Adi K and Ido Klotz

Adi K (her last name cannot be used because she still serves in the IDF) and Ido Klotz are “lone soldiers,” members of the Israel Defense Forces who immigrated to Israel on their own, without other family members. The two recently visited Nashville with the Jewish Agency for Israel to tell their stories and let the community know how their donations to Federation have helped them realize their dreams of a new life in Israel.

Adi grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and made aliyah at age 18, right after high school, in July 2010.  She had help from the Jewish Agency’s Garin Tzabar program and received financial support through the Jewish Agency’s MASA program.  Ido first connected with Israel through Jewish Agency programs, and the organization helped make aliyah a reality for him.

The Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee supports the Jewish Agency for Israel, a Federation primary overseas partner, and helps it connect Diaspora Jews to Israel. 

In both the Former Soviet Union and the United States, there are activities to connect young people with Israel and, through this connection, build Jewish life in their countries, said the Jewish Agency’s Dusty Heist, who accompanied Adi and Ido on their trip to Nashville. Gifts to Federation support Jewish Agency programs that facilitate pathways to life in Israel and help all Diaspora Jews make aliyah.  Both pieces matter: Israel needs a strong Diaspora, and the Diaspora needs a safe, secure Jewish homeland.

 “I had known since I was a kid that I wanted to live in Israel,” Adi said.  Her grandmother, 85, survived the Holocaust. 

Adi attended a public high school and knew few Jews, but studied Hebrew outside of school.  An Israeli teacher helped lead her toward aliyah.  A trip to Poland with her grandmother and family to participate in a program with other survivors “was the final push I needed to realize what my obligation was.”

In the Garim Tzabar program, Adi joined more than 20 other young Americans from the West Coast who had made aliyah.  They all lived on the same kibbutz and each was paired with a family.  They studied Hebrew, worked on the kibbutz and took two weeks of tests to determine their assignment in the IDF.

Initially, Adi was assigned to be a fitness trainer, but a knee injury and surgery changed all that.  She rejoined the army as an infantry sniper instructor and says she graduated at the top of her class both in infantry and sniper school.

Ido grew up in Kishinev, the capital of Moldova.  His father served in Moldova’s military and wasn’t strongly connected with his Judaism, but some of his relatives perished in the Holocaust.  Ido studied at one of the city’s two Jewish schools, the Herzl school, a secular school sponsored by Moldova’s Ministry of the Interior and the Jewish Agency.  There, he participated in a Jewish Agency youth club and became a counselor.

Ido made aliyah in 2006 after high school.  Three years earlier, he had visited Israel in a Jewish Agency program for young leaders.  The 10-day trip was similar to a Birthright trip, he said.  “It was totally amazing,” he said.  “That’s why I’m here right now.”

He was determined to go back to Israel, but it was expensive.  “My Hebrew teacher told me there was a quiz about the geography and history of Israel,” he said.  The prize was a trip to Israel for a competition with winners from other countries in the Former Soviet Union.

“I just had to win,” he recalled.  Students from all over Moldova competed and Ido came in first.  “I was so prepared.  I came in second in Israel,” he said.  “I decided to stay in Israel for another three weeks” after the contest.  “I wanted to see how it was to live in Israel.”  He stayed with relatives and got a feel for the land.  “I was asking all the time questions about everything.”

Back in Moldova, he told his parents he wanted to live in Israel.  “My parents were supporting me,” he said.  “My mom cried – I’m an only child,” but his father and she both understood it was “good and better for me” to leave. 

Once in Israel, Ido studied Hebrew four days a week along with math and English through another Jewish Agency program.  There were meetings with social workers, mentors and other lone soldiers.  “I knew I wanted to go to the IDF,” he said.  He served in the infantry as a fighter and field medic, and currently as a field medic in the reserves.  He’s also a guitarist and music student at Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Tel Aviv.

