The fascinating life of David Dahan began in Casablanca, Morocco where he was born to Mathilde and Isaac Dahan in 1957. After a hasty departure in 1970 the family came to America and to Las Vegas. Isaac became an administrator for Yellow Cab and Mathilde was a server at the Stardust Hotel/Casino. David evokes a tale of growing up a teenager in a strange culture and then heading out on a solo adventure to learn about the world. By 1977, he fell in love and married an engaging Israeli nurse named Yaffa (1954-2007). Her legacy is the Yaffa Dahan Nursing Education Fund established to assist outstanding PhD nursing students in their dissertation research. Leadership and the energy to always say yes are among David?s many characteristics. He has served on numerous local boards, such as: Nevada Restaurant Association, North Vista Hospital, Touro University, Las Ventanas, Henderson Chamber of Commerce, and the Nevada Law Foundation. He has been the recipient of many awards and acknowledgments for his tireless efforts throughout Las Vegas. Among those is being named the 2005 Person of Influence by In Business Las Vegas. From 1997 ? 1999, he served as President of the Jewish Federation during which time he led a trip to Russia. He is past chair of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs) Committee. In 2007, David was honored as Mensch of the Year at Congregation Ner Tamid. In this interview he recalls his family?s escape from Morocco, learning to adjust to life in Las Vegas and his early jobs in the restaurant business. With his roots firmly planted in Las Vegas, David has built strong relationships within the Jewish and general Las Vegas communities. David is the Chief Executive Officer of Orgill/Singer Insurance. His life experiences have fueled passions for his faith, cooking, photography, poetry and his daughters, Shana and Michelle.
Oral history interview with Laura Sussman and Wendy Kraft conducted by Barbara Tabach on February 17, 2016 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Sussman and Kraft talk about being business partners in Kraft-Sussman Funeral Home, which caters to the Jewish community. They also talk about the local LGBT community as a lesbian couple.
The meeting minutes of the board of directors of Temple Beth Sholom, then known as the Jewish Community Center of Las Vegas, Inc., include the proceedings of meetings held from 1952 to 1956. Also included are periodic reports from committees of the board such as Jewish education, cemetery, and building committees, and budget reports.
Oral history interview with Gary Sternberg conducted by Barbara Tabach on February 12, 2015, April 07 2015, and October 20, 2015 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. In this interview, Gary Sternberg discusses how his family came to live in the United States. He also discusses his wife Noreen in 1957, moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, his repair business, and his importing business with his wife. Sternberg also discusses his entrepreneurial nature and his ownership of three patents.
Oral history interview with Ruth Urban conducted by Barbara Tabach on August 24, 2015 and September 16, 2015 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Urban discusses her upbringing in Las Vegas, Nevada, including observations on childhood friendships, many of whom came from within the Jewish community. She talks extensively about her professional career and passion for mediation as a strategy for problem-solving. In addition, Urban describes her community service commitments over the years, including her current role with Nevadans for the Common Good.
In this interview, Fiol discusses her experience as a a hidden child in the Holocaust and her family's history. She also talks about her involvement with the Las Vegas Holocaust survivors group.
Raymonde "Ray" Fiol is president of the Holocaust Survivors Group of Southern Nevada. A Jewish Holocaust survivor whose parents were killed in Auschwitz, Fiol was hidden by a Christian family of Resistance fighters during her childhood in Nazi-occupied Paris, France. She married American serviceman Phil Fiol and left Paris in 1957. The couple lived in New York City where she worked in inventory control. She retired to Las Vegas, Nevada around 2003 and became active in the local Holocaust Survivors Group. In 2007, she became president of the organization, which provides essential services to Holocaust survivors and helps them share their stories. Fiol is also a member of the Nevada Governor?s Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust and the coordinating council of Shoah International. Her dedication to preserving the memory of the Holocaust and caring for survivors earned her the Nevada Senior Citizen of the Year award from the Nevada Delegation of the National Silver Haired Congress and the Aging Services Directors Organization in 2014, and in 2013 she was named Mensch Volunteer of the Year by the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas. In this interview, Ray reflects upon her traumatic childhood experiences, and shares how she learned details of her family?s history from a woman in France who had researched the destiny of the local Jewish community. She also discusses her involvement with the survivors group, and the positive impacts of its outreach activities, as well as goals to ensure future generations learn about, and from, the Holocaust.
Flora Mason (1940- ) is a Las Vegas, Nevada philanthropist and community leader. She was born Florica Esformes to a Sephardic Jewish parents who emigrated from Greece to New York. This Mediterranean influence can be seen in the meals she serves for the Jewish holidays. Flora?s grandfather had a pushcart business in New York and her father became a produce broker, which led the family to Miami, Florida. She graduated from high school in Miami and also met Stuart Mason there. The young couple married in 1958. They had been married for 58 years when Stuart passed away in 2012. In this oral history, Flora recalls her life?from witnessing signage that read: no blacks, no dogs, no Jews in the South to meeting her husband while a teenager to raising her three children in Las Vegas. Along the way, she has always found time to form fast friendships and to inspire productive community organizations. v For example, Flora and Stuart founded the Las Vegas Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation in 1970. It was a disease that their daughter Deborah had suffered from. They also established the Mason Undergraduate Peer Coach Program at University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries in 2006. Flora was the first woman elected by the general membership to serve on the Temple Beth Sholom Board of Directors. She has served on the National Board of Directors of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, been involved with the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, the Anti-Defamation League among many other Jewish and non-Jewish community organizations. Flora?s college education began at the University of Miami and focused on completing both her undergraduate and graduate degrees at UNLV, where she majored in English literature. She then became a lecturer in the UNLV English department from 1985 to 1993. Flora and Stuart Mason had three children: sons William and James who joined the family?s successful three-generation commercial construction business Taylor International, and daughter Deborah. In this oral history, Flora shares the joy of being a grandparent, her love of travel, and the opportunities of meeting Israeli dignitaries over the years. She also candidly reflects on dealing with grief and the Jewish rituals surrounding death.
Oral history interview with Marilyn Glovinsky and Melissa Lemoine conducted by Barbara Tabach on April 02, 2015 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Glovinsky and Lemoine recall moving from Salt Lake City, Utah to Las Vegas, Nevada. They discuss helping start Congregation Ner Tamid, and their involvement with the Jewish community.