Essay, The Last years of Temple Beth Am by Meera Kamegai, September 10, 2014

The Last Years of Temple Beth Am In 1984, Las Vegas was known for casinos and atomic testing. The strip boasted fun-filled gambling resorts which were once the domain of the Mafia, but since the entrance of Howard Hughes and the investigations of the Kefauver Commission the casinos were now run by corporations. Atomic testing was long gone and immortalized in a museum. The wild and wooly reputation of Las Vegas remained, however. A colorful new Reform Jewish rabbi was in town. His name was Mel Hecht, and he fit in to the scenery with his boots, big hat and gruff manner. He had all the right rabbinical credentials, a Doctor of Divinity from Hebrew University and the Jewish Institute of Religion. He had served as a race relation?s officer in the US Army and was active in many community-minded organizations. Rabbi Hecht founded Temple Beth Am in 1984, and his congregation met wherever they could find space. The congregation was given land in Summerlin, which had been set aside by the Howard Hughes Corporation for non-profit organizations. A modular building was moved onto the site to serve as a sanctuary. Rabbi Hecht had a business plan for funding a full-service synagogue. A preschool, an adult day care, and an event center would be built first and their proceeds would raise the funds for a sanctuary. A construction loan of approximately two million dollars was obtained, and ground for the campus was broken in 2001. The land was a prime site because Summerlin, about 10 miles from the strip, was a rapidly growing community with both upper middle class and wealthy residents. The administrative affairs of Temple Beth Am were never conducted in a smooth or business-like manner. For one thing, Rabbi Hecht as founder of the synagogue, considered himself as the corporation ?owner.? The board was influenced by him and always deferred to his wishes. His wife, Michelina (Micki) Hecht was his coadministrator, and together they sat at the head of the table at board meetings. Miki Hecht took charge of the event center, and the Hecht?s 18 year-old daughter, Melissa, was put in charge of the office with a generous salary. Several times groups of congregants, disgusted with slipshod management, broke off to form a new congregation. One of these groups founded Congregation Adat Ariel, where 15 families held services in a donated storefront and retained a rabbi who lived in California and came to town to conduct services every two weeks. The congregation grew to about 75 families. They scrimped and saved to someday build a beautiful campus and become a full-service synagogue. Meanwhile, Las Vegas was growing by approximately 6,000 people a month. Many new residents were Jewish and searching for a Reform synagogue near the upscale community of Summerlin. Temple Beth Am had financial problems from the beginning o f construction. There were insufficient funds to support the new campus. Most religious organizations depend on donations for construction projects. Temple Beth Am received very few large donations, because of the Rabbi?s temperament and outspoken political views. The moneymaking arms of the temple were not making enough to pay for the mortgage. The problem was temporarily solved by taking out a larger loan so additional funds would be available to pay financial obligations. The mortgage started as a construction loan of two million dollars, but was refinanced for three million and so on, until the mortgage was four million dollars. But, of course, this led to greater problems very quickly, because after the last refinance the congregation could not pay the monthly fees. Here is where my own story begins. My husband and I joined the congregation in 2002 after Rabbi Hecht officiated at my parents? memorial services. The new building was under construction and the future of Temple Beth Am looked bright. I was put on the board about a year after joining the congregation. I am a retired professor from the University of California, Davis, and I had time to do many of the volunteer tasks the temple required. I edited the newsletter, put up its website and became involved with almost every committee. I made a DVD for the temple to put into the membership packets. After a year or so, I was elected as a trustee, and then after a few more years, I was elected a vice-president. For many years, I was unaware of the temple?s dire financial straits. Once an emergency meeting was called because the temple did not have enough money to pay its mortgage. I gave a donation of $60,000 for a library in my parents? name. With other donations, I must have given the temple about $100,000. Board meetings were always stormy. I claimed that the best preparation for the temple board was my university faculty meetings, which were equally turbulent. There