January 2022

 Start your Shabbat off right with good friends, great conversation, and excellent kosher cuisine, all seasoned with the perfect amount of spirit and joy. TGIS is a “Club Med Shabbat: An all-inclusive Shabbat experience.” Enjoy a Friday night Shabbat dinner replete with traditional dishes. Blended with spirited singing, a Chasidic tale, and a chance to meet some wonderful new people. TGIS will be held on Friday evenings, January 14, and 28, at 6:30 PM at Chabad of Nashville. 

On Faith and Science

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NowGen’s Hanukkah Party Was an “Ugly,” but Beautiful Celebration

Inclusive Gym Focuses on Play for Kids of All Abilities

January 2022 in The GJCC Galleries

Gordon JCC’s Big Night Out Promises Olympic-Size Fun for Everyone

Hadassah Happenings January 2022

January 10th 

Jewish Bluegrass Band Nefesh Mountain Closes out Hanukkah Tour

Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg, otherwise known as Nefesh Mountain, closed out their 2021 Hanukkah Tour at City Winery in Nashville. Performing Hanukkah hits by Woody Guthrie, as well as original music, with some James Taylor thrown in, the group played to a packed house. The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee hosted a VIP reception before the concert, which featured snacks, beverages, and a meet-and-great with the band. Below are some highlights from the evening. 

Dear Esther January 2022

Dear Esther, 

Beit Miriam students bring lights of Hanukkah to Park Manor

In Conversation with JMS Co-Head of School Alene Arnold

AKIVA ENGAGES GRANDPARENTS WITH VISIT TO ISRAEL MUSEUM

Every November Akiva hosts its annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day, welcoming grandparents, and special friends into the school for specialized programming and a chance to see what their grandchild’s Akiva experience is all about. This year’s virtual program found grandparents and students staring into the eyes of a lizard perched on a docent’s head, watching a Burmese python wrap itself around its handler, getting an up-close look at tiny stick-bugs hardly visible in their camouflaged state, and hearing the sharp snap of a scorpion’s pincer. The global move to virtual programming and communication has many discernable downsides, but it has also offered an important upside. Our access to people and places is no longer limited by distance and time. We now have the opportunity and ability to meet people and explore places that were previously inaccessible. For Akiva students and their grandparents, this year’s annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day was a chance to make the most of this opportuneness and visit The Biblical Museum of Natural History in Bet Shemesh, Israel. 

Vanderbilt Hillel Announces Staff Changes

As Vanderbilt Hillel looks forward to an exciting semester, it is preparing for several staffing changes. Hillel’s longtime and dedicated Assistant Director Brian Small and Director of Operations Debby Wiston are both leaving to pursue new opportunities.  Executive Director Ari Dubin said, “They have worked tirelessly on behalf of our students and community for years, and we are deeply grateful to each of them for all they have done to make us the success we are today.” 

Ancient Marriage Secrets Revealed at the Art of Marriage Course

The Art of Marriage, a provocative new course on the secrets of successful marriage is once returning to Nashville. This new course will begin on Wednesday, January 12th, at 7:00 PM, and continue for four consecutive Wednesday evenings, at Chabad of Nashville on Bellevue Road. Regardless of marital status, all are invited to attend the four-session course, presented by Nashville's Jewish Learning Institute and taught by Rabbi Yitzchok Tiechtel. 

Mayor Cooper lights the Metro Menorah

For the past 18 years Chabad of Nashville has been lighting the Metro Menorah at Riverfront Park and then at Public Square with a sitting Nashville Mayor, starting with Mayor Purcell, then Mayor Dean, followed by Mayor Megan Barry, Mayor David Briley, and this year with Mayor John Cooper. 

Rabbi Ilan Feldman coming to Nashville

Chabad of Nashville, home of Judaism done joyfully, will be hosting a weekend with scholar in residence Rabbi Ilan Feldman, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Jacob in Atlanta, a renown public speaker, and author. Rabbi Feldman will share some of his transformational wisdom, on the weekend of January 28-29. He will address the Nashville community three times over the weekend, on a wide range of topics all relevant to our lives. 

Let’s Talk About an Uncomfortable Topic

There are many conversations that people are comfortable to talk about. There are those conversations that people shy away from. Today, let’s have a conversation about an uncomfortable topic: dying. 

Nashville Joins Together to Shine a Light on Antisemitism

Local High School Students Create Positive Response to Antisemitism

Combatting Antisemitism with Bipartisan Efforts

In August 2017, many of us watched in horror as people with tiki torches chanting, “Jews will not replace us,” marched through Charlottesville, VA at the Unite the Right Rally.  In October 2017, the group Integrity First for America (IFA) filed a lawsuit against the organizers of the rally, specifically Jason Kessler and Richard Spencer. We learned about these efforts during a JCRC virtual program with IFA Executive Director, Amy Spitalnick, last year. On November 23, 2021, following a month-long trial in the Western District of Virginia, a jury decided that the defendants had engaged in a conspiracy to commit violence and intimidation that was illegal. The verdict held the defendants liable for the violent hate that deprived minorities and their supporters of their civil rights and led to the murder of Heather Heyer.