Adi sees herself making a career either with the military or in government work.  “I’m so happy to be in the Army,” she said.  She wants to make sure her grandmother’s experiences aren’t lost to future generations, and she’s doing her part by serving in the IDF. “I’m idealistic,” she said. “… I’m defending a country I believe in.” •

Levi and Chana Tiechtel present the scissors for the ribbon cutting ceremony to Rabbi Yitzchok Tiechtel, from Chabad of Nashville, Rabbi Shlomo Tiechtel from N.Y., Boaz Ramon from Genesis Diamonds, to Gov. Bill Haslam, to Rabbi Moshe Kotlarski, vice chairman of international conference of Chabad shluchim, to Rabbi Levi Klein from Chabad of Tennessee, and to Tommy Bernard, president Chabad of Nashville. Photos: Rick Malkin

A contingent of rabbis, the governor of Tennessee and about 300 Nashvillians gathered for the dedication of Chabad of Nashville’s Genesis Campus for Jewish Life on April 22.

The Mediterranean-style building is situated on nine acres in Bellevue and represents the growth of Chabad of Nashville from humble beginnings some 13 years ago.  It is Nashville’s fifth permanent synagogue building and the first built since the construction of Congregation Micah in 1997.

Crafted with stone from local quarries and decorated in warm tones of brown and cream, the 14,000-square-foot building includes a sanctuary, two full kosher kitchens, modern spa-style mikvah, classrooms, and windows to a green spring landscape.  A kosher café is in the works as well.

“You definitely get images of David’s city when you walk in here,” said Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam.  “Any time you dedicate a new, physical place of remembrance, a place of study, and a place of life, the community moves forward. … Our entire community is a better place because of Chabad.”

“It’s a beautiful place for people to share some of the life celebrations that take place,” said Tommy Bernard, president of Chabad of Nashville. “… When I think of Rabbi (Yitzchok) and Esther (Tiechtel) going from a basement under a bar (to here), it’s quite an accomplishment.”

“The building looks and feels like a home,” said Frank Boehm, speaking at the dedication.  “It’s a place where an individual can shed the facades and pretensions of the outside world and be him or herself.”  Boehm, raised in the Reform tradition, said, “I felt I could be myself and could connect with my spiritual self” at Chabad.

Simone Meyerowitz, who remembers going to services in the Tiechtels’ basement more than a decade ago, said she’s glad to see the center expand and is looking forward to the new building attracting new fans and members to get involved. It’s a place that has always felt like an extension of her own home, she added.

“We’d like to keep that same intimate and relaxed atmosphere we’ve always had,” she explained.

Tiechtel spoke about how he and his wife, Esther, came to Nashville in 1997.  Chabad of Nashville grew from the father and son who shared a Shabbat dinner with the Tiechtels to a group that held services in a 1,500-square-foot room in the basement of a Bellevue bar.  The saying used to be, “Go upstairs to the bar and come down for the mitzvah,” Tiechtel said.

“Our little home under the bar” grew to 3,000 square feet, he continued.  Participation grew, and Chabad began serving a full, community Shabbat dinner first once and then twice a month.

In 2010, ground was broken on the Genesis campus in Bellevue, following a sizable donation from philanthropists Boaz and Tali Ramon. 

“This has been the collective effort of many, many people,” said Tiechtel. “We’ve had hundreds and hundreds of people step up to the plate.  Everyone came together.”

Tiechtel thanked everyone who helped make the building possible, from Ramon and other donors to builder Fred Yazdian and Tiechtel’s parents, siblings, children and wife.  “Esther, I couldn’t have done this without you,” he said.  “From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.”

The building was dedicated to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, OB”M.  “We built this building with your inspiration because it’s what you taught us to do,” Tiechtel said.  Chabad rabbis from Tennessee and Tiechtel’s brother, Yehuda, a Chabad emissary in Berlin, spoke at the dedication. 

In addition to Nashville, there are active Chabad centers in Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and at Vanderbilt University, all under the umbrella of Rabbi Levi Klein, director of Chabad of Tennessee.

