The meeting minutes of the general membership and board of directors of Temple Beth Sholom include the proceedings of meetings held from 1973 to 1974.

When Melanie Greenberg was a young girl in her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, she thinks it is likely that she crossed paths with her future husband at Hebrew School. However, it would be years later in college when they officially met – and fell in love and married in 1970. By 1976, Missouri was in the rearview mirror and career opportunities for her husband Gene Greenberg would lead them to Las Vegas. With their 18-month-old daughter Sari, they drove into Las Vegas for the first time, down Boulder Highway to Flamingo Road. Gene’s employer had arranged for a room at the Flamingo Hotel. As she explains, there many have been a better route, but it brought them to town and they stayed, raised their family, and became fixtures in the community since that moment. Among their first goals was finding a synagogue. Melanie’s magical touch has been felt in many places within the Las Vegas Jewish community: an active member of Temple Beth Sholom, the Jewish Federation’s Young Leadership and Women’s programs, organizer of Hebrew High, coordinator of L’Dor V’Dor activities for seniors, and Executive Director of Hillel from 1996 – 2003.

Dr. Leonard Kreisler, MD, was born August 3, 1930 in Brooklyn to post World War I European Jewish immigrants. Raised in the smaller community of White Plains, New York, he worked happily by his father?s side. The elder Kreisler was a cabinet maker and carpenter, who Len describes as fiercely independent. Young Len keenly helped his Yiddish language father write his contracts and guided him to increasing his prices. At an early age, Len knew that he would become a medical doctor?little did he know what an amazing life was in his future. It was while attending the University of Vermont, College of Medicine that Len met his wife Joan. They married in June 1957. Joan became a teacher and later a real estate agent while in Las Vegas. This interview includes stories about his medical education and his thirteen year private medical practice in Peekskill, New York. This was followed by a career in occupational medicine and over seventeen years as the Medical Director at the Nevada Test Site for Reynolds Electric and Engineering Corporation (1973 ? 1990). During that time he was also elected Chief of Staff at University Medical Center (UMC) for two years and helped create the Children?s Miracle Network Telethon and the UMC Foundation. When he recalls moving to Las Vegas, his memories include jogging by Temple Beth Sholom and joining a minyan. He became a congregation vice president. When his career at the Test Site was halted, his medical adventure led him to be a maritime physician for a cruise liner. He also ran twice for Clark County Commissioner against Thalia Dondero. Dr. Kreisler is the author of several books: Death by Any Means (2005); Roll the Dice, Pick a Doc and Hope for the Best (2009); The Codes of Babylon (2010); Shortfall (2011); The Obligated Volunteer (2014) and In Bed Alone, A Caregiver?s Odyssey (2016).

Meeting minutes include reports from committees of the board, correspondence, and balance sheets.

It was a scorching Fourth of July, when Norma (n?e Adler) and Leon Friedman rolled into their new home of Las Vegas in 1973. Nevertheless, they were content with leaving Gary, Indiana behind, and starting fresh with the family?s new ownership of Walker Furniture. Norma recalls her first stop in checking out Las Vegas was to visit the synagogue ? Temple Beth Sholom being the only option. Her oldest son would soon become a bar mitzvah. Feeling good about that, she and her sister-in-law who was also relocating to Las Vegas for the furniture business, searched for new homes. Norma settled into the community through volunteer work as well as through employment outside the family business. She worked in the real estate briefly and in a jewelry store at the Dunes. A natural organizer, she immersed herself in religious and civic organizations including the Jewish Federation, Jewish Family Service Agency, and volunteering at Selma Bartlett Elementary School in Henderson. Norma shares stories of her Jewish heritage and upbringing in Pittsburgh, the decision to move to Las Vegas, making fast friendships during her life in Las Vegas and the joy she has in traveling the world with Leon, who passed in 2004. In 2017, Norma was honored by the Jewish Family Service Agency.