Family the brightest gem in jeweler’s life

Mordechai Yerushalmi started his business, The Jewelers of Las Vegas, 2400 Western Ave., in 1976 with his wife Vicki. Since then, the couple, originally from Israel, have raised four children.

Although the four – Natalie, Leor, Benny and Elad – went off to college, all have since returned to Las Vegas to work for the family business.

However, Yerushalmi has held onto memories of his young children helping out around the store.

“When they grew up a little bit, they could do gift wrapping,” Yerushalmi said. “They would help me around the holidays. Every one of them … gift wrapping.”

His children also look back on their early days with fondness.

“We were raised here (at the store),” Natalie Yerushalmi Lewis said. “We were in playpens in the back. Everybody felt the need to come back.”

According to Joanie Schultz, an employee at the store for 26 years, the close-knit family dynamic has been one of the keys to the business’s success.

“They’re wonderful people to work for,” she said. “It’s a very loving environment.”

Mordechai Yerushalmi is at the head of it all.

“There would not be a day that Mordechai would not be here,” Schultz said. “Mordechai is a patriarch. Everybody looks up to him. Everybody loves him.”

Schultz said all the employees look to him as a father figure.

“He’s the type of guy that if you needed new carpeting or you needed a new cellphone, and if he’s not involved in it, he feels like he’s not loved anymore,” she said. “We’re his kids, and he’s the big dad.”

The oldest son, Benny Yerushalmi, is the company’s chief financial officer; the second oldest, Leor Yerushalmi, is in charge of public relations for the company; the youngest son, Elad Yerushalmi, is responsible for inventory control; and the daughter and youngest of the four, Yerushalmi Lewis, is the company’s marketing director.

“Work is work, and family is family,” Yerushalmi Lewis said. “When there’s a disagreement at work, we don’t take it home.”

The sons are married now and have children of their own.

On Saturdays, the grandchildren are brought to the store to spend some time with their grandfather.

“He’ll be helping a customer and holding one of his grandkids,” Yerushalmi Lewis said. “He has to. That’s how he is. He loves his family more than anything.”

With all of the love in Mordechai’s life, he is more than happy to give some back to charitable organizations in the valley.

The Jewelers of Las Vegas donates approximately $250,000 to local charities every year.

“When you come from nothing, literally nothing, then you realize how important it is to give back to the community when you can afford it,” Mordechai Yerushalmi said.

“There is no charity we don’t help – almost every one of them.”

This year, the family’s Father’s Day plans are simple. Mordechai Yerushalmi and his descendents will spend the day boating at Lake Mead, one of his favorite pastimes.

Working in a family business can be difficult for some, but the Yerushalmi family would not have it any other way.

“For me it’s a huge blessing,” Mordechai Yerushalmi said. “To see them every day; for all of them to live in Vegas and be close by; to be able to communicate with them on a constant basis, see the grandkids almost every day – there is no joy in life bigger than that.”

Contact Southwest/Spring Valley View reporter Nolan Lister at nlister@viewnews.com or 383-0492.