Rabbi Moshe Kotlarski, vice chair of the educational arm of Chabad International and chair of the International Conference of Shluchim, spoke about Chabad’s commitment to strengthen the Jewish people by reaching out to those who, through no fault of their own, never received a Jewish education.  “To those who sought to destroy Israel and the Jewish community, you did not win,” he said.  “Take a look at this beautiful building, and we say, ‘Am Yisroel chai.’ ”

Tiechtel spoke of his great-grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchok Raskin, a mohel and rabbi in St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Rabbi Raskin “was a very humble man, one who always remained under the radar. … He started a small place of worshp in his basement in St. Petersburg, Russia, back in 1938,” Tiechtel said. “He would perform the circumcisions under the evil eye of the KGB and Stalin’s secret service, [and] wished to one day build a synagogue in the open, to come out from the underground.

“Unfortunately, before Passover in 1938 he was taken away by the KGB, and as he was being carried away, he turned to his young children, one of them my grandmother, and he [told them to] continue the work,” continued the rabbi. “I say to my great-grandfather, who must be looking down from above [that] we’ve come full circle, we are fulfilling your last request.” •

Gov. Bill Haslam addresses the gathering at the Chabad dedication.

From left: Rabbi Yitzchok Tiechtel, Boaz Ramon, Tali Ramon and Esther Tiechtel.

Teens listen as Mark Levine plays the role of an anti-Semitic professor at a workshop to prepare them for situations they may encounter when they go to college.

When Simon Lowen attended a program on campus anti-Semitism, he expected a lecture along the lines of, “While you’re in college, this is what people will say.”

Instead, he and about 40 other Nashville religious school students learned from attorney Mark Levine, who played the roles of two professors with opposing viewpoints. The two-hour community program was held on April 22 at Montgomery Bell Academy for students in grades 8 through 10. 

Levine hosts the Washington-based radio and television talk show “The Inside Scoop” and “The Raucous Caucus” on Pacifica Radio.  He is the son of Nashvillians Larry and Carolyn Levine.

“We wanted to prepare the kids for what they would run into on college campuses when they take courses,” said Sharon Paz, director of lifelong learning at West End Synagogue.  All of Nashville’s synagogues participated in the program, and the Jewish Federation Nashville’ Community Relations Committee provided additional funding, she said.

This was the first time Levine had participated in this type program, Paz said.  “When I ran it by him, he said he’d love to do this.”

When Levine went to the podium at MBA, he first played the role of an anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian professor.  Then, switching out ties and losing the jacket, he “came back as himself,” Paz said, rebutting the arguments made in the anti-Israel role.

“The reason I did it that way – I don’t think it would have had the same effect,” Levine said.  If he had presented a lecture, eyes might glaze over, “not that they don’t care, but it’s different when you have someone challenging you.”

“I didn’t so much lie as distort (and give a) selective rendering of fact,” he said.  “I didn’t play a raving lunatic – that wouldn’t have been believable or effective.”

Parents weren’t allowed to attend and participate, to allow the teens to listen to Levine and challenge him.  “I wanted to take away their [the teens’] crutches,” he said.

Sherith Israel Rabbi Daniel Levitt, in the audience with an educator, said he was tempted at times to raise his hand and respond to Levine as the anti-Israel professor.  “I’m glad I didn’t,” he said.  Levine gave “a very realistic description of some of the educated, anti-Israel sentiments they will come across.”  Having one person give both sides of current debate on Israel argument was “one of the best ways” to convey the issues because the same person could explain how he was distorting facts to make anti-Israel points, he said.

Even if the teens don’t remember all the arguments Levine raised, they’ll know that points can be raised to counter anti-Israel statements and that what is presented as fact isn’t necessarily true, Levitt said.  Moreover, the teens understood they need to study and learn about Israel.

Some of the participating students talked about the presentation in a group religious school session a week later. 

“He made a lot of sense of what the two different views were,” one student said.

“I’ve gone to public schools my whole life,” one student said.  A lot of classmates are “against Jews for no apparent reason.” Some don’t know any Jews but think they’re “evil,” and others say the death toll of the Holocaust has been exaggerated and fewer than 100,000 people actually died. 

“It’s amazing what people don’t know and how they believe people who don’t know what they’re talking about,” another student said.

Levine taught Jonah Neuman, 14, about the BDS (boycott, divest, sanction) movement against Israel.  “He talked about how to defend yourself from that,” he said.

