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Long Range Planning Study for Temple Beth Sholom, July 1988

Date

1988-07

Archival Collection

Description

This report provides the results of a study conducted by CITYWEST, Inc., to "determine whether the synagogue should remain in its current location and be renovated, remain in its current location and rebuild, or move." The report addresses leadership and staff development, as well as programming recommendations.

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Transcript of interview with Steven and Wendy Hart by Barbara Tabach, October 23, 2014

Date

2014-10-23

Description

Steven Hart was born on April 7, 1946, and moved to Las Vegas as a one-year-old with his parents Nat and Sylvia Hart. After graduating from Las Vegas High School, Steven Hart went through an apprenticeship program to become a journeyman carpenter as his father wanted him to learn all phases of the hotel, restaurant, gaming, and business. Including hot to build and design them. He then enlisted in the United States Navy and joined its construction battalion during the Vietnam War. Upon his return to Las Vegas, Steven followed in his father?s footsteps working in the casino industry. Nat Hart was one of the city?s original celebrity chefs and corporate vice president of food and beverage for Caesars World. Well-known for his restaurants at Caesars Palace and the Desert Inn, and for his popular gourmet cooking school. During his long career as a successful gaming executive, Steven worked at several properties, including the International Hotel as food and beverage controller. He was the vice president of food and beverage for the Del Web Corporation. The assistant corporate food and beverage director at the Argent Corporation as well as the Casino Credit executive and Junket Representative for Caesars World. He worked as executive casino host at Bills Gamblin Hall and Hotel in addition to working as the hotel gaming consultant with Hart Gaming LLC. Steve?s wife and dad also owned Kazuku Yakitori, Ichi Ban Japanese steak house, Ringside Bar and Grill and the World Boxing Hall of Champions Museum. In 1985, Steven married Texas-born Wendy Stark Hart, who is also present during this oral history interview. Wendy Hart also pursued a career as an executive in the food and beverage industry. Together, Steven and Wendy Hat reflect at length about Nat Hart?s successful career, particularly as longtime corporate vice president of food and beverage for Caesars World Inc., and opening many of the company's restaurants at Caesars Palace locally and in Atlantic City. Steve and his dad also put in many restaurants for many of the Las Vegas Strip hotels. They discuss both Nat?s relationships with infamous industry figures, like Frank Rosenthal and Hy Goldbaum, and Nat?s dining endeavors with other industry leaders such as like Kirk Kerkorian and Stu and Cliff Pearman. They also highlight the innovation and creativity that Nat brought to his work. Steven also talks about his own career path, from working small jobs at the hotels while in high school, to his military service and developing construction skills, to learning various aspects of the gaming industry management. He reminisces about his childhood in Las Vegas and involvement with Jewish community, including being the first bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Sholom and later serving as president of Jewish War Veterans, Post 711.

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Transcript of interview with Bruce Isaacson by Barbara Tabach, March 24, 2017

Date

2017-03-24

Description

Bruce Isaacson was born in 1956 in Castro Valley, California to Betty Griffin and Bernard Isaacson, and spent his childhood in Oakland. He received his bachelor?s degree from Claremont McKenna College with majors in economics as well as drama, and continued studying for his Masters of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. After receiving his MBA, Isaacson started a career in finance, focusing on mergers and acquisitions. In 1995, he moved to Las Vegas to pursue a real estate career alongside his father. In June 2015, Isaacson became Clark Country?s first poet laureate to encourage poetry as an art form in Southern Nevada. Although Isaacson began writing poetry at a young age, he wanted to develop his craft further. So he attended Brooklyn College for a Masters of Fine Arts and studied with famed poet Allen Ginsberg. Isaacson is known in the San Francisco Bay Area as organizer and poet in the Cafe Babar readings in the 1980s. He is also a co-founder of Zeitgeist Press, where he remains publisher and co-editor. In this interview, Isaacson discusses his childhood and how he maneuvered his career path from finance into poetry. He talks about applying for and serving as the county?s first poet laureate, and describes the programing he?s started in this capacity. Isaacson also speaks about his earlier involvement with Bay Area poetry scene as well as the impact of his Jewish upbringing on his life and his art.

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Transcript of interview with Laura Sussman and Wendy Kraft by Barbara Tabach, February 17, 2016

Date

2016-02-17

Description

They've been referred to as the two Jewish mothers who own a funeral home. At first glance that seems too simple a description. However, it is how they arrived at this description that tells a story of two women who moved here in the late 1990s and whose paths crossed as they became part of the Jewish community of Las Vegas. Laura Sussman arrived first. It was 1997. The Jewish Community Center, a JCC without walls as Laura puts it, hired her as its first executive director. She was from Ohio where there was a robust Jewish tradition. She was director for eight years; then executive director at Temple Beth Sholom. Wendy Kraft moved to the valley in 1999. She was a stay at home mom from Boston, who was accustom to volunteering in the Jewish community. Knowing no one and on the brink of divorce, the Jewish community became her life, a way to build a network of friends and keep her occupied just as it had been in Boston. The two women met through their work with the JCC and love followed. Several years later, in 2009, so did their new business, Kraft-Sussman Funeral and Cremation services. By February 6, 2015, Laura and Wendy had married. They had already formed a family with each other and their three daughters, Leah Sussman, Emma and Elyse Kraft. In this interview they discuss their joint sense of purpose that includes love of family, dedication to the Jewish community, pride in the LGBT identity, and providing caring services to those at the time of funeral services. They talk also of Jewish traditions related to death, the Jewish burial society known as Chevra Kadisha, and challenges of their industry. They share feelings about nonprofits and how they value being actively involved in the community.

