News from Middle Tennessee's Jewish Community |
Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025
What a terrible first half of the year in the stock market. The S&P 500 closed out the first six months of the year down nearly 21%—the steepest first-half loss seen in more than 50 years. Some of the contributing factors include skyrocketing inflation, supply chain issues, the Federal Reserve increasing interest rates and the Ukraine war. While many investors are wondering what to do, the old adage remains, “buy low, sell high,” this is an opportunity to be buying!
As previously reported, three Nashville area Jewish teens participated in The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Southeastern Consortium Hadera-Eiron Partnership2Gether trip to Israel. This was the first time the annual trip included teens from Nashville who spent a memorable two weeks touring and learning with their counterparts in Israel. Our local participants were: Noah Spigel, Benjamin Yazdian, and Jonah Hirt. Each one was asked to answer questions about their experiences, and to share their reflections. Below are their answers in their own words:
The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee announces a second delegation of community members will make a journey to Poland. The group will leave on August 24th and, once again in partnership with the Warsaw and Krakow Jewish Community Centers, provide continuing humanitarian support and relief for Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion. The group will return on August 29th.
On June 24, 2022, the National Council for Jewish Women (NCJW) issued the following statement:
The United States Supreme Court made the unprecedented move in late June to take away the federal right to abortion granted 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade. In its majority opinion in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Justice Samuel Alito said, “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives…The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.” The functional result of the Dobbs decision will be to place the legislation of abortion squarely in the hands of the states. And while some states will continue to keep abortion legal, others, including Tennessee, have trigger laws that will quickly make abortion illegal in any case.
Three years ago, I left everything I knew and went on a plane to Nashville. Never imagined that I would stay here for 3 incredible years, meet the most amazing people, and have the most meaningful time of my life!
We raise money, we give money away. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that phrase this past year, I’m not sure we’d need an annual campaign!
Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee 2022 Annual Meeting
We seem to be living in interesting times, which can be interpreted as either a curse or a blessing depending on your perspective. Only time will tell how the eyes of history will view the current events confronting us. We are struggling through the grief of consecutive mass murders committed by 18-year-old young men using military assault weapons – one at a grocery store in Buffalo NY and one at an elementary school in Uvalde TX. We are awaiting a ruling by the US Supreme Court that could potentially change the health, privacy, self-determination, and well-being of women across our country. We are experiencing an uncertain economy and levels of inflation not seen in over 40 years. We are witness to public hearings presenting evidence that our faith and trust in our system of free and fair elections may have been deliberately undermined and damaged by those at the highest level of government. And we are continuing to witness the elaborate and relentless propaganda campaign designed to wreak havoc and sow distrust of all future elections.
Hello friends. I hope you all are enjoying the start of summer and looking forward to the longer days and hopefully, a vacation. As of this writing, I am preparing to attend my first in-person American Jewish Press Association conference, to be held in Atlanta. Fingers crossed my flights remain on schedule!