“I could tell the difference between both sides and noticed how much it was rude or mean against each side,” said Lisette Liss, 14.

“It made me realize how much I don’t know and really have yet to know,” said Micah, 16.

“It was really cool,” said B.J. Newell, 14.  “The same guy made both presentations.”  Everything in the first anti-Israel speech that was wrong, he addressed in the second, she said.

Levine “said that a lot of pro-Palestinian arguments are based on the argument that (Israel) is Palestinian land, but it really isn’t,” Lowen, 15, said.  The land has changed hands many times through the centuries, and much of the pro-Palestinian argument is based on a “non-fact,” he said.

“I said some pretty awful things” as the anti-Israel professor, Levine said.  “If you respond in an emotional way, then the debate gets nowhere. … I want them to care.  I want them to understand that a calm, insistent argument is better way to go about it than an emotional argument.” •

The observance, “L’Dor V’Dor – From Generation to Generation” included readings of poetry and thoughts by Laura Morris’s fifth grade students from Glenellen Elementary in Clarksville; Molly McKinney from the Cumberland County Playhouse Children’s Theater; Carrie Mills, who shared a song inspired by Anne Frank; Erin Rausch, an eighth grade student from Dyersburg Middle School; and Ryan Johnson, a student from the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

Jack Belz and Josh Lipman recognized the winners of the 2012 Belz-Lipman Holocaust Educator of the Year Award presented to: Shari Scott, Tennessee School for the Blind, Clarksville; Trevor Fuller, Soddy Daisy High School, Soddy Daisy; Tom Hopkins, Hancock County High School, Sneedville; and Dave Barrett, Millington High School, Millington.

Felicia Anchor was recognized for her 15 years of service as chair of the Tennessee Holocaust Commission and her tireless work in support of Holocaust education throughout the state of Tennessee. 

The event concluded with the Kaddish and with survivors and legislators lighting memorial candles. •

Gov. Bill Haslam addresses the audience at the Tennessee State Day of Remembrance Ceremony. From left: Sen. Jack Johnson, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, Haslam, Sen. Andy Berke, Speaker Beth Harwell

Sen. Beverly Marrero; survivor, Sally Wolkoff; liberator, Robert Mamlin; and Commissioner Allen Exelbierd participate in the traditional memorial candle lighting.

Survivor, Sally Wolkoff, and Sen. Douglas Henry embrace at the Tennessee State Day of Remembrance Ceremony.

In recognition of her myriad contributions, one of the two new playgrounds at the GJCC Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC) will be named in Pritikin’s honor.

“I felt very honored – flabbergasted really,” Pritikin said when she learned of the plans for naming the playground.  “I wasn’t expecting this at all.”

Melissa Worthington, director of the ECLC, commented, “Naomi has touched a lot of people’s lives. The GJCC has been her life, and she has contributed to its very fabric. She’s been so much to so many people and it’s important to acknowledge her in this way.”

The GJCC invites the community to attend the opening celebration of the Naomi Pritikin Playground on Mon., May 21, at 5 p.m. Pritikin can’t wait to see old friends, including students she used to teach who are now parents of their own preschoolers. •

The program will begin with “Journeying into Judaism,” the stories of people who have chosen to join the Jewish people.  A panel discussion on embracing Jews by choice into our community will be moderated by Jewish Federation of Nashville Executive Director Mark Freedman and will feature Rabbis Shana Mackler of The Temple, Daniel Levitt of Sherith Israel, and Kliel Rose of West End.

From 8:30-9 p.m., there’s a Yom Tov/Festival Service followed by WES Cantor Marcia Lane speaking on fairy tale motifs and symbols in the Book of Ruth. 

Rabbi Saul Strosberg of Sherith Israel will speak on “International Dateline in Rabbinic Literature.” Philip Ackerman-Lieberman, an assistant professor in law and Jewish studies at Vanderbilt University, will talk on why is it so difficult to convert, and James Grady of WES will speak on redeeming the Torah. 

In the final presentation, Vanderbilt University Jewish Studies and Sociology Associate Professor Shaul Kelner, along with daughter Shoshana, will present “Torah at Twelve Thirty.”

