News from Middle Tennessee's Jewish Community |
Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024
Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg, otherwise known as Nefesh Mountain, closed out their 2021 Hanukkah Tour at City Winery in Nashville. Performing Hanukkah hits by Woody Guthrie, as well as original music, with some James Taylor thrown in, the group played to a packed house. The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee hosted a VIP reception before the concert, which featured snacks, beverages, and a meet-and-great with the band. Below are some highlights from the evening.
Every November Akiva hosts its annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day, welcoming grandparents, and special friends into the school for specialized programming and a chance to see what their grandchild’s Akiva experience is all about. This year’s virtual program found grandparents and students staring into the eyes of a lizard perched on a docent’s head, watching a Burmese python wrap itself around its handler, getting an up-close look at tiny stick-bugs hardly visible in their camouflaged state, and hearing the sharp snap of a scorpion’s pincer. The global move to virtual programming and communication has many discernable downsides, but it has also offered an important upside. Our access to people and places is no longer limited by distance and time. We now have the opportunity and ability to meet people and explore places that were previously inaccessible. For Akiva students and their grandparents, this year’s annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day was a chance to make the most of this opportuneness and visit The Biblical Museum of Natural History in Bet Shemesh, Israel.
As Vanderbilt Hillel looks forward to an exciting semester, it is preparing for several staffing changes. Hillel’s longtime and dedicated Assistant Director Brian Small and Director of Operations Debby Wiston are both leaving to pursue new opportunities. Executive Director Ari Dubin said, “They have worked tirelessly on behalf of our students and community for years, and we are deeply grateful to each of them for all they have done to make us the success we are today.”
The Art of Marriage, a provocative new course on the secrets of successful marriage is once returning to Nashville. This new course will begin on Wednesday, January 12th, at 7:00 PM, and continue for four consecutive Wednesday evenings, at Chabad of Nashville on Bellevue Road. Regardless of marital status, all are invited to attend the four-session course, presented by Nashville's Jewish Learning Institute and taught by Rabbi Yitzchok Tiechtel.
For the past 18 years Chabad of Nashville has been lighting the Metro Menorah at Riverfront Park and then at Public Square with a sitting Nashville Mayor, starting with Mayor Purcell, then Mayor Dean, followed by Mayor Megan Barry, Mayor David Briley, and this year with Mayor John Cooper.
Chabad of Nashville, home of Judaism done joyfully, will be hosting a weekend with scholar in residence Rabbi Ilan Feldman, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Jacob in Atlanta, a renown public speaker, and author. Rabbi Feldman will share some of his transformational wisdom, on the weekend of January 28-29. He will address the Nashville community three times over the weekend, on a wide range of topics all relevant to our lives.
There are many conversations that people are comfortable to talk about. There are those conversations that people shy away from. Today, let’s have a conversation about an uncomfortable topic: dying.
In August 2017, many of us watched in horror as people with tiki torches chanting, “Jews will not replace us,” marched through Charlottesville, VA at the Unite the Right Rally. In October 2017, the group Integrity First for America (IFA) filed a lawsuit against the organizers of the rally, specifically Jason Kessler and Richard Spencer. We learned about these efforts during a JCRC virtual program with IFA Executive Director, Amy Spitalnick, last year. On November 23, 2021, following a month-long trial in the Western District of Virginia, a jury decided that the defendants had engaged in a conspiracy to commit violence and intimidation that was illegal. The verdict held the defendants liable for the violent hate that deprived minorities and their supporters of their civil rights and led to the murder of Heather Heyer.
Mission Possible, one of the signature programs of The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, is ready for takeoff on zoom at 11:00 am on Sunday, February 6th. The mission is designed to introduce Nashville Jewish community members to the service providers and recipients of Federation funding. For participants who register in advance, you will receive a gift bag with specially curated treats and trinkets from the countries will be visiting online. The typical bus tour of Jewish Nashville went virtual during the COVID19 pandemic, providing the opportunity to focus on the overseas programs and services of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and programs funded directly by the Federation. JAFI and the JDC are the two largest Israel and Overseas partners of The Jewish Federation.
