the
bserver
Jewish
Vol. 86 No. 3 • March 2021
www.jewishobservernashville.org
HAPPY PASSOVER
17 Adar - 18 Nisan 5781
Annual Campaign’s Tzedakah Week Sets New Volunteer Record
By BARBARA DAB
Temple preschoolers play in the new Outdoor Learning Environment space.
Jewish Federation’s COVID Emergency Response Fund Helps Provide Preschool Tuition for The Temple’s Essential Workers By BARBARA DAB
E
ssential workers hit hard by the pandemic will receive some relief in the form of preschool scholarships, thanks to The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. Many of these workers were receiving assistance from the state, but those funds are due to run out at the end of the month. The Federation’s COVID Emergency Response Fund will provide scholarships to those families most critically in need, most of whom are single income households. Rabbi Shana Mackler, of The Temple, says the grant will go a long way for those families. “We are trying to keep meeting the needs and to have this resource is a gift,” she says. Rabbi Mackler also says she is thrilled with the fast response from The Federation. CEO Eric Stillman says he is grateful to the Federation’s donors for making the funds available so quickly, “It is especially important during the pandemic to help families who are being hit the hardest economically, and I think this assistance demonstrates exactly how the Federation’s COVID Continued on page 6 A Publication of the
WWW.JEWISHNASHVILLE.ORG
A
record number of volunteers turned out for The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee’s Tzedakah Week. Amid freezing temperatures, the hearty souls rolled through the Gordon JCC parking lot to pick up their tool kits for this year’s remote campaign. Things do look a bit different this year, due to both extreme weather and the COVID19 pandemic, but Federation President Steven Hirsch says nevertheless, the show will go on. “Like many other things this year, we were not able to conduct Tzedakah Tzunday in the usual manner. But we had close to 60 volunteers making phone calls to the community over a two week period to ensure that our Annual Campaign goes forward.” This year’s campaign includes an ongoing dollar for dollar match for new gifts and increases over last year’s gifts up to a maximum of $40,000. Tzedakah Week Chairs Marci and Jacob Kleinrock are excited by the outpouring of volunteers during this unprecedented year. Jacob says, “This
Tzedakah Tzunday Chairs Marci and Jacob Kleinrock welcome volunteers picking up their tool kits
year’s event was already going to be different and even with the difficulties, we are glad to have helped recruit the most Tzedakah Tzunday callers in recent memory.” Marci agrees and says, “These calls are vital to funding the annual campaign and ensuring we have the resources necessary to fully fund the needs of our local and international Jewish community.” As in years past,
Federation Staff Carolyn Hyatt and Barbara Schwarcz deliver the goods to Sherry Rosenberg Jivens
Tzedakah Week relies not only on volunteers working the phones, but on behind-the-scenes staff, says President Steve Hirsch. “Special thanks to Jacob and Marci Kleinrock for chairing this year’s community outreach efforts and to our staff members Carolyn Hyatt, Barbara Schwarcz and Jessica Banish for braving the elements to distribute our packets to volunteers on Tzedakah Tzunday.” • More Photos on page 13
What Does it Cost to Be Jewish? By BARBARA DAB
I
t’s a topic discussed over Shabbat dinners, gossiped about over coffee, whispered behind the closed doors of rabbinic offices. What, exactly, is the cost of being Jewish? In particular, the cost of living what some refer to as, “an involved Jewish life,” meaning to be affiliated with a congregation, to send kids to Jewish schools and summer camps and to be active in local Jewish nonprofits and agencies. The financial burden of Jewish life is not new, and according to Shaul Kelner, Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University, overall costs are not going down. “These concerns have been around a long time,” he says, Federation Past President named to Partnership Consortium Chairmanship, page 2
“The worry for institutional Jewish life is that the rising cost will cause a drop off in participation and that only the very wealthy will be able to afford it and those in need will be able to receive help. It’s the middle where we’ll see the drop.” In fact, the challenges of this past year have highlighted both the growing need for assistance and the availability of resources. Aid that was typically only known to individuals and families facing a temporary financial crisis, is now receiving broader attention as people continue to be affected by the pandemic’s economic slowdown. At Jewish Family Service of Nashville, social workers are hearing from many folks who now find themselves struggling to pay their bills and other expenses. Toni Jacobsen, JCRC Justice Seder Builds Community in the Virtual World, page 2
Clinical Director of JFS, is organizing a program to provide grocery store gift cards to assist people during Passover. She says, “This is really focused on helping people who normally don’t reach out to us and are not on our radar. The idea is to help those in the middle, who have not needed us before and let them know we are there for everyone.” At the local congregations, rabbis and staff agree that Jewish communal life comes with a hefty price tag and can create tough choices, particularly for families. While anyone is welcome to attend services, adult education and other programming, some aspects of congregational life are out of reach. Rabbi Joshua Kullock, of West End Synagogue, Continued on page 6
Mission Possible Takes Off With a Full Flight!, page 11
March in the Gordon JCC Galleries: The Contemporary Collective, The Collage Collective, and Carolyn Elam, page 18