For information, call the synagogue at 269-4592. •

People chatted in English and Hebrew on a warm Sunday.  Moms led little kids to a petting zoo, where they got to feed real “kids.”  Older children learned krav maga moves and others summoned up their inner Spiderman to scale a rock-climbing wall.

Throughout the afternoon, more than 250 people attended, said Eric Goldstein, the GJCC’s executive director.  “It was a great family fun day celebrating Israel’s 64th birthday,” he said. “It’s great to see the community come out and celebrate together.”

The event is self-sustaining and funded by the Jewish Federation of Nashville.  It is organized by the GJCC’s department of Jewish programs. •

Cole Strosberg, right, sings backup as his dad, Rabbi Saul Strosberg, accompanies singer Lital Swissa, Hillel’s Israel fellow, at Israelfest 2012. Photos: Kathy Carlson

Kids line up to try out Krav Maga moves during a demonstration of the Israeli self-defense discipline.

Irwin Venick

Nashville attorney Irwin Venick, who chairs the Jewish Federation of Nashville’s Community Relations Committee, is among this year’s recipients of CommunityNashville’s Human Relations Award.

He will receive the award at the organization’s 41st Annual Human Relations Award Dinner, set for Thurs., May 24, at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel.  The award recognizes area leaders for their work in human rights. 

This year’s recipients also include V. H. “Sonnye” Dixon, senior pastor of Hobson United Methodist Church in Nashville; Lady Bird, current board chair of The Nashville Food Project and president of Tennessee International Women’s Forum; and Linda and Jim Zralek, in recognition of their lifelong work to promote human rights and social justice.

Venick, a member and past president of The Temple – Congregation Ohabai Sholom, is a partner in the Nashville law firm of Dobbins, Venick, Kuhn & Byassee.  He has worked behind the scenes to fight bias and bigotry in our community.  His law practice has focused on employment discrimination and health care.  In one of his employment cases, the U.S. Supreme Court established a new legal standard for the evaluation of sexual harassment claims.

He has and continues to serve as a board member of agencies which provide or support access to health care. Venick also is a participant of the Circle of Friends, an interfaith group that has been working to foster dialogue between the Jewish and Muslim communities in Nashville.

To purchase tickets or sponsor a table at the May 24 dinner, go to www.communitynashville.org. •

Gal Crouvi and Lauren Rosen serve up cotton candy as J-Serve volunteers at the community’s Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration at the GJCC.

Seventy Nashville teens from grades 6-12 rallied together for J-Serve, the National Day of Jewish Youth Service, on April 29. Teens volunteered across the community and participated in projects ranging from painting a mural in the JCC’s teen lounge, baking cookies for residents at Ronald McDonald house, running a game day for residents at Room in the Inn, sorting donations at ThriftSmart, and helping out at the JCC’s Israelfest. The day of service was coordinated by the JCC in partnership with local youth groups and congregations. For more information on J-Serve or other community service opportunities for teens, contact Jessica Leving at jleving@bbyo.org. •

One group of J-Serve teen volunteers helped out at the Room in the Inn.

The community Yom Hazikaron event took place at Congregation Micah on April 25.  Both Israelis and Americans participated, along with representatives from all of Nashville’s congregations.  Four Israelis from the community spoke about someone they knew who died defending Israel.

The sanctuary was “very full there – it was amazing,” said Inbar Shaked, the Jewish Federation of Nashville’s community shlicha.  “What was very nice – it was not just Israelis there.  Eighty percent were from the (Nashville) community.”

The event focused on the stories of real Israelis, stories that came alive in a very special way, Federation Executive Director Mark Freedman said.  “I felt it was, in my entire career as a Jewish professional, the most moving and poignant memorial service to Israel’s brave soldiers that I’ve ever experienced. … I admired the courage and passion of the speakers.”

The service concluded with participants walking to Congregation Micah’s memorial garden and saying Kaddish.

“It was nice seeing it was not just Israel’s pain; everyone participated,” Shaked said.  “I just think it was very powerful because it was in Micah and all the congregations were represented. It was truly a community event.” •