the
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Jewish
Vol. 87 No. 11 • November 2022
www.jewishobservernashville.org
7 Cheshvan - 6 Kislev 5783
Federation Announces CEO Search Committee Dear Nashville Jewish Community Members: We are pleased to announce that the search process for the new CEO of the Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee is now underway. Our first step has been to convene a Search Committee, comprised of a broad group of dedicated individuals that represent the diversity of our growing Nashville Jewish Community. The Search Committee will be undertaking a national search and is charged with identifying and interviewing candidates for this important leadership position. We are deeply grateful to the following individuals who have generously agreed to serve on the Search Committee: Billy Eskind, Lori Fishel, Amy Goldstein, Steve Hirsch, Aron Karabel, Leslie Kirby, Ellen Levitt, Hayley Levy, Jan Liff, Eric Mirowitz, Mike Shmerling, Cara Suvall, Moshe Werthan, Fred Zimmerman. We have begun listening sessions with donors to help us identify community priorities and goals for our next CEO. We will continue sessions with additional stakeholders to discuss communal issues in November. Your input is valuable to this process and we encourage you to share your thoughts by emailing the Search Committee at nashvillejfedsearch@ gmail.com. We will be providing periodic updates to the community as the search proceeds. Thank you for your commitment to the Nashville Jewish Federation and Foundation. We look forward to an engaging process. Leslie Kirby, Federation President and Search Committing Chair Fred Zimmerman, Search Committee Co-Chair
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Mission participants work repackaging bulk food items at the Krakow JCC
Bulk items ready to be shelved in the JCC’s store
Families shop for basic necessities at the JCC store
Rebuilding Jewish Life and Providing Refuge By BARBARA DAB
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ast month, we read reflections from the participants of The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee’s recent mission to Poland to provide humanitarian relief for Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. We also read about efforts, in Warsaw, by the Jewish Agency for Israel to help Jewish Ukrainians make Aliyah to Israel. But that was only part one of the report. Following the visit to Warsaw, the group traveled to Krakow to provide hands-on support at three locations, the Krakow Jewish Community Center, and Paszkowka JCC Krakow, a residential center managed by the Krakow JCC for Ukrainian refugee families, and the Szafa
Dobra Refugee Center. The first stop in Krakow was the Jewish Community Center. The group was greeted by Klementyna Pozniak, a young woman who is a Roslyn Z. WolfJDC International Fellow, a program established by the Cleveland Jewish Federation. Pozniak grew up in Poland and Cleveland, Ohio. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English in Ukraine in the Fall of 2021. As word spread of the impending invasion, the program was indefinitely suspended, and she accepted the fellowship and returned to Krakow. “I could have gone back to my life in the U.S., but I am committed to helping rebuild Jewish life in Poland,” she says. Pozniak is not alone. The group met with several other people who all
believe in the future of Jewish life in the country. Currently, the Krakow JCC is focused on providing aid to Ukrainian refugees, the vast majority of whom are not Jewish. Beginning early in the morning a line begins to form outside the gates of the building where people wait for their turn to shop in the converted storage room just inside the entrance. There, shelves are filled with everything from toiletries to canned goods, t-shirts and underwear, shoes, and other basic necessities. The room is arranged like a store and people file in to shop. On the other side of the entrance is another small store room. Volunteers from around the world gather to packContinued on page 9
Is Social Media Amplifying Antisemitic Voices? By BARBARA DAB
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early 40 years ago the internet was born and with it, the beginnings of online shopping, streaming services, social media, and much more that has come to define and document modern human interactions. Social media continues to proliferate daily life with a constant stream of information and opinions, and those people with high profiles and large numbers of followers, dominate much of the platforms’ coverage. All of this begs the question: is social media amplifying rhetoric, both positive and negative? And if so, do those with celebrity followings carry greater responsibility for the effects of their posts? Recently Finding home in a foreign land: Jewish Ukrainian refugees build new life in Nashville after fleeing war, page 3
Kanye West ranted on Instagram about rapper Diddy being “controlled by Jews,” and on Twitter he posted what some might say are veiled threats about “going death-con 3 on Jewish people.” He was banned from both platforms. And a few days later, former President Donald Trump posted on his own social media app, TRUTH Social, suggesting American Jews have a dual loyalty when it comes to Israel, comments denounced by the current administration. These posts are not the first from high-profile people and occur against the backdrop of rising antisemitism. Dr. Elyce Helford, professor of English and Holocaust Studies at MTSU, says there is no question that the internet fosters The Gordon Jewish Community Center hosts November Galleries, page 21
hate speech and toxicity. “It is all part of larger historical trends, like white supremacy and replacement theory, that get filtered through social media.” She says antisemitism is at the heart of white supremacy, something that focuses more on Jews, not as a religion, but as a class or race. “Antisemitism is about perceived power, and the notion that Jews are behind the destruction of white power. White supremacy has always been there, but with social media, it’s more visible.” Helford cites the 2017 shooting in Charlottesville, Virginia where hundreds of self-proclaimed Neo-Nazis and other white nationalists under the name Unite the Right gathered to protest the removContinued on page 4 Travel & Leisure page 11