News from Middle Tennessee's Jewish Community |
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025
As expectant women approach their due dates, a variety of emotions tend to surface. Some women are filled with excitement, anxiously anticipating the day that they will meet their baby face to face. Others get the jitters, nervous about the upcoming hours of labor. All women pray to G-d for a healthy baby. Many Jewish women would be thrilled to know that there is one special prayer that has been customary for centuries in our tradition to safeguard both the mother and the baby. This prayer is the Shir Hamalot (Song of Ascents, Psalms: 121). The verses of this psalm declare our dependence upon the Creator for our safety and wellbeing and His commitment to guard us at all times.
Friends of the Chabad of Nashville community celebrated Lag B’Omer with a beautiful outdoor celebration for children and adults from all walks of Nashville community. It was an event of true Jewish pride, celebrated in the spirit of Lag B’Omer camaraderie and friendship.
“Being faced with the reality of the horrific actions of the human species to each other and the earth, alongside our admirable advances in civilization over the centuries, I chose to express my personal notion of G*d in a poem, in hopes of expanding an optimistic perspective that does not preclude doubts or disasters.” Richard R. Forberg
According to Everytown Research and Policy institute’s website, every year 1,385 people in Tennessee are killed by guns, with the state ranking number 29th in the country for gun law strength. They also report that the gun homicide rate in the U. S. is 26 times higher than in other developed countries. As of February, 59 percent of adults or someone they know has experienced gun violence. That statistic in Nashville is undoubtedly higher, in the wake of the Covenant School shooting in March when an emotionally disturbed former student killed six people with an automatic firearm, one of five purchased legally prior to the murders.
(JTA) — When Rep. Rashida Tlaib joined a Zoom with 40 teenagers, she soon found herself talking about the kinds of topics — academic and otherwise — that tend to take up their days.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville hosted its first ever “Community Sing!” last month in celebration of Israel’s 75th birthday. Participants from all walks of life and all ages gathered to learn a special song composed by Israeli artist Matisyahu. The result is a planned music video recording of the event, to be streamed soon.
On March 27th, I was at an assisted living facility close to Covenant school when the Covenant School shooting occurred. The building went on lockdown and there was nothing to do but watch the emergency vehicles speed past and wait for news. I felt helpless.
Joel C. Gordon, 94, beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather and devoted business and civic leader passed away peacefully at his home on March 30 surrounded by the love and presence of his family. He is survived by his wife, Bernice Weingart Gordon; their four children, Sherrie Gordon Eisenman (Alan), Robert A. Gordon (Julie), Frank E. Gordon (Gwen) and Gail Gordon Jacobs; 12 grandchildren, Kelly Eisenman Unger (Jacob), Tracy Eisenman Gagin (Eyal) and Ryan Eisenman- Zachary, Brian and Michael Gordon - Gavin, Cameron and Taylor Gordon - Matthew, Tyler and Morgan Jacobs; and four great grandchildren, Hudson, Graham and Elle Unger and Eden Gagin. Mr. Gordon took great delight in his large and close knit family. The 67-year partnership he shared with his wife Bernice was the loving platform for everything he accomplished over the years. The love, encouragement, nurturing and support they provided to each other brought out the best in them both.
Erin Coleman, a member of the Jewish Federation of North America National Young Leadership Cabinet, traveled to Latvia and Hungary on a mission trip.
On Sunday, April 16, West End Synagogue members spread out across Nashville to work on community service projects. They included the Urban Farm at Glencliff High School that grows vegetables for the Nashville Food Project; Mill Ridge Garden, a Nashville Food Project garden; a Habitat for Humanity build; MNPS H.E.R.O. program, sorting donations for homeless students; Project C.U.R.E., sorting donated medical equipment and supplies for under resourced countries; and meal preparation for Room in the Inn’s downtown campus.
As the 5783 school year draws to a close, I am reflecting on the power of perspective that only travel can provide for our students. After the long pause of the pandemic, we finally hit the road again, returning to New York and Washington D.C. with our high schoolers, and to Whitwell, TN and Montgomery, AL with our 7th and 8th graders.
Last month I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Israel for the very first time in my life. For many years, I had planned on attending Birthright with my best friend Jake, and for many years, our plans fell through for one reason or another. It seemed like a stroke of fate when I learned that I was eligible for a trip to Israel as a summer camp professional to represent Camp Davis and Nashville at the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI)’s annual shlichim training.
The Nashville Jewish Book Series 2023 season is coming to an end, but we still have one more in-person and one more virtual event to close the series.
Members of Tennessee’s legislature, community leaders, and clergy, joined Israel’s Consul General to the Southeastern United States in celebration of Israel’s 75th birthday. Led by Senator Mark Pody (TN-17), the event included prayers, the blowing of a shofar, the singing of Hatikvah and The Star Spangled Banner. Israel’s Consul General Anat Sultan-Dadon shared historic insights about the development of the Jewish state. “When U.S President Harry Truman first recognized the creation of the Jewish state, five percent of our people lived there. Today, 47 percent of our people now live in Israel.” She highlighted Israel’s leadership as a technology hub, “Israel is the start-up nation. We are second only to the Silicon Valley.”
Twenty students from Akiva and the Jewish Middle School spent three days in March visiting the nation’s capital, exploring the vibrant landmarks, monuments, and museums of Washington, D.C. During their trip students toured both the White House and Capitol, visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, took an underground tour of the labs at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and enjoyed a night tour of the National Monuments and Memorials. Adding to the inherent charm of D.C., the trip also landed right in the middle of the famed cherry blossom season, and students had the opportunity to take in the myriad of pink blossoms enveloping the Tidal Basin and National Monuments.
