News from Middle Tennessee's Jewish Community |
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Among the many different challenges facing contemporary American Judaism, I believe that our biggest threat is related to what we know as Jewish literacy. It is true that antisemitism is on the rise and that assimilation is growing as well. Although we live probably in the best of times to be Jewish and to explore, embrace and expand on our Jewish practice and knowledge, we also live in a world that competes for our relentless attention and, as a consequence of that, we sometimes fail at finding the time to bump up our personal learning.
This past summer, on August 14th, 2021, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck southern Haiti, killing over 2,200 people. Over 12,000 people were injured, and 130,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. This disaster struck at a time when Haiti was already reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, unparalleled economic hardship, and social and political unrest following the assassination of Haiti’s president in July. Haiti’s hospitals were quickly overwhelmed, and people were not able to get the medical care they desperately needed.
On any typical day, several calls come into the office at Chabad of Nashville, all with the same question:
