Chabad to Host Rosh Hashanah New Year’s Eve Dinner

As High Holidays 5782 roll around very soon, many are planning where to attend services. Yet, there is another aspect to this special season. Just like spiritual preparation is needed as we approach the High Holy Days, holiday meal preparation simultaneously remains an important feature of our traditions. Jewish people are known to be major foodies (our friends and neighbors still can’t believe that we prepare Thanksgiving-worthy meals every week for Shabbat!), and we wear our chef badges with pride. 

Pandemic Pen Pals Help Each Other Cope

Mitka's Secret at the Gordon JCC

By Alex Heller,                Gordon JCC Adult Program Director

The Israel Conundrum

By Dr. Frank Boehm

Local Jewish Hockey Player Scores Big in Israel

Congregations High Holiday Schedule

Click here to view the High Holiday Schedule                                                                                                                      

September 2021 Kvetch in the City

I recently happened upon an article that busted the myth that we only use 10% of our brains.

Dear Esther September 2021

Dear Esther

Title - Life Insurance confuses me. How do I know if I need it?

By Mike Levine

NJFF Announces 2021 Schedule

Moran Rosenblatt (Wedding Doll, Fauda) stars in this delightfully subversive comedy that mines interfaith and cross-cultural relationships against a specifically Israeli backdrop.

JCC Maccabi Games Return in 2022

Local Teen Wins “Learning from the Holocaust” Essay Contest

Jewish Federation’ Professional Advisory Council's New Direction

By Shannon Small

Vanderbilt Hillel Welcomes New Staff

Rabbi Laurie Rice to Run Boston Marathon

The Temple Announces New Preschool Director

We are excited to announce that Moon Bishop will be the next Director of The Temple Preschool. Since agreeing to serve as our Interim Director last December, Moon has provided steady leadership, skillfully guiding our school through an unexpected transition and ongoing COVID-19 challenges. We are grateful for her unwavering dedication to the TPS mission, staff, families, and children. We are proud of Moon’s commitment to the school and the strides she and her team have taken this year. She has strengthened the staff by implementing a professional development program, increased enrollment, and created several new policies and procedures essential to the daily operations of our school. Moon also was a critical part of the recent TPS assessment and will be working to communicate her plans to implement recommendations from that process. We are excited about the passion, energy, and vision that Moon brings to this role and are thrilled that TPS will be under her skilled leadership moving forward. Moon says she is excited to be chosen for this position and looks forward to bringing her unique experiences to continue building a solid foundation for the youngest learners, “Although I’ve been an educator for thirty years, there is still nothing more exciting to me than watching a child’s eyes light up when they “get” something for the first time; it is what feeds my soul. My passion for learning and educating, along with my belief in children’s innate capabilities and strengths, inform everything I do and provide the guiding light for my work with children, families, and educators. I am excited to lead this already amazing preschool and can’t wait to see how we continue to grow and thrive.”  

The Temple/Pardes Institute Partnership Bring Learning to Nashville

For many Jews, the idea of text study evokes memories of long afternoons spent in Hebrew School classrooms reciting the aleph bet and rote learning the Shabbat prayers. Upon completion of Bar or Bat Mitzvah, Jewish learning often falls off the schedules of busy teens and young adults. Keeping the connection to organized Jewish life and study is even more challenging during the college and post-college years. Nearly 50 years ago, a young immigrant to Israel, Michael Swirsky, conceived an idea of an institute of Jewish learning designed to be accessible, inspiring and inclusive of all denominations. The goal was merely to study and learn with no agenda and provided the foundation for today’s Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. Rabbi Mark Schiftan of The Temple says it is the straight forward nature of the approach that is unique. “The Pardes rubric is to start with the simple meaning of the text and gradually peel back the layers. It is concise enough that the average person, with an average Jewish background, can come away with an understanding of how a page of Torah works.” The appeal of Pardes led Rabbi Schiftan to partner with the institute and bring a class to the Nashville Jewish Community. “Pardes is good at taking other than Orthodox Jews and helping them see the gift of their own tradition,” he says. 

Jewish Pride and Unity: Stronger together

National and international headlines continue to report far too many stories about antisemitic incidents and attacks.  Locally we have been relatively fortunate so far, but we are not immune from these concerns.  The inherent danger of this Jew hating monster cannot be underestimated as it can rear itself suddenly and without warning.  Current statistics reveal a disturbing climb in the problem, but the hatred itself is as old as time.  The Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee has been active in providing education, resources, and programming to create productive response to the growing problem.  We are now joined in the work to address the current crisis by the Task Force on Israel and Domestic Antisemitism chaired by Leslie Kirby. 

August 2021 Notes from Noam…

By Noam Harari, Community Shlicha

The Surfside Tower & the Founding of Our Nation

It has been several weeks since the East Champlain Tower collapsed in Surfside, Florida. It has been several weeks of anxiety, heartfelt prayers, and an unending wait hoping to finally hear some good news. Families have been waiting to hear the outcome of the search and recovery effort. I personally know a family that lost both of their parents, in this most horrific building collapse in Surfside, Florida. There was a young couple who signed a lease for a condo in that very building on Wednesday, the day before the building collapsed. Thankfully they hadn’t yet moved in, although tragically his parents are still among the missing.