COMMENTARY: NLV needs a Jewish community center

Last month, a member of my community sent me a survey from the city of North Las Vegas seeking input from residents on how best to develop “Tule Springs East,” a 7,000-acre stretch of desert north of the VA Hospital and the 215 Beltway. Ideas included new residential neighborhoods, a new UNLV campus and a commercial development zone. While these options are important, I added another suggestion: a Jewish community center.

City Manager Micaela Moore said that our city is planning to absorb 100,000 new people over the next 15 years, and it’s likely that a significant portion of them will be Jewish. Southern Nevada has one of the fastest-growing Jewish communities in the country, with approximately 100,000 people residing in the greater Las Vegas area.

My wife Leah and I moved to Aliante in 2021. Since then our home has become a hub for Jewish activities in North Las Vegas. We are part of Chabad, a movement which sends young couples to facilitate Jewish life in areas that don’t have formal communal infrastructure. Over the past few years, we’ve hosted weekly Friday night dinners, holiday gatherings, Torah classes, social events and even a Bar Mitzvah celebration for residents in the local community. But our living room can only accommodate so many people.

While Jews in our area could “shlep” 30 to 45 minutes to other neighborhoods to pray in synagogue or socialize, what we’ve found is that having a community center right where people live is critically important. Our home has become a “third place” — a social setting separate from the home or the workplace — where folks have the opportunity to meet and gather, creating bonds that make our community strong.

We also work with seniors living in Sun City Aliante. A large focus of our work is combating the epidemic of loneliness which many within this demographic grapple with. Recently, I visited an elderly Holocaust survivor in Sun City Aliante to help her affix a mezuzah — a scroll inscribed with a Hebrew prayer — on her doorpost. As I pulled up to her house, I was approached by her neighbor, who was surprised and delighted to learn that her neighbor, who she previously didn’t know, was in fact Jewish. Moments like these make our work so incredibly rewarding and bring our community closer together.

People often label America as a “melting pot” — a place where all cultures mix. However, I once read that it can be better described as a “salad bowl,” where people retain their unique identities while enhancing those around them. This is a perfect description of North Las Vegas, which ranks as one of the country’s most diverse cities. I believe that a Jewish community center in our neighborhood would be a place not only for Jews to celebrate their faith and heritage, but for people of all backgrounds to learn and engage in meaningful dialogue.

We offer a course on understanding antisemitism, which was attended by many non-Jewish participants, many of whom shared how much they learned about this ancient prejudice. We also offer a course on morality and ethics, and our annual Public Menorah lighting on Simmons Street is well attended by people of all faiths who appreciate the Menorah’s symbolism as a beacon of religious freedom for all.

In this time of great division and polarization in our country, what we now need more than ever is unity. We need more opportunities where people can come together and learn about each other’s religion and culture. We need more third places where people can congregate and make lasting connections with their neighbors and peers. As the Jewish community expands beyond the four walls of our modest home, we hope that we can soon build a center that embodies our mission of strengthening North Las Vegas, one meaningful interaction at a time.

Rabbi Sholom Wilansky is the director of Chabad of Aliante, a group promoting Jewish life and learning in North Las Vegas.