News from Middle Tennessee's Jewish Community |
Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025
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.
Writers of the Lost Ark is made up of Temple members who love to write poems, prose, songs and stories. The group meets once a month to discuss works in progress and get feedback, creative encouragement and new ideas to write about. Members also share things online during the month and are very interactive with each other between meetings. And yes, Writers of the Lost Ark is a play on “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” only this is The Temple’s version!
In the Talmud, the basic unit of meaningful learning is the chevrutah, or studying with a partner. All throughout the classic Jewish sources we see Rabbis coming together to discuss different topics. The most famous of these rabbinic pairs was the one put together by Hillel and Shammai. They were so important and influential that two different schools were created after them. For years, the students attending those schools continued to disagree with one another. It is out of their many disagreements that we got some of the fundamental contours of Jewish law.
Alarmingly, Federation donations, in terms of the number of donors, has been in a serious decline for decades. In Nashville, the annual campaign figures have neither significantly increased over the past decade, nor has the level or the amount of giving kept up with the rate of inflation.
