many years ago and had them placed in the copy books in order that school young-sters might learn to write a fine Epencerian hand, must have had the Jewish community in Las Vegas in \ mind when he first scrivened that truism?for, cer-tainly, no. sturdier organization has grown from such small be-ginnings as has the Jewish com-munity in this area. Old timers in Las Vegas can recall the days when there were only two members of the Jewish faith in this section?Eddie Blum, a part-time newsboy for the old Las Vegas Review and Abe Abrams, known all over town .as "Abe the Tailor." Others, like Mike Gordon, the Golden brothers, the Smith fra-ters, Leo Roth and Benny Bern-stem came after?while Boulder dam was being constructed?but the original pair had no thought, at the time, there would be any-thing like what the later-comers have built in this "city of des-tiny". The first beginnings of the Jew-ish Community in Las Vegas, came through the efforts of Nate Mack, who came to Las Vegas during the Boulder dam era and found nine others of his country-men here. Mack saw the possi-bilities of the section early and knew, that if the city continued its growth, the Jewish population would grow in" proportion, so he set about" organizing the first Community Center here. ; He called a" meeting, early in the year 1937, and at the meeting were Mack, Mike Gordon, and his father-iri-law, Abe Schur, Paul Rapaport, Bill Mendelsohn, Sam Friedman, Abe Abrams, Dr. *'Agasam of Boulder C i ty, and Benny Bernstein. The first meet-ing was held at the Mack home at number seven Bonneville, and at that session it was decided to continue the Community and pro-vide religious' services for those of the faith who desired to at-tend. It was a little rough go back t f i l ^ in those dayj^wcause, ther^ere only l^Tthe breth-ren in ra^Vega^Cnd every one of them a ^ f l T b e present be-fore ss^^traTSl^ld Be held. Sick-ness, absence .fffcttthe city or any other excumseh on(m 5il^d.m pnf>ott, inbEer selected, and he is still serving.. The local Jewish community! points with pride to the Com-' munity Center, at 1229 Carson street, which was erected in 1946 at a cost of $26,000. All construc-tion work was done by Ira Gold-ring and the job was completed in six months. The building com-mittee was composed of Mack, Art Brick, Gordon, William Men-delsohn, Dr. A. Coblenz, Sally Gordon and others. One of the odd things about the Center is the fact that Mack as president, was roundly criti-cized because he was building the structure too large and that it was too far out in the city. That was only six years ago. Today,-with the growth of the city and the comparative' growth of the Jewish Community, the latter find themselves already crowded to almost capacity, and are now talking expansion. Of course, the Jewish people were not the only ones to run into that criticism.- Practically every ^building which was ..con-structed here during the pre-war days was either too far out or too large, and the critics leaped! on all who were responsible for j such construction for wasting money. But times have changed and the far-sightedness of some of the citizens has stood the city in good stead on most occasions. With the growth of the Jewish Community in Las Vegas match-ing that of; the city itself, it was decided, in' 1947, that, the time had come to bring a rabbi here who would devote his full time toward the betterment of t h e Center and to the welfare of the Jewish: people. As - a. ? result, . Rabbi David Cohen was selected to come here (Continued on Page 20) FOUNDER ? Nate Mack, old-time resident of the city of Las Vegas, is credited with being the founder of the Jew-ish Community Center in Las Vegas. Mack, ^yho came to Las Vegas in the early days of the Boulder dam construction, ser-ved as the first president of the organisation here. PRESIDENT ? Jake KozloJ hotel man and casino operat for many years in Las Vegz is the present president of t' Las Vegas Jewish Communi Center here. Much progrf has been made under Kozlof direction. -: 20 Las Vegas Review-Journal Sunday, January 27, 1952 '\lt ^ S T litae rough go tecfcj there in those" days because, there TO only 10 of She brett-j ren in Las V_egas and every one; cf them had to" be presen^be- ; fore services camdheheld.Sick-j ness, absence from the - city a., etv other excuse- could uqt be; accented, and when a meeting; S c h e d u l e d , aH 10 pledged, to:jf be wesent. ?.??:. it ...