News from Middle Tennessee's Jewish Community |
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025
There is no doubt that, if you are a child, your favorite part of the Passover Seder is related to the Afikoman. Technically speaking, Afikoman is not a very Jewish word. Like Karpas – which is Greek for fresh raw vegetables or for what we define as hors d’ouvres – Afikoman is one of those terms that remind us that the Passover Seder was a spin-off of the Greco-Roman symposium, the Hellenistic drinking party where men came to debate, plot, and boast with each other.
The stirring sounds of tefillah (prayer) echo in the halls of Akiva as students from across the school come together each morning to learn and pray. Tefillah at Akiva progresses beyond the fundamental skills of reading the text and focuses on the meaningful and transformative experience of prayer.
By Michael Whitney, Barbara Moss, and Harry Perret
Imagine that the Shtetl of Europe has been frozen in time, transported to New York, and then unfrozen. Imagine walking down the main street and seeing the Judaica shops, hearing the sounds of yeshiva students studying Talmud, smelling the aromas of the freshly baked Challah wafting from the local kosher bakeries, while seeing sings in Hebrew and Yiddush and shuls on every corner, while the skyscrapers of Manhattan rise in the distance.
Wow, who would have ever imagined this, we are just about to mark the second Yahrzeit of Covid19. (Unfortunately, it is still very much here... but you know what I mean). So, here's my eulogy, two years later.
