Southern Comfort

The Jewish community of Nashville hosted dozens of traumatized Israeli travelers this past week and found a way to celebrate Jewish culture while promoting unity for Israel.

Music City’s first Jewish music festival, launched last year, changed its tone this year in light of the Israel-Hamas war.

Immediately after the tragic news of the Simchat Torah massacre became known, Jewish organizations in major cities around the U.S. went into high gear. Since then they have raised tens of millions of dollars, held large rallies, lobbied politicians and coordinated a wide range of social service projects with great success.

This is the story of how one relatively small Jewish community in the heart of the Bible Belt came together last week, welcoming and hosting an unexpected planeload of traumatized Israelis, and transforming a planned Jewish cultural celebration into an inspiring moment of support for Israel in its time of need.

It started last Wednesday afternoon when a chartered flight with 280 Israelis seeking respite from the shock and stress of the Israel-Hamas war, landed in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Only the day before did the local Jewish community, which numbers around 5,000 households, indirectly learn that the Shai Fund, a Tennessee-based Christian organization dedicated to serving vulnerable people around the world in high-risk situations, was sponsoring the flight. The group had offered free travel to Israelis who, alerted by word of mouth, showed up on little notice at Ben Gurion Airport. They included families with young children. Most of them had no relatives in, or connections with, Nashville. Their primary goal was to be in a safe environment for several weeks. Some came with only a knapsack on their back. 

Alerted to the impending arrival, Rabbi Dan Horwitz, who began his post as CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville only a few weeks ago, set about mobilizing staff and partner agencies to welcome and assist the weary travelers. 

Pam Kelner, executive director of Jewish Family Service, and her staff produced an information sheet to distribute to the Israelis offering emotional support, connections to the community and resources (food, housing). A number of Israelis living in Nashville, together with JFS and Federation, organized a contingent of several dozen people to greet the visitors at the airport with music, Israeli flags and smiling faces. 

Red Cross was on hand at the airport to meet and assess the needs of those coming off the plane. Many connected to other flights in the U.S. to stay with relatives or friends. About 60 people remained, and Kelner and her team offered them hotel rooms or home hospitality through the weekend. 

“Nashville was a way station” for the group, said Kelner, noting that Rabbi Shlomo and Nechama Rothstein, who head Chabad at Vanderbilt University, “somehow put together a kosher dinner for everyone on two hours’ notice that first night. Truly heroic.” 

Most of the 60 people were observant, and had not eaten during the flight, since no kosher food had been available.

Many had not slept in several nights. 

By the next morning, though still stressed and anxious, the visitors were in better spirits. Most chose to be housed near Sherith Israel, a Modern Orthodox synagogue, for Shabbat, where they had their meals and got to know each other.

Rabbi Saul Strosberg of Sherith and his family hosted one of the families for the weekend. He shopped for Chalav Yisrael milk and kosher pizzas for the full group’s lunch on Friday. That evening, a spirited and well-attended Kabbalat Shabbat service was led by one of the visitors, highlighted by a men’s simcha dance around the bimah. 

Among the Israeli visitors in attendance that Shabbat were Modern Orthodox Jews, chasidim, Ashkenazim, Sephardim, a newlywed couple and a boy about to become a bar mitzvah. “It was a very diverse group, a reflection of Israeli society in a beautiful way,” observed Rabbi Horwitz, who was at the service Shabbat morning. It included a poignant prayer for Israel’s soldiers and the singing of Hatikva at the end.

As a visitor myself – my wife and I came to be with our son and his wife and five children for the weekend – I could feel a special energy in the sanctuary on Shabbat, an awareness that we were sharing a memorable moment of Jewish unity among Israeli and native worshippers. 

That feeling carried over to the next day on an even larger scale.

‘A Need To Be Together’

The next day, Oct. 22, had been on the Jewish communal calendar for almost a year. A curious combination of cuisine and culture, it was billed as the Nashville JAM (Jewish Arts and Music) Festival and the Nashville Kosher Hot Chicken Festival, underscoring the city’s reputation as both the Music Capital of America and known for serving up the finest in spicy chicken. (Even Hattie B’s, a local hot chicken institution, went kosher for the event.)

But in the wake of the Simchat Torah tragedy and the Israel-Hamas war, the event’s organizers had agonized over whether to cancel the program, which seemed inappropriate as a celