News from Middle Tennessee's Jewish Community |
Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024
A few days ago, I found an interesting piece written by Rabbi David Golinkin about the origins of the Dreidel and its connection to Hanukkah. According to Rabbi Golinkin, in the past, some Rabbis claimed that the Dreidel was used by children as they were doing their best to fool the Greeks. While the foreign soldiers thought that those kids were wasting their time playing with this four-sided spinning top, in reality they were using all their energy to study Torah. Rabbi Golinkin also quotes an explanation that connects the Dreidel to Hanukkah through gematria. So, for example, the gematria of nun, gimmel, hey and shin equals 358, which is also the numerical equivalent of the word Mashiach. The idea, then, is that when we play with the Dreidel on Hanukkah, we are reminded of the miraculous salvation of those days, hoping for a new redemption in the near future. Finally, Golinkin mentions those who see in the four letters of the Dreidel the hints of the four kingdoms who tried to destroy us throughout history. The nun stands for Nebuchadnetzer, ruler of Babylon. The hey stands for Haman, the bad guy from Persia. The gimmel stands for Gog or for Greece and the shin (or actually sin) for Seir, which is one of the names for what came to be the Roman Empire. The message is clear: In every generation we face enemies willing to wipe us out of the map, but we always find a way to overcome those threats, and we celebrate transforming those bad guys into amusing toys.
If you’ve considered adding a loved one’s name to the Pillars of Remembrance at the Nashville Holocaust Memorial (NHM), your opportunity is here.
Each year, JCRC decides on key issues of focus for the coming year’s programs. The topics generally relate to specific current events, voting rights, immigration, and access to healthcare. Whatever the winds of change bring we adjust and respond, but there are two areas of focus that are constant every year in our work, Israel education and addressing antisemitism.
The Nashville Jewish Film Festival appreciates and is grateful to the many people who have sponsored the 2022 festival.
If you can believe it, Hanukkah is right around the corner and the Gordon JCC is excited to announce that our Hanukkah Store is officially open, and that Hanukkah Fest will be on December 11!
On Oct. 30, over 100 people attended this year’s Hadassah donor event, a concert at West End Synagogue, featuring internationally known singer, Batsheva, performing the music of Leonard Cohen in Hebrew and Yiddish. The president of Hadassah’s Southern Region attended and spoke of the lifesaving work that Hadassah medical personnel have performed on the border with Poland. Israel has taken in over 35,000 Ukrainians since this war began. Donations from this event will be split between Hadassah Hospital and Youth Villages where displaced Ukrainian youth are living. Hadassah thanks the Nashville Jewish community for their generosity. Donations can still be made with checks sent to Beth Wise or at hadassahsupersouth.org/donorconcert
