News from Middle Tennessee's Jewish Community |
Monday, June 1, 2026
“Three Minutes: A Lengthening,” which won the inaugural award from Yad Vashem for Cinematic Excellence in a Holocaust Documentary earlier this year, will screen at The Belcourt Theater on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, at 7:00 pm, followed by Q&A with author Glenn Kurtz. The film is narrated by Helena Bonham Carter and co-produced by Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”).
While the fun and ruach of Camp Davis Summer 2022 is over, there is much to celebrate as we head into the Fall. The new Camp Davis Leadership -- Camp Director Andrew Fishman and Assistant Director Max O'Dell -- took camp in a new and exciting direction, much to the delight of the campers and their families.
The Gordon JCC and Nashville Public Television invite the community to a special preview of THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST, a new documentary by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick & Sarah Botstein, on Wednesday, September 14 at 7PM in the Gordon JCC’s Pargh Auditorium. In addition to the preview, the event will include a screening of Our American Family: The Mays. This story about the local May family, who many know as running the May Hosiery Mill in Wedgewood-Houston, also tells how the Mays were instrumental in helping hundreds of Jews escape to America before World War II began. The program is free and open to the public.
Congregation Beit Tefilah is honored and pleased to welcome Cantor Duvid Erblich to lead the High Holiday services during the High Holiday season of 5783.
As High Holidays 5783 will roll around very soon, many are deciding where they plan to attend services. Yet, there is another aspect to this special season. Just as spiritual preparation is needed as we approach the High Holy Days, holiday meal preparation also remains an important feature of our traditions. Jewish people are known to be major foodies (our friends and neighbors still can’t believe that we prepare Thanksgiving-worthy meals every week for Shabbat!), and we wear our chef badges with pride.
The Jewish people have been blowing the Shofar, a simple hollowed out ram's horn, for thousands of years in celebration of Rosh Hashana, the beginning of the Jewish New Year – also known as the birthday of humanity. According to Jewish law, one must hear the blasts directly from the shofar itself. No other medium will do — not a microphone, not a computer, not even a slight echo.
Study after study confirm the vital role that Jewish schools play in the continuity and survival of the Jewish people. Here in Nashville, we have outstanding models of those educational institutions, all committed towards achieving that end.
Is it Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah or…
Middle Tennessee State University’s Biannual Holocaust Studies Conference returns September 22nd and 23rd. This year’s conference is the first since Covid interrupted plans in 2020. The event draws scholars from around the world from diverse disciplines to share their research with other academics, the university’s students, and the general public. The theme is Teaching the Holocaust Today, but papers will be presented on a wide range of topics related to the Holocaust. Dr. Elyce Helford is a Professor of English, Director of Jewish and Holocaust Studies Minor, and Co-chair of the conference. She says, “Learning about the Holocaust provides a vital touchstone for understanding why it is important to remember the genocide of millions of people. Interest combined with lack of knowledge can lead to denialism, misinformation, and more hatred.”
In his book When all you ever wanted isn’t enough, Rabbi Harold Kushner shares that, years ago, he “was sitting on a beach one summer day, watching two children, a boy and a girl, playing in the sand. They were hard at work building an elaborate sand castle by the water’s edge, with gates and towers and moats and internal passages. Just when they had nearly finished their project, a big wave came along and knocked it down, reducing it to a heap of wet sand.” At that point, Kushner says that he, “expected the children to burst into tears, devastated by what had happened to all their hard work. But they surprised [him]. Instead, they ran up the shore away from the water, laughing and holding hands, and sat down to build another castle.” In that moment, Kushner realized that the two kids had taught him a wonderful lesson: “All the things in our lives, all the complicated structures we spend so much time and energy creating, are built on sand. Only our relationships to other people endure. Sooner or later, the wave will come along and knock down what we have worked so hard to build up. When that happens, only the person who has somebody’s hand to hold will be able to laugh.”
Writers of the Lost Ark, the Temple’s writer’s group, recently got a head start on the High Holy Days by sharing their works in a special showcase that focused on the season’s theme of peace and renewal. Here are two poems that were featured that night. The first is written by Frank Boehm, inspired by Yom Kippur, while the other is a collaborative effort of 12 writers who were each challenged to contribute two lines. In order of their creative endeavors about peace and renewal are the following writers: Nina Pacent, Rick Forberg, Betsy Chernau, MaryBeth Stone, Rabbi Michael Shulman, Frank Boehm, Becky Warren, Rise Tucker, Ruth Thomas, Loretta Saff, Martin Sir and Brennan Langenbach.
Most college students spend their summers working in entry level jobs or internships, hanging out at the beach or pool, or getting ahead by taking some classes. None of those things interested Eli Kirith. The rising sophomore at American University wanted to do something different, so he did the unexpected, he took his mom’s idea and ran with it. “I wanted to feel useful and productive doing something good to help people,” he says. His mom, Leslie Kirby who is the President of The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, recently returned from a Federation sponsored mission trip to Poland filled with stories about the refugees feeling war-torn Ukraine. Many of the refugees are Jewish, but most are not. When Eli heard her stories his first response was, “Can we go?” And so, they hatched a plan.
Correction: In the August issue of The Observer, the JCRC column titled Am I Still a Citizen? was mistakenly labeled as an Opinion. In fact, the column written by Deborah Oleshansky, JCRC Director of the Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, represents the views of the entire JCRC and its leadership.
The recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, shifting access to reproductive health care to the control of state legislatures, has already caused fear, confusion, and heartache. JCRC has and will continue to provide educational programs to help us all understand and respond to the difficult situations that result from our state trigger law.
