Chabad of Southern Nevada was established in 1990 by Rabbi Shea Harlig and his wife Dina Harlig. It is an outpost of the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch organization that provides social services and educational programs for members of the Jewish community. Chabad of Southern Nevada is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada and has six affiliated centers: Chabad of Summerlin, Chabad of Green Valley, Chabad of East-Or Bamidbar, Chabad of Southwest, Chabad Hebrew Center, and Chabad Student Services at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Oral history interview with Jean Tobman, Janie Moore, and Marilyn Moran conducted by Claytee D. White on November 05, 2013 for the West Charleston Neighborhoods--an Oral History Project of Ward 1. In this interview, Jean Tobman recalls coming to Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband and two young children in the 1950s, and the life they established in the Pinto area of the Westside. She also talks about how her husband, Herb, owned City Furniture and a cab company near downtown. Moore and Moran discuss their youth and the enjoyable time they had growing up in Las Vegas. Moran talks about how the city has grown and her time on the City of Las Vegas planning commission. Moore also discusses the growth of Las Vegas and her nostalgia for old Las Vegas.
In this interview, Molasky discusses her parents, Irwin and Susan Molasky, and growing up in Las Vegas as a member of Temple Beth Sholom. She attended Sunday school and Hebrew school, but is not particularly religious as an adult.
Beth Molasky-Cornell is a partner, shareholder, and an active member of the board of directors of the Molasky Group of Companies, which was founded by her father Irwin Molasky. She is a founding partner and a core member of the board of directors of Ocean Pacific Companies, a high-end real estate development firm founded by her husband Ken Cornell in San Diego, California. Molasky-Cornell contributed to numerous Molasky Group building projects, including the Bank of America Plazas, the Winterwood Corporation land development, and the Park Towers luxury condominiums. Molasky was born in Florida; however, her family moved to Las Vegas before her second birthday. She graduated from Valley High School in 1968, and started college at the University of Southern California at the age of seventeen. After spending a couple of years in Rhode Island, where she had her children, she moved back to Las Vegas in 1975. In this interview, Molasky discusses her childhood experiences in Las Vegas, especially as a member of the Jewish community, and reflects upon changes that influenced her children?s upbringing in the city.
Oral history interviews with Gilbert Yarchever conducted by Claytee White on April 03, 2006 and April 07, 2006 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Yarchever opens his interview by discussing his childhood in Pennsylvania and what growing up during the Depression was like. He then describes looking for employment and the discrimination he experienced for being Jewish. Yarchever then recalls his move to Washington, D.C. in December of 1939 and the atmosphere of the city at the brink of World War II. He describes his arrival in North Africa and how he helped smuggle Jews out of Eastern Europe and into Jerusalem for safety during the war. Yarchever talks about his Army service and his rescue from a sinking boat in the Suez Canal. Yarchever ends his interview with a discussion on why he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and his involvement in the local community.
Leo Wilner (1917- 1998) was born in Brooklyn, New York. Leo graduated from Jefferson High School in New York and for two years attended school to be a rabbi. He quit to work and help his family. In the early 1960s, friends talked Wilner into moving to Las Vegas where he became executive director Temple Beth Sholom.
Bobby Morris (born Boruch Moishe Stempelman) was born June 30, 1927 and immigrated from Wilno, Poland to Brooklyn, New York in 1937. His passion for drumming was ignited soon after, and he began shining shoes to pay for drumming lessons from Henry Adler. At the age of thirteen, Morris got his first gig playing at the Musicians Union in the Catskill Mountains during the summer. He soon developed a career playing jazz around town with different artists while simultaneously studying at the Manhattan School of Music.
Rabbi Mel Hecht was born July 8, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of five, his family moved to Miami, Florida where they had a large, extended Jewish family, complete with relatives who were hazzans and mohels. Soon after moving to Florida, his parents bought a hotel in Hialeah, a city 10 miles outside of Miami, where Hecht spent the remainder of his childhood.
Jack Kaufman (September 3, 1935-August 2, 2015) was a Las Vegas lawyer and judge. Kaufman was born in Cleveland September 3, 1935. He graduated from the University of Arizona where he earned his Bachelors in engineering. He also attended Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah where he received his Masters in business. Kaufman completed his education at the California Western School of law where he was awarded with a Juris Doctorate. Kaufman moved to Las Vegas in 1965 as a government lawyer for the Nevada Test Site.
Mel Exber (1923-2002) was an innovative sports book operator and the longtime owner of the Las Vegas Club casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Exber was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 3, 1923. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and moved to Las Vegas in 1947. With his business partner, Jackie Gaughan, Exber opened the Saratoga Sports Book in 1953. Exber bought the Las Vegas Club in 1960, and also owned interests in the El Cortez, Plaza, Club Bingo, Western, Nevada, Gold Spike, and Barbary Coast.