These past few weeks have been a blur for the Jewish community in the United States and in Israel. The murder of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, two Israeli embassy workers, and the fire-bombing attack on a Run for Their Lives walk in Boulder, Colorado, have left people reeling.
In Nashville, the weekly Run for Their Lives walk continued on, and then was abruptly canceled after the United States’ bombing of nuclear sites in Iran. According to Danielle Demaso, one of the founders of the local chapter, it was a recommendation from the national Run for Their Lives organization. “They asked their groups to put a pause on the walks for 24 hours to be able to assess the situation regionally after the US strategic bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites. Our walk was within the 24 hours. Ultimately it was each groups decision and Tonya and I discussed it with each other and decided we need to be safe out of an abundance of caution.” Demaso said she and her co-chair Tonya Bennett, also consulted a local security professional who agreed with the cancellation. “ne. I already had police lined up for the walk for today but decided it was best to cancel and let them know. “
Demaso and Bennett started the local chapter soon after October 7, 2023, when they saw a video of Rachel Polin-Goldberg urging people to get involved and mentioning this group. Demaso said the message resonated with her as a way to deal with her own grief, so she called the national organization and arranged to participate. The first local walk was on day 100 after the attack. That first walk in Hendersonville, in freezing temperatures, had 20 people showing up to walk. Bennett credits David and Liat Zilberman, of Tennessee Stands with Israel, with helping spread the word. “They wanted to partner with us and I told Danielle we should move this to downtown,” says Bennett.
The two, along with Tennessee Stands with Israel, have been walking every Sunday since. B ennett says she is driven both as a caring person and as a mother. “I want to do things that my daughter would be proud of and to show her the right things to do.”
Elsewhere in Nashville, the local Nice Jewish Runners group recently celebrated its one year anniversary. That group, started by Erin Wides, is a social running club that meets at a different location each week. Wides says the first run had about 10 people, but at the recent anniversary run, there were more than 40 who showed up. But the Boulder bombing, which came immediately after that run, shook the group. “Our initial concerns, that I heard Sunday from a few runners, was it could have been us,” says Wides.
Despite those fears, participants say they plan to keep showing up for weekly runs. Mery Rudy, a member of Nice Jewish Runners, says “We keep showing up. We keep reminding ourselves that we’re better in numbers and we have each other’s backs and we’re not going to stop running.” She adds that the group’s meaning goes far beyond the runs themselves. “It’s nice to know I have a community, and I’m not just isolated in a wold where everyone is against Israel.”
Barbara Tolbert, another Nice Jewish Runners member, agrees with Rudy, but continues to harbor some fears about the public aspect of the group. “It’s nice to be out there with other Jews and showing that we’re there in solidarity. But also there’s always in the back of your head, ‘Should we be this outward facing?”
Wides has consulted with both local law enforcement and the Secure Community Network (SCN), the Jewish community’s security liaison. Amanda Braswell is the SCN regional security advisor. She says Middle Tennessee is home to an active white supremacist community. “You have very active local groups, and multiple groups that we are watching on a regular basis.” She cites a recent threat to Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell, who has Jewish heritage. “We invoked the FBI and all the measures that our center goes through for that sort of thing.”
Braswell says the local Jewish community is doing all the right things to be as prepared as possible, and to remain safe. But it is important to plan for the worst case scenario, which she says is when there is a lone attacker who is prepared to not go home at the end of the day. “It is a multi-layered security approach that is the best defense against somebody like that.”
When it comes to preparing for the worst, Jewish Family Service (JFS) has worked with Nashville Pride to make sure participants can be safe during the two-day festival. Pam Kelner is executive director for JFS. She says, “Nashville Pride has been amazing in terms of working with us on security, ensuring that any hate speech is squashed from the outset.” She says last year was the first year she thought about security or antisemitism or antizionism at the festival. Still, she says it is important to prepare for the worst.
At press time for this article, local Pride festivals and Nice Jewish Runners have continued as planned. The bodies of three more hostages were recovered by Israel, leaving approximately 50 still in captivity. Of those, Israel believes 27 of them are dead.
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