The last few years have seen significant growth beyond the borders of Metro Nashville, with much of that growth in Williamson County. Just last year, the city of Franklin hosted its first ever menorah lighting during Hanukah, and a new Jewish Franklin Facebook group was created to help organize the several hundred families in the area. And now, a brand new Chabad of Williamson County, led by Rabbi Mendel Baron and his wife Chana Baron, is opening a center in the Cool Springs area.
Chana Baron is the daughter of Chabad of Nashville’s Rabbi Yitzchok Tiechtel, so she is a product of the Nashville Jewish community. She and Mendel were married last year, and plan to settle in the Williamson County area around Thanksgiving. “I grew up in Nashville and know the community and now to be able to give back is exciting,” she says. And she says she will bring her special skills to the role of Rebbetzin. “We’re going into this as a lifelong mission. And the Rebbetzin does as much as the rabbi. There are things the rabbi can’t do that the Rebbetzin can do and vice versa.”
According to Rabbi Mendel Baron, newcomers to the area were reaching out to Chabad of Nashville expressing a need for programming and services. “Nashville is such a growing area and there are so many people now moving south and feel they could be serviced a bit more.”
The new Chabad’s first event was a Sukkot program held in Fieldstone Park, and much more is planned. Mendel says, “The main focus is really about families. There are so many families with children and they’re looking for programs to help them out.”
Folks in the area are pleased to have additional leadership to help with the growing needs. Ellen Monen is one of the founders of the Jewish Franklin group. She says the community is excited to have an expanded Jewish presence, regardless of what form that takes. “It’s funny because what I could say very GENERALLY about Jewish people who have chosen to live in Williamson County (land of no synagogues and a City that didn’t even have a known Jewish presence until March of last year when the Facebook group started) is that they we ARE typically NOT very religious.” Nevertheless, she says most of the people are interested in building a community of shared Jewish values and to pass along traditions to the next generation. “Through Jewish Franklin, the truth is that most of what we have done to date has been out of need — we were all desperately seeking community.”
And meeting the needs of the community is precisely the mission of Chabad. “Chabad doesn’t always have a specific plan,” says Rabbi Baron, “Williamson County is very unique. Historically there were very, very few Jews.” Monen says for those volunteers who have been leading the current organizing efforts, having professional leadership is very welcome. “While we are clearly Jewish, and we obviously have some great leaders, we are not exactly ‘Jewish leaders.’
So, I think now might be a fair time for us to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor, focus more on the friendly community aspect and let someone else with a more specialized skillset plan Sukkot and Seders. The more the merrier, but I know I personally won’t feel quite as much of an urgency to plan some of these things since I know someone can and will be there to do it.”
The newest addition to organized Jewish life in Middle Tennessee is an outgrowth of Chabad of Nashville, led by Rabbi Tiechtel. He is stresses that Chabad of Williamson County, while part of the greater Chabad movement, is there to meet the specific needs of a different demographic. He says, “The goal of the new Chabad Center is to service the over 800 families who make up the growing Jewish community of Williamson County. Some of the programs and events might cross over, but the constituents are many different families.”
Rabbi Tiechtel also says he believes the growing need for Jewish connection is directly related to the tragic attacks on October 7, 2023. “Today we have the phenomena of the October 8th Jew, which is an awakening of the Jewish soul since the atrocities of October 7th, 2023. Today more than ever before, many Jewish people are seeking a connection to their faith and heritage.” He adds that he is thrilled at the return of his daughter and her husband to lead the new Chabad center. “having our daughter Chana with her husband Rabbi Mendel serve as Chabad Shluchim in Middle Tennessee, makes us very proud parents, Thank G-d.”
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