The Temple Partners with the Jewish Federation to Help Feed Those In

the Jewish bserver www.jewishobservernashville.org Vol. 86 No. 2 • February 2021 19 Sh’vat - 16 Adar 5781 The Temple Partners With The Jewish Federation to Help Feed those in Need By BARBARA DAB world, but The Federation realized we to be able to make this grant happen can’t wait forever, and this grant makes so quickly. “Thanks to the generosity t all began with dessert. Just as Rosh a big difference.” Eric Stillman, CEO of of donors to the Federation‘s COVID IHashanah was approaching a dedicat- The Jewish Federation, says he is pleased Continued on page 7 ed group of people at The Temple were searching for ways to ease the burden of life during the pandemic and create Federation Grant To Subsidize connection and a bit of celebration to usher in the Jewish New Year. An Senior Lunches Through Pandemic idea was hatched to provide gift boxes filled with sweet desserts to those in the By ALEX HELLER congregation who were alone, in need of human contact and perhaps without he Gordon Jewish Community the resources to care for themselves. TCenter of Nashville has been award- According to Rabbi Mark Schiftan, “We ed an additional $5,000 in funding asked ourselves, what are we doing to from The Jewish Federation & Jewish help those in our congregation com- Foundation of Nashville and Middle munity deal with the loneliness and Tennessee to subsidize the senior lunch isolation.” And so, with no budget for program. Since the pandemic began in the project, the congregation’s clergy dug March 2020, with the support of the into their discretionary funds to provide Federation, along with a grant from those boxes of holiday goodies. The con- Tennessee Community CARES, the gregation’s Care and Concern committee Gordon JCC has been able to send two gathered volunteers and they set off to Care and Concern Committee Co-Chairs meals each week to homebound seniors. deliver them to 60 households. Susan Zager and Alyssa Trachtman Because the TN CARES grants expired The project was a hit, and the span of a couple of days, Rabbi Schiftan at the end of 2020, the Federation volunteers were so excited by the response, applied for, and received, a $9000 grant has stepped in to help continue subsi- the plan grew to include Thanksgiving from The Jewish Federation and Jewish dizing the kosher meals each week to and Hanukkah meals as well. The only Foundation of Nashville and Middle this vulnerable population. The funding real disappointment was the limited Tennessee’s COVID Response fund. from the Federation is provided through the COVID19 Emergency Relief Fund. Volunteer Meryl Kraft delivers meals amount of households who could be He says, “I was stunned. The whole along with friendly conversation to served. Rabbi Schiftan estimated another process probably took 48 hours. Typically Leslie Sax, JCC Executive Director, Naomi Pritikin as part of the weekly 15 or so families would benefit. In the things don’t move that fast in the Jewish Continued on page 7 Senior Lunch Program. Giving Others A Sense of Belonging Challenge By ARON KARABEL teachers unnecessarily in me and my brothers feared for her safety and the importance of Match he was 5 when she had her first that of others. She was inclusion and belonging. Sseizure. The doctors said that epileptic considered a disruption and She taught us the value Announced seizures were the result of scar tissue that a distraction. of being welcoming no was formed following the removal of a Being treated matter the what and no for Tzedakah brain tumor a year earlier. There was differently was not just matter the who. She no cure and there was no guarantee she limited to the secular understood how painful Tzunday would ever live a normal life. The only community. It extended it was to be ostracized and way to control her seizures was through to the Jewish community treated like the “other”. he Jewish Federation and Jewish medication, which she would be required as well. She wanted so As a community, it TFoundation of Nashville and to take the remainder of her life. Middle Tennessee announces it has desperately to be a Hebrew Aron Karabel with his mother is our responsibility to In elementary school, she was Day School teacher. Yet, embrace differences and received a $40,000 challenge match. ostracized by her peers and her teachers. when she would disclose her condition, fight for those who may not be able to The match is one-to-one and Nobody understood what epilepsy was and jobs never materialized. She described it fight for themselves. As a community, we applies to all new gifts and increases her seizures alarmed and scared the other as her own Scarlett Letter. share the same passion and responsibility received on this year’s Tzedakah children. In Middle and High School, her In spite of the many socially- of Tikkun Olam. When the barriers of