The Leaders of Leadership615

To be a leader, it takes time, commitment, and a powerful sense of responsibility. Here in Nashville, we have many leaders who strive to make an impact in the Nashville Jewish community. Through months of reflection, discussion, and community engagement, these emerging leaders have come to realize that leadership is an ongoing journey that can make a lifelong impact. Leadership615 has given participants the opportunity to unify our community, making sure everyone feels included, heard, and understood.  

Penny Woody was born and raised here in Nashville. She grew up attending West End Synagogue and Camp David at the Jewish Community Center. Woody says that she loves that her family “has deep roots here in this city.” Throughout her time in the program, Woody loved that her cohort had a good mix of long-time Nashvillians and newcomers as well. She states, “Just getting able to meet this new, fresh cross-section of people I would've never have met otherwise makes me really grateful for the network Leadership615 has created.” For Woody, Leadership615 opened the door for her to be involved in a leadership role in a more expedited way. She says, “It really propelled me to be fast tracked in a more significant role in the community.” 

When asked what advice she would give to a future cohort, Woody had a really compelling answer. She stated that she would first tell people to listen more than they speak, and to remember that “even though we are all Jewish, we may not have the same opinions, and there are so many ways to be Jewish. Take advantage of the session time, really listen to people, and try to make as many true connections with people as you can.”  

 Since finishing her Cohort with Leadership615, Woody, along with Ayelet Berger, co-chair The Middle Tennessee Jewish Parents Collective. The purpose of the collective is to connect, support one another, and share resources for Jewish children in the community. The collective is a safe space to connect with other Jewish families with school-aged children.  

Ayelet Berger was born in Israel and then moved to America at age eight. Going from Israel to Kentucky, Berger says that she, “had a really big culture shock, from being surrounded by mostly Jews, to being surrounded by mostly none.” When moving down to Nashville in 2014, Berger was somewhat involved with The Federation, but she says her involvement “really amped up shortly after October 7th.” As an active participant in the current cohort, Berger believes that Leadership615 is designed to bring up the next generation of community leaders.  

Over the past ten years, Berger has built and run businesses here in Nashville. Because of this, she sees all the grey, and she wishes to truly find as much common ground within our community. Her wish is to “invite people in and make them feel really comfortable, not just comfortable, but that they have a very solid spot somewhere in our community.”  For the past two years, Berger says that her passion has been the Middle Tennessee Jewish Parents Collective. She strives to make sure that “Jewish children feel welcome and equal, and that they deserve to have as much space as everyone else in the school system.”  

In Leadership615, participants produce a mission statement, a goal of what they aim to do after completing the cohort. Berger is not quite sure yet what her mission statement is, but she says that that is “honestly one of the things that I am most excited about in this program. It's almost like how in the Haggadah, there are the four sons, I'm the who knows so little, he doesn't even know what he doesn't know. So, truly, I don't know what my options are, which is what is so exciting about the program.” She goes on to say that it's almost like “flying a plane while you're building it. Trusting the entire experience, from concept to education, to growth.” Although she has not figured out her mission statement, Berger strives to leave the community richer than she found it. Fuller of life, love, kindness, and appreciation. 

Her goal for Jewish Nashville is that she wants more people who “feel safe and able to be their true, authentic Jewish self, whatever that looks like to them. I want others to feel like they have a place here within the Jewish community to be that person, and the support to be that person in non-Jewish spaces as well.”  

Outside of their time with Leadership615, both Woody and Berger have applied their leadership skills to be helpful and impactful resources for the Jewish community. The Federation is immensely grateful for the time, support, and involvement in and outside of the program. When asked about their greatest influence to join the cohort, both women were quick to give the same name. Michal Eskenazi Becker. They both stated that without Michal, they may have never gained the confidence or courage to join Leadership615. 

When speaking with Michal, she had similar things to say about Woody and Berger. Stating that, “there's nothing but huge appreciation for their time and leadership.” Becker believes that it is very easy to volunteer, but it is much harder to take responsibility for leadership. Her perspective is that The Federation is not the community. The community is the community. And we are just giving the tools for our leaders to shape and make it grow the way that they believe the community should grow. She goes on to say that Woody and Berger are the best examples of that, because they are not waiting for our instructions; they have initiatives. She added that, “they are leading great programs, that would have not happened if it wasn’t for them.” 

Programs like Leadership615 rely not just on our participants to thrive, but also on our community members who have a deep belief in the power of leadership development. Dr. Mark Goldfarb, the founder of Leadership615, is helping to ensure its impact in the Nashville Jewish community. He shared that it feels empowering for him to watch leaders emerge and thrive through the program. Adding that he is glad people are benefiting from Leadership615.  

One of the main things that Goldfarb wishes for participants to carry with them after the program is, “the importance of maintaining a Jewish community and how important it is that we hear the needs of the community, and that we respond to those needs.” Goldfarb explained that he believes everyone has different religious biases, and that we can all come together. Whether you identify as Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, or Chabad. He wishes that this can help the overall community prosper and move forward, “especially in the trying times that we’re experiencing now with the rise of antisemitism.”  

When speaking about the hope for the future of Jewish Nashville, Goldfarb stated that he believes we need to develop young leaders, with young ideas. Emphasizing that, “this is their future. We need the younger generation to step up.” His hope is to identify, nurture and create young leaders for our community by giving them some necessary tools and guiding them along a path where they can engage and stay involved with our Jewish community in meaningful ways. Goldfarb understands and highlights that, "each participant comes from a different background and may have different strengths but finding the right fit in a leadership role will be paramount.”