Sanford Akselrad is the rabbi at Congregation Ner Tamid. In this interview he describes his rabbinical training, coming to Las Vegas, and the growth of the congregation.

More inclined in his youth to pursue a career as a scientist than rabbi, Sanford Akselrad (1957- ) became the rabbi at Congregation Ner Tamid in 1988. Turning his tenure, Rabbi Akselrad has lead the congregation through its move from Emerson to Street to its permanent home on Green Valley Parkway and I-215 and shares a fun story about buying desks and chairs from the Clark County School District. He talks about many of the milestones including: Project Ezra which he started during the 2008 recession to help Jewish community members find jobs; the NextGen program which was initiated to bring young adults in their twenties and thirties back to the temple. For over twenty years Rabbi Akselrad was a member of the board of the Nevada Governor?s Council on Holocaust education, a topic that was the focus of his rabbinical thesis. He was the founding president of the Clark County Board of Rabbis and has served on the boards of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, Jewish Family Services, and the Humana Hospital Pastoral Advisory Board. He was also the chair of the Federation?s Community Relations Council (CRC). Rabbi Akselrad is a board member of the Anti-Defamation League Nevada region office and the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada. Sanford Akselrad was born on October 6, 1957 in Oakland, California and raised in Palo Alto. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles and then went to graduate school at the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion. He spent the first year of his graduate program in Israel, the next two in Los Angeles, and the final two years in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rabbi Akselrad met his wife Joni in Reno, Nevada and married her during his third year of rabbinical school. The couple has two children, CJ and Sam. After his ordination in 1984, Rabbi Akselrad was associate rabbi of Temple Israel in Columbus, Ohio, one of the largest Reform congregations in the Midwest. His choice of career was inspired by his father, Sidney Akselrad, who was a prominent rabbi involved in social justice issues and the Civil Rights Movement. Sanford Akselrad has followed his father?s example of community involvement, both in Las Vegas and on a national level: he served on the board of the National Conference of Community and Justice (NCJJ), he was chair of the NCJJ's Inter-faith Council, and he is active in the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ).

Preliminary sketch of the proposed Xanadu Hotel and Casino gambling area. Drawn in pencil on torn sheets of tracing paper. The Xanadu was to be located where the Excalibur Hotel and Casino currently sits, but it was never built.
Site Name: Xanadu Hotel and Casino
Address: 3850 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV

Preliminary sketch of the proposed Xanadu Hotel and Casino tower. Original medium: pencil on tracing paper taped to mylar. The Xanadu was to be located where the Excalibur Hotel and Casino currently sits, but it was never built.
Site Name: Xanadu Hotel and Casino
Address: 3850 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV

Partial cross section of the proposed Xanadu Hotel and Casino. Original medium: pencil on tracing paper. The Xanadu was to be located where the Excalibur Hotel and Casino currently sits, but it was never built. Berton Charles Severson, architect; Brian Walter Webb, architect.
Site Name: Xanadu Hotel and Casino
Address: 3850 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV

Transverse section of the porte-cochère of the proposed Xanadu Hotel and Casino. Original medium: pencil on tracing paper. The Xanadu was to be located where the Excalibur Hotel and Casino currently sits, but it was never built.
Site Name: Xanadu Hotel and Casino
Address: 3850 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV

Cross section through the porte-cochère of the proposed Xanadu Hotel and Casino. Original medium: pencil on tracing paper. The Xanadu was to be located where the Excalibur Hotel and Casino currently sits, but it was never built.
Site Name: Xanadu Hotel and Casino
Address: 3850 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV

Transverse section at east end of the proposed Xanadu Hotel and Casino (west end similar). Original medium: pencil on tracing paper. The Xanadu was to be located where the Excalibur Hotel and Casino currently sits, but it was never built. Berton Charles Severson, architect; Brian Walter Webb, architect.
Site Name: Xanadu Hotel and Casino
Address: 3850 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV