Andrew May elected President of The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee

Support for Nashville’s Jewish community, commitment to Israel and outreach to an increasingly younger demographic are top priorities for The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee’s incoming President, Andrew May. At this year’s Annual Meeting, once again held virtually, May highlighted the community’s growth and strong financial base upon which to build a solid campaign. “We’ve got incredible strengths here in Nashville.  A growing population including a growing Jewish population, tremendous economic opportunity that is attracting talented people, a strong financial base in the federation endowment and better financial performance in the operations of our key local constituent entities than I’ve seen in my 35 years of involvement in organized Jewish  Nashville,” he said.   

In outlining his plans, May said in addition to the community’s strengths there are also challenges as traditional Jewish affiliations are dwindling. Additionally, he cited growing political polarization when it comes to support for Israel as another hurdle for fundraising. He charged the membership to redouble its commitment to providing support both locally and abroad and to continue to put Israel front and center of those efforts. “They’ve built a thriving nation with a strong economy and world-renowned science – a nation that all Jews can be proud of.  But Israel has always been a challenging enterprise and it remains so.  The news of the last month is proof. Our place is to support the people there with funds to help provide social services and full-throated advocacy for Israel’s security, whether the PM is from Likud or Meretz,” he said. He said working to engage young people will be the key to sustaining the future of the community. “Shame on us if any Jew in Nashville can fairly say, ‘I want to help, but no one asks.’  I’m going to work with Eric (Stillman, CEO) and the staff to find jobs that need doing then to ask people to do them.”