-or several years the eommu- jr city "arranged for a cantor from! f Los Angeles to come up to con- y duct the services. for. the high, j hciidiys and, for the first few;j -ears these were observed m;( ?ie Mack heme <cn Bonneville.!; However, when-tfce community ; f crew larger and more members!.; 5i the faith arrived, the. ceieora- j Sons were ^bservea m u-e, Catholic community, center ana,; cs one or two occasions, m the; ?^?'?rs Home. j* " Mter the first two years, ttj. was decided to form the Jewisnj ? cojaanaity Center in Las Vegas . ana Kate Hack was electea the | ?first president of the then ex-ji landing group. At the same time, ??? clans were laid for the construc-tion of. a'.building to serve the bceenintge rs, eamned ytehaisr sp llaatne rc. ame mto Mack served as .president :rof the center from I23S to 1946, when he went back to Los An-eeles on account of his health. He was succeeded by Abe Schur, xfho served during the 1947 year. Then Mack returned and again f-as elected president, but-he was forced to resign and his term vas finished, out by:Mike Gor-don. Gordon" served until Octo-ber, 1949 when Jake Kozloff was (Continued from Page 10) to take charge of the Center in 1947 and, during his three year stay here, .became ; a highly .re-spected and active citizen of the area. Rabbi Cohen left- in the middle of last year and he was succeeded by Rabbi Michael Kurz, who still is in office and doing an excellent job. At the present time, the Jew-ish population in Las Vegas num-bers somewhere around 350 fanK isies and the Cente. has an adult membership of. approximately 200. The rapid growth of t h e Center is shown by the fact that, in 1949, there were some 60 mem-bers; in 1950 a total of 100, and this year it has grown to its present figure. . ? -?..,- Jake Kozloff, present presi-dent, reports that it costs the members approximately $30,000 per year to operate the Center, in contrast to those days back in 1939-'40, when the entire ex-pense was about $200 per year. One of! the high points of the Center's activities came in 1947 when the local Center sponsored the big show for the United Jew-ish Appeal1 and brought Eddie Cantor here for the affair. At tnat session a total of $40,000 was raised by the local Center, and this was .reported, at the time, to be the highest per cap-ita contribution made by the Jew-ish people anywhere in the United States. Since that time, the UJA af-fairs have raised anywhere from $20,000 to $35,000 per year, and. "the Las Vegas Jewry has a place of honor on the national escutcheon so far as contribu-; tiows are concerned. When Kozloff took over as president, one of his first pro-grams was to establish classes in which the Hebrew language was taught, and at the present time, a majority of the young-sters of Jewish descent attend that school and learn their moth-er tongue. _ The sisterhood of the Center 3 established a Sunday school sev-eral years ago and at the present time there are some 100 young-sters registered atad attending i each session: Mrs. Jake Kozlaff J organized a kindergarten and, ' between the two institutions the center now is taking care of its youngsters in the same manner as the adults are being served. It's a far cry from the days when Boulder dam was being constructed and only two mem-bers- of the Jewish faith roamed the streets of the then " l a s t frontier".. But the. early comers built on a solid foundation and now those who followed have raised a Community which takes an ac-tive part in the affairs of Las Vegas?civic, fraternal and poli-tical? and has won for itself a recognition-of service that sel-dom has been equalled, any-where m the world. Officers of the organization who are carrying on the work of the Center at present include: Kozloff, president; Louis Mack, first vice president; Harry Levy, second vice president and Dave Eisenberg, secretary. Directors are: Mrs. Sally Gordon, Mrs. Kittie Wiener, Mrs. Billie Men-delsohn, Max Goot, Charles Sal-ton, Ed Waskow, Harry Taback, Murry Wollma-n, Harry Mack, H. M. Greenspun and Mike Gor-don. There also are two honor-ary life members of the group, Nate Mack and Arthur Brick. Jewish Center