Tzunday, February 14th, and contin- peers just assumed she was taking illicit drugs. constructed obstacles and discriminatory inclusion and access are removed and ues through Tzedakah Week. • She was constantly sent home because treatment my mother faced, she instilled Continued on page 2 A Publication of the Local February in Camps Federation the Galleries, Special Vice-Presidenet page 14 Section, Chosen as Back To School page 17 National Young Leadership Cabinet Co-Chair, WWW.JEWISHNASHVILLE.ORG page 2 Inclusion Workshop Begins the Process of Making Local Jewish Community More Accessible By BARBARA DAB he Jewish Federation and Jewish TFoundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee is, at its core, dedicated to providing much needed services and funding to the local Jewish community and the community at large. Recent efforts have expanded The Federation’s reach to include new and innovative programming for an increasingly diverse and growing population. A key com- ponent of those efforts is addressing the needs of people with disabilities. A recent Inclusion Workshop presented by The Federation and funded by the Lori Ann Fishel Special Needs Fund Iris Zinni shares her story about her Marisa Mayhan explains the, “facilitator Heidi Amster discussed ways to create daughter who has autism model,” of assisting people with dis- more accessible environments in the was a critical next step. Sandy Cohen, abilities during The Jewish Federation’s community Co-Chair of The Federation’s Inclusion To help provide some much needed Inclusion Workshop Committee, says, “The purpose of this perspective, members of Nashville’s just over two years ago, my goal has been workshop is to hear the voices of our Jewish community who also have also allowed for brainstorming ways to to expand The Federation’s outreach to community, their families and profes- disabilities shared some of their thoughts make Nashville’s Jewish community community members with special needs.” sionals.” Among the panelists, speak- and concerns. Heidi Amster, who is living both more accessible and more inclusive. And James Fishel, co-founder of the ers and participants were people in with Rheumatoid Arthritis, explained Marisa Mayhan, mother of a 37-year- fund that bears his daughter’s name, says Nashville’s Jewish community who are that it is often simple things that create old daughter with autism suggested he is delighted to see more emphasis living with disabilities, local and nation- an accessible environment. “I rely on what she calls the, “facilitator model.” on helping people with disabilities live al leaders and disability professionals. ADA-compliant lever doorhandles This model would pair someone with a fuller, more satisfying lives. “Lori Ann The workshop opened with national because I can’t maneuver round disability with someone who would help had a multitude of disabilities, but she leaders offering some statistics illustrating doorknobs,” she said. Accommodations advocate for them at various events and always had a smile on her face,” he says, the growing needs to address the disability like that help Heidi better navigate the functions. And Avi Poster, one of the “Our initial plan for the Lori Ann Fishel population. Emily Grabelsky, Co-Chair various agencies, congregations and other participants, stressed the need for the Fund was to reach individuals. When of the Jewish Federations of North buildings in the community. Iris Zinni community to create a strategic plan that wasn’t happening, the Federation America’s (JFNA) Disability Advocacy is the mother of a 28-year-old daughter to address disability and inclusion on a professionals helped us expand our vision Committee, said one in four people now who has autism. Her daughter, Sami, broad scale. He says, “We could be a and I know Lori Ann would be happy have a disability and one in 54 children is high functioning and craves social real leader in this area. The Federation about it.” • is diagnosed with autism. And Dr. Matt interaction with other people in her age could be a real hub for people with Heller, Co-Chair of JFNA’s Disability group. Iris says, “Making friends is hard disabilities. But we need a plan so February is Jewish Disability Advocacy Advocacy Committee said people with for her. It would be great to see some organizations and congregations know Month. To learn more about how you can disabilities are four times more likely opportunities in the Jewish community what they can provide and how.” And access disability services in Nashville’s Jewish to get COVID19 and ten times more where she could form some friendships. other participants agreed there is a need community, contact Adam Bronstone at likely to die from it. Through its It would also be good to offer some classes for developing programs and increased [email protected].

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