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Transcript of interview with Chic Hecht by Julie Sefman, April 2, 1976

Date

1976-04-02

Archival Collection

Description

Interview with Chic Hecht Julie Sefman on April 2, 1976. In this brief interview, Hecht talks about his time in the state senate working to bolster the budget with sales tax and gaming tax, starting a community college and health programs. He also talks about Pop Squires, a newspaper man and advocate for building Hoover Dam, who had a home on the site of Chic Hecht's clothing store on Fremont Street. Hecht also describes his time in the military and his involvement with the Military Intelligence Association.

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Transcript of interview with Hank Greenspun by Tony Bleeker, 1975

Date

1975

Description

Brief interview with Hank Greenspun by student Tony Bleeker. Greenspun speaks about changes in southern Nevada over the years, including politics, gaming and the economy. He mentions the role of the newspaper industry to provide "balance" in society.

No release form is on file for this interview. The interview is accessible onsite only, and researchers must seek permission from the interviewee or heirs for quotation, reproduction, or publication. Please contact special.collections@unlv.edu for further information.

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Transcript of interview with Maurice "Maury" Halfon Behar by Barbara Tabach, March 14, 2016

Date

2016-03-14

Description

In this interview, Behar reflects upon his childhood in France, and later adjusting to life in New York. He talks of his admiration for those that have cared for him in his youth, including Marie Cazous and his parents, Marco and Flora Behar. He details his career path, and how he ended up in Las Vegas. In addition, Behar describes a recent family trip to France, visiting his place of birth for the first time since leaving as a child.

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Transcript of interview with Jerome Countess and Dorothy Eisenberg by Barbara Tabach, October 28, 2014

Date

2014-10-28

Description

Interview with Jerry Countess and Dorothy Eisenberg by Barbara Tabach on October 28, 2014. Countess discusses his childhood and military life. He became involved in the United Jewish Appeal in Las Vegas and started the Jewish Reporter newspaper. Dorothy Eisenberg is also involved in the interview to discuss the Jewish Federation and the Jewish community.

Jerome Countess, known as Jerry to most, was born on December 22, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the borough's Jewish neighborhood, and he developed a reputation for being a skillful handball player and a great dancer. Though he was not allowed to enlist in the U.S. Coast Guard due to colorblindness, Jerry was eventually drafted into the army during World War II. With very minimal combat training, Jerry was sent to North Africa as an infantryman, and was later stationed in Italy. After three years of service, Jerry returned home and married his childhood sweetheart, Rachel, in 1945. Using the G.I. Bill, he enrolled at New York University to study writing, though he quit just shy of graduation as his wife was expecting. After briefly working in the television broadcasting industry, Jerry landed a job with the United Jewish Appeal. In 1975, following in his desire to move west, Jerry took the job of executive director of the Combined Jewish Appeal in Las Vegas, what would soon be renamed the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas. Under his leadership, the federation started the Jewish Family Service as well as The Jewish Reporter, a monthly publication to promote engagement of the Jewish community. Jerry served as the executive director of the federation for many years, serving at the pleasure of many board members and presidents, including the first female federation president, Dorothy Eisenberg.

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Transcript of interview with Gerald Gordon by Barbara Tabach, November 02, 2016

Date

2016-11-02

Description

In 1961, at the age of thirteen, Gerald ?Jerry? Gordon became a bar mitzvah. This typical coming of age celebration was unusual in that he had simultaneously studied in both his home state of California and his adopted home of Las Vegas, where he spent summers with his grandparents. 1961 is also the same year that the Gordons made Las Vegas their permanent home. Jerry graduated from Las Vegas High School, attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas and earned his law degree from University of California, Los Angeles. His gregarious and trustworthy personality led him to career building steps in the legal community of Las Vegas that included illustrious names such as Louis Wiener, Jr., David Goldwater, Neil Galatz, and many others. His personal law specialty became bankruptcy, especially dealings with hotel/casinos. As a member of the Jewish community, Jerry?s energy and expertise to organize was instrumental in the construction of Congregation Ner Tamid, the reform synagogue, at its site on Valle Verde and I-215. It was a multi-year process and includes a vast array of stories?a cash donation from Moe Dalitz, finalization of receiving of a donation land from the Greenspun family during the High Holy Days, and the ongoing challenges of a building campaign during a recession. In addition, he explains that CNT included two unique negotiations: 1) a cell tower and 2) a solar field on the synagogue?s property. Jerry and his wife Yvonne met while attending UNLV. Yvonne taught math at various levels in the Clark County School District. They raised their two children, Sara and Jeffrey, in Las Vegas, and forged an important role together in Congregation Ner Tamid. In April 2017, they were among those honored for their work with the synagogue.

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Biographical essay by Sidney Barouch, 2014

Date

2014

Description

Sidney Barouch describes his experience during World War II living in Tunis, Tunisia, which was a French colony. Barouch discusses the facets of the war front in northern Africa, and the experiences of his family as Jews and business owners.

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