was a succession of presidents of the board. Presidents resigned as they became aware of the financial situation of the temple. I became president in 2006, because I replaced Art Shenker who resigned over the impending foreclosure of the temple. Professional people with reputations to defend left the board like rats leaving a sinking ship. The problem, as I saw it, was that the Hechts wanted financial control of the organization, and they didn?t have the skills to manage it. To them, the temple was run like a mom-and-pop store. The remaining board simply went along with the Hecht?s wishes. They also fired Jeff Klein, an extremely competent head of the Adult Day Care Center, and Diane Wright, a superb preschool administrator. As foreclosure was imminent, I became desperate and filed a lawsuit against the board for malfeasance and negligence with Michael Crystalli as my attorney. He seemed like the appropriate attorney, because he was currently filing a suit against the Catholic Church. It was my hope that the court would appoint a receiver to straighten out the financial situation. Also the lawsuit would delay the foreclosure process. My husband, Minao, a Buddhist, stood by me during this turbulent time. He never discouraged me from assuming the expense of the lawsuit and was a wellspring of tranquility when I came from stressful confrontations. At this point, a miracle happened. In February 2007,1 went to a regional conference of the Union for Reform Judaism. After the conference, which ended at noon, there were sandwiches available for those who were leaving. The lunchroom was almost empty, but I saw a pleasant couple sitting at a table and asked them if I could join them. We started chatting, and I discovered that they were Ann and Seymour ?Kap? Kaplan from Adat Ariel in Las Vegas. I told them about the impending demise of Temple Beth Am. Kap asked if we would consider a merger. Ecstatic, I answered, ?Yes.? Adat Ariel had money but no building. We had a beautiful building but no money. What could be better? The plan for a merger turned out to be difficult to implement. The Hechts would rather see the property foreclosed upon than turn it over to another organization and hence another rabbi. The board was split in trying to accommodate Rabbi Hecht in his desire not to merge, even though the bank would own the site, and it would be unlikely that a synagogue would remain in its place. My personal wish was that a reform Jewish synagogue remain on that site?a prime location in an upscale neighborhood with many Jewish families. Another large Reform Jewish synagogue, Ner Tamid, had moved to Henderson. Secret meetings and late-night telephone calls followed. Finally, a vote of three to two enabled the merger to proceed. The congregation was bewildered because they knew little about the financial difficulties of Temple Beth Am. A number of angry congregational meetings followed at which additional security guards had to be brought in to insure there would be no violence. The final arrangements were to sell Temple Beth Am to Adat Ariel and Adat Ariel would assume a loan of 4.7 million dollars, including the fees for the foreclosure. My lawsuit was dropped, and Temple Sinai was bom. I became second vice-president, and Jeff Klein and Diane Wright were rehired. Joining the two congregations together was a huge success. The members of the two synagogues were still acquainted, and the transition seemed more like a family reunion than a merger of two separate entities. Several years later, a donor stepped forth and liquidated the mortgage of about four million dollars. The president, Dr. Lawrence Copeland, and the board were careful administrators and kept the synagogue on track financially. Kenneth Segel was the first Rabbi o f the new Temple. He left the congregation two years later. In 2009, Temple Sinai hired a learned young rabbi, Malcolm Cohen, from London, England. Rabbi Cohen was one of three rabbis at a large synagogue in a West London synagogue. With boundless energy, resourcefulness, compassion and intelligence, Rabbi Cohen manages all aspects of Temple Sinai?s spiritual affairs. Under his spiritual guidance, Temple Sinai is growing rapidly. Shortly afterwards, a new cantor was hired. Mariana Gindlin was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Cantor Gindlin felt a passion for Judaic music early on in life and has devoted her career to teaching, performing and leading liturgical and popular Jewish music. Her beautiful voice and warm personality is a draw to those seeking spirituality in religious services. Temple Sinai has a new campus. I feel my work has been completed. I am now turning my attention to other matters, but I live with the satisfaction of knowing there is a place in Summerlin that is a spiritual center for Jewish families. Meera M. Kamegai September 10, 2014