Rabbi Shea Harlig (1965- ) founded Chabad of Southern Nevada in 1990 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Chabad of Southern Nevada is a branch of Chabad-Lubavitch, a worldwide Orthodox Jewish outreach organization. Rabbi Harlig previously lived in Brooklyn, New York, where he was born, raised, educated, and ordained.
Mike Gordon (1903 - 1992) was born Meyer Harold Gordon. He is one of the founders of Temple Beth Sholom in Las Vegas and served as Temple president from 1949 to 1951.
In 1932, Mike moved to Las Vegas with his wife, Sallie Gordon. They owned and operated liquor and grocery stores. Mike also worked as a postman and later became Clark County Secretary of the Democratic Central Committee and a member of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce board of directors.
Millicent Rosen was born January 14, 1931 in New York City. Millicent Rosen's father was the Jewish mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. She married Jack Rosen in 1950 when she was 19 years old and they had three children together: Benjamin, Cindy, and Wendy. Rosen moved to Las Vegas to be with one of her daughters and her family in 2000 and cherished her role as a grandmother. An artist at heart, Rosen painted canvases for needlepoint and promoted her own clothing line in 2015. She passed away November 17, 2017.
Leonard Gang was born in New York in 1935. Leonard graduated New York University School of Law in 1961. He moved to Las Vegas to clerk with the Nevada Supreme Court. Both Len and his wife Bobbie grew up with Jewish traditions in New York and became members of Temple Beth Sholom upon moving to Las Vegas. Len is a Navy veteran, former Deputy District Attorney (1965-1966), District Court Judge, Clark County (1971-1974), accomplished criminal and civil litigator.
Temple Beth Am was a Jewish Reform congregation founded by Rabbi Mel Hecht in 1984 in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1992, some members of the congregation, unhappy with Rabbi Hecht's leadership, broke off to form Congregation Adat Ari El. Construction on Beth Am's campus began in Summerlin in 2001. In 2007 Temple Beth Am and Adat Ari El merged to form Temple Sinai.