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Shanah Tova! I hope you all are enjoying a meaningful and satisfying holiday season. As we turn the Jewish calendar to a new year, it is also a time of reflection. The past couple of years have challenged our community, and ourselves, like none other in my memory. We have all learned to adap…
The Belmont University Initiative for Jewish Engagement program continues to develop relationships between Nashville’s Jewish and Christian communities. The initiative, now heading into its second year, is offering a full slate of lectures, workshops, book groups, and hands on travel exper…
Afghan Allies, l. to r. Salih, Wahida, Aisha, Behista, Husnia and Abdul
For the past six months teams of volunteers from Nashville’s Jewish community have been helping newly arrived Afghan allies adjust to life in the United States. From doctor appointments, to enrolling children in schoo…
Middle Tennessee State University’s Biannual Holocaust Studies Conference returns September 22nd and 23rd. This year’s conference is the first since Covid interrupted plans in 2020. The event draws scholars from around the world from diverse disciplines to share their research with other…
Most college students spend their summers working in entry level jobs or internships, hanging out at the beach or pool, or getting ahead by taking some classes. None of those things interested Eli Kirith. The rising sophomore at American University wanted to do something different, so he did…
Omer Shabat is the new community Shaliach from Israel.
The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee is pleased to welcome Omer Shabat as the new Shaliach (emissary) from Israel. Omer is the latest participant in the program of the Jewish Agency…
Deborah Oleshansky, Director of the JCRC at the Jewish Federation, and Kyle Alexander, M.Ed., NBCT District Lead Coach for Social Studies Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, during the annual in-service training for MNPS high school social studies teachers.
The new school year is now w…
As previously reported, three Nashville area Jewish teens participated in The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Southeastern Consortium Hadera-Eiron Partnership2Gether trip to Israel. This was the first time the annual trip included teens from Nashville who spent a memorable two weeks touring and…
Early last month West Nashville neighborhoods surrounding the Gordon Jewish Community Center, and in Richland/Cherokee Park behind West End Synagogue and Congregation Sherith Israel, were littered with packets of antisemitic flyers. This is latest example of rising antisemitism around the co…
Growing up in West Texas and Houston, Joe Buchanan listened to mostly classic rock and traditional country music. “I didn’t listen to anything even remotely Jewish,” he says. But he always felt something was missing spiritually, despite believing in God. “I was told there was some…
Cantor Josh Goldberg joins Congregation Micah . Photo cred: Arjun Ramesh
There is a new voice on the bimah and ringing in the halls at Congregation Micah. Cantor Josh Goldberg and his wife Andrea made the move from Los Angeles to Nashville last month so he could become the congregation…
Rabbi Fred Guttman with President Barack Obama
Nashville native, and civil rights leader, Rabbi Fred Guttman was honored by the International Civil Rights Museum with the 2022 Lifetime Community Service Award. The award was presented last month at the museum’s annual gala. Guttman do…
Congregants at The Temple were eager to welcome their new senior Rabbi, Michael Danziger, to town. They had to wait a couple of weeks, though, because Danziger and his entire family all tested positive for Covid19 soon after their arrival. Despite the rocky beginning, Danziger reports the…
The United States Supreme Court made the unprecedented move in late June to take away the federal right to abortion granted 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade. In its majority opinion in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Justice Samuel Alito said, “The Constitution does…
Vanderbilt’s Tikkun Olam Makers Creates Solutions to Everyday Problems for People with Disabilities
Nine-year-old Lucy McGuire plays violin and flute. Like most budding musicians, she struggled to learn how to hold her violin in one hand and the bow in the other. But, unlike most children…
