News from Middle Tennessee's Jewish Community |
Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025
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.
Your Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee is building a flourishing Jewish community in partnership with our agencies, congregations, and Jewish community organizations. By emphasizing strategic engagement and outreach as Nashville and Middle Tennessee grows in terms of both the Jewish and general population, we welcome and involve newcomers, those who are unaffiliated, those who are seeking new ways to connect Jewishly, and Jewish community members who live outside the historical geographic core where most of our congregations and agencies are located.
Do you and your family want to spend time with an Israeli and learn more about everyday life in Israel? Do you ever think hosting an exchange student sounds like a great idea, but a year-long commitment sounds like too much? Well, Camp Davis has the perfect option for you; sign up to host a shlicha, Israeli emissary, during our summer camp sessions!.
Leave it to the Jews to have a cookie inspired by cultural annihilation! Hamantashen are the triangle-shaped filled cookies most associated with Purim, the most joyous of all Jewish holidays. Hamantashen, the classic Purim cookies, are eagerly awaited by everyone young and old. They are versatile and can be made from a good, sweet yeast dough, flaky dough or from a traditional cookie dough. The fillings can be mixed and matched. The Hamantash cookie is eaten on Purim, when we read from the Book of Esther, the Megillah, and celebrate the Megillah, and celebrate the triumph of good (Esther) over evil (Haman, who planned to destroy the Jewish people.) Purim is the most joyous of all Jewish holidays.
Chabad of Nashville invites the Nashville Jewish community to its 23rd annual Community Passover Seders, which will take place in the magnificent ballroom of the Genesis Campus for Jewish Life. Participants will experience the freedom of Passover the way our ancestors did when they left Egypt 3,334 years ago. Chabad will host two different types of Seder on the first two nights of Passover.
Although the past two years have presented many challenges, Nashville’s Jewish community continues to both grow in numbers and to expand its reach. On Sunday, April 3rd, The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee is hosting a Jewish Community World’s Fair. The special event is designed to showcase the partner agencies, organizations, and local groups that make up Nashville’s unique local Jewish community. Jewish Federation CEO Eric Stillman says, “The Jewish Community World’s Fair will be fun for the entire family, and it will be a great way to introduce how our local Jewish community agencies, congregations, and organizations are connected to our partners around the Jewish world at the same time.”
Liz and Gabe Rutan-Ram always planned to build their family through adoption. The Knoxville couple, who is Jewish, say they also decided to work through the foster care system rather than use private channels, and now their dream is being deferred by what they say is a discriminatory state law. The law known as House Bill 836, was signed by Governor Bill Lee in January of 2020. The law allows taxpayer funded child welfare organizations to deny services, like adoptions, to prospective families who, “violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions.” The law has been condemned by human rights groups as targeting LGBTQ couples, interfaith couples, single parents, or any other prospective parents with whom an agency has objection. And now, according to Pam Kelner, Executive Director of Jewish Family Service of Middle Tennessee, this law is hitting home for the Jewish community. “These organizations are basically, ‘anti-other.’ If you don’t follow their specific religious beliefs, they won’t serve you. And this type of discrimination has been going on a long time, but when the agency is funded by taxpayers, it crosses the line.”
“Despite vows of ‘Never Again,’ antisemitism still rears its head.” Those are the words of Leslie Kirby, Vice President of The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee and Chair of the Task Force on Israel and Domestic Antisemitism. She made them on January 27th, which is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz. This year, The Jewish Federation used the day as a call to action. At a virtual event, “Shine a Light on Antisemitism – No Hate in our State,” local leaders from Nashville’s academic, business, and political communities called on their constituents to take a pledge to stand against antisemitism in all its forms and in every place it occurs.
On January 27th, The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and MIddle Tennessee hosted, "No Hate in Our State: Shine a Light on Antisemitism." The virtual event, in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, featured comments by Governor Bill Lee, Senator Marsha Blackburn, Senator Bill Hagerty, Congressman Jim Cooper, Metro Nashville Schools Superintendent Adrienne Battle, and other leaders in the academic and business world. To view the event, click the link. Also visit Take the Pledge to take the Pledge to Shine a Light on Antisemitism.
