Jews in Nevada: A History

11. Building a Temple, Keeping a Rabbi, and Schisms North and South, 1950–1980

9 79 0 11 Building a Temple, Keeping a Rabbi, and Schisms North and South 1950–1980 At midcentury, Congregation Beth Sholom had a full-time rabbi, David Cohen , cantor Herman Kinnory, and a Jewish Community Center it had outgrown . Jake Kozloff, a former Pennsylvania brewer who had just purchased the Last Frontier, was president of Beth Sholom when its members decided to build a temple at Sixteenth Street and Oakey Boulevard. Kozloff’s restaurant at the Last Frontier was the late-evening meeting place to discuss such business.1 A building project of this magnitude required leadership and diplomacy to reconcile divergent opinions on architecture and tradition. Everyone had a slightly different understanding of what it meant to be a Jew. For some, it meant not denying their Jewish lineage and distancing themselves from all religious trappings. For others, it was to preserve the faith by educating children in Judaism, observing the Sabbath, and being part of a studying and worshiping community. For most others, “being a Jew” was interpreted broadly or strictly between these two poles. Success marked the careers of many families who were the core of Beth Sholom, but the most visible source of Las Vegas wealth was with the Jewish casino owners and operators—some with storied connections to organized crime. To spring the capital for a new synagogue from such a diverse population required a delicate touch. Builders of Temple Beth Sholom Attorney David Zenoff chaired the building committee, and construction chairpersons were local developer Irwin Molasky, Jean Messing, and contractor Melvin Moss. Ira Marschak, a former postman who got his start in architecture through correspondence courses, donated the plans for the synagogue . The initial fund-raiser for Temple Beth Sholom, produced and directed by Edythe Katz in the spring of 1955, was a simple “box supper” event jews in nevada 9 180 0 held at Kozloff’s New Frontier. Despite initial limp ticket sales, it turned out to be a well-attended function involving the entire Las Vegas community and cleared a neat six thousand dollars.2 The construction and furnishing of Temple Beth Sholom continued for eight years through the presidencies of Harry Levy, Lloyd Katz, Al Goot, Zenoff, Moss, and Jack Entratter. The congregation delegated community fund-raising to Merv Adelson, a builder of elegant homes outside the city limits. Cochairing with Adelson was his business partner, Moe Dalitz of the Desert Inn, who was a natural choice to help lead the fund-raising effort for Temple Beth Sholom. His targets were other recently arrived Jews who had made an investment in Las Vegas gambling. One of the less well-known was Ruby Kolod, who helped Dalitz finance the Showboat, had a “reputation as a killer and blackmailer,” and was allegedly involved in “a shady oil deal.”3 In later years, Kolod was unfavorably remembered by some members of the Jewish community and with genuine affection by others as a generous man who wanted to atone for and expunge his past misdeeds. “Now all of a sudden Ruby Kolod, married to Esther, can own a house and not look over his shoulder,” recalled Mel Moss. Kolod gave money to the building effort, which included a youth center dedicated to his son, who had died in a Lake Mead boating accident. Although Kolod became a lightning rod for future governor Grant Sawyer, Lloyd Katz in 1954 respected him enough to ask him to serve on the temple’s board of directors. “You don’t want somebody like me,” Kolod replied, and he remained a temple supporter from the sidelines. A decade later, the state tried to add him to Nevada’s “Black Book.”4 Melvin Moss and the Gin Rummy Tournament Funds to complete the temple construction and add necessary furnishings had flagged, when Melvin Moss took over as president in 1957. Moss came from Detroit to the Las Vegas Army Air Corps Gunnery School in 1943. He met his future wife, Corinne “Corky” Wollman, at that time. They married in 1946, returned to Detroit, and then came back to Las Vegas with two children . “The financial support which we got from the Strip for the synagogue was very important,” Moss later recalled. “But for the most part, the people on the Strip who identified themselves as being Jews were more superstitious than they were religious. They would come to the synagogue one day Building a Temple, Keeping a Rabbi...