Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

There’s a new temple in town

Even as Rabbi Sanford Akselrad prepared for the grand opening of Reform Congregation Ner Tamid's new temple in Henderson this weekend, he was dreaming about ways he could further nurture the growing Jewish community in Henderson and beyond.

The rabbi already uses YouTube, an online repository of homemade videos, to broadcast three-minute messages, calling himself the "Virtual Rabbi." The new temple campus is equipped with technology so he can podcast sermons in real time. Home-bound congregants or relatives out of state will be able to view weddings or bar mitzvahs via the Internet, thanks to built-in cameras throughout the 350-seat sanctuary.

Those cameras will also allow congregants in attendance to follow readings from the Torah - the first five books of the Hebrew Bible - on large screens on either side of the sanctuary. And Akselrad is developing a course to teach Hebrew online.

The Reform movement prides itself on innovation, taking the best of the ancient faith that is Judaism and mixing it with modern technologies and innovation, Akselrad said. His congregation regularly incorporates elements designed to target younger Jews, such as the Shabbatones, a Jewish rock band, or Israeli dance lessons after services.

"I want to make this a happenin' place," said Akselrad, who has led the congregation for 19 years.

The temple campus, to be dedicated in a Torah walk and ceremony Sunday morning, mixes the old with the new. Throughout the 60,000-square-foot campus are elements from the old temple on Emerson Avenue, from the front doors to the menorahs in a smaller sanctuary.

YWS Architects partner Jon Sparer, project chairman Gerry Gordon and Akselrad designed the new temple to allow for expansion.

The Jewish Federation of Las Vegas found in a 2006 census that the Las Vegas Valley is home to about 67,000 Jews, about 14 percent of whom are affiliated with congregations. About a third of the Jewish community lives in Henderson.

There are two other congregations in the Henderson area - Midbar Kodesh, which is Conservative, and Chabad Green Valley, which is Orthodox.

About 600 families, or 1,800 people, currently attend Ner Tamid. The temple will be able to accommodate 900 families.

The sanctuary has a retractable wall that opens up onto a large social hall to hold upward of 1,800 people on High Holy Days. The social hall can serve as a large banquet room or be divided into six meeting spaces.

The temple will add a preschool in the fall, with plans for a K-8 school by 2009. There are also plans for an adult-education center and healing center on the site that will offer religious counseling.

The $27 million temple was made possible by several major donors, including the Jerome and Joyce Mack family, the Gerry Gordon family and the Gregg and Erica Solomon family. The Greenspun family, owners of the Las Vegas Sun, donated the last 8.5 acres they owned in Green Valley to make the temple possible.

"Brian Greenspun told me that it was only fitting that the end of his family's dream be the beginning of ours," Akselrad said.

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