Oral history interview with Dr. Edward Goldman conducted by Barbara Tabach on March 22, 2016 and April 04, 2016 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Goldman discusses his career as a Clark County School District teacher, negotiator, and regional superintendent over the span of thirty years. He also talks about his activity in the Las Vegas, Nevada Jewish community at Temple Beth Sholom and being a founding member of Midbar Kodesh Temple.
Bernice Eisenberg has been a Las Vegas resident since 1955 and was a part of the formation of Midbar Kodesh Temple. Eisenberg was a teacher and has taught at many Las Vegas schools. She met her husband, Ivan, at the Jewish Community Centers’ social club for young adults and married him in 1956. During the mid 1990s Las Vegas was a growing and Temple Beth Sholom was the only synagogue and Eisenberg worked to help form Midbar Kodesh Temple to serve the growing Henderson community. Bernice has two children.
Rabbi Bradley Tecktiel was born June 28, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to New York City to attend university, where he received two Bachelor of Arts degrees: one from List College and one from Columbia University. He went on to achieve a Master?s degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Soon after graduating in 1996, Rabbi Tecktiel accepted his first clergy position in New Rochelle, New York. From there he went on to lead a congregation in Louisville, Kentucky, before eventually moving to Las Vegas to become the spiritual leader of Midbar Kodesh Temple in 2008. In this interview, Rabbi Tecktiel discusses the path that eventually brought him, his wife, Susan, and their three children to Las Vegas. He talks about his passion for developing Jewish community engagement and programming, and specifically about Midbar Kodesh Temple initiatives, including Yom HaShoah and educational programming. In addition, Rabbi Tecktiel reflects upon the growth of the Jewish community, both those affiliated and unaffiliated, and the impact of Jews on Las Vegas?, as well as Nevada?s, development.
Cynthia "Cindy" Goussak is the President of Midbar Kodesh Temple and is married to Greg Goussak. Together they worked on the creation of Midbar Kodesh.
Oral history interview with Robert Fisher conducted by Barbara Tabach on January 08, 2015 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. In this interview, Fisher discusses his childhood in Minnesota, and the large role Judaism played in his upbringing. He speaks at length about his involvement with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism over the years, including as regional director of the United Synagogue Youth Far West Region, which took him from Minnesota to California. He talks about his time in Los Angeles, California, and later, about his life in Las Vegas, Nevada, including his broadcasting career as well as involvement with Midbar Kodesh Temple.
David Gavrin, a former teacher, has been an on and off resident of Las Vegas since 1974 until he moved permanently to the town in 2003. He and his wife, Rosa, a former CPA, were from New York and were members of Temple Beth Sholom in Roslyn New York. When they moved to Las Vegas they purchased a house near Midbar Kodesh Temple and have been active members ever since with David serving as the Men's Club President.
Barbara Kirsh was born in 1957 and grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was involved in the Jewish community, attending Hebrew School and teaching at the United Synagogue Youth as a teenager. Kirsch went to college in Colorado and Boston and after her education moved back to Las Vegas to get involved with the family business, Ideal Office Equipment. When she moved back to Las Vegas she got involved with the Jewish Federation and was in the Young Leadership group. She has been an active member of Midbar Kodesh since its founding.
Ivan Eisenberg moved to Las Vegas in 1947 at the age of seventeen and was part of the formation of Midbar Kodesh Temple. Eiseneberg’s family moved to Las Vegas because his mother had relatives in town. Once the family was established in Las Vegas his father established Ideal Office Equipment where Eisenberg started working at in 1954 and still works there today. Eiseneberg attended Las Vegas Hish School, the only high school at the time, and graduated in 1948 and then continued his education at the University of Nevada Reno.
The UNLV University Libraries Photographs of the Jewish Community of Southern Nevada (2015-2018) are comprised of digital images captured as part of the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. The photographs include members of the Southern Nevada Jewish community, synagogues Temple Beth Sholom (current and original site), Congregation Ner Tamid (including aerials), Chabad of Las Vegas, Temple Sinai, and Midbar Kodesh Temple. There are also photographs of The Desert Torah Academy's Robert Cohen Educational Campus, the future site of Chabad of Green Valley, the Holocaust Resource Center, Manpower Las Vegas’s 50th anniversary celebration, and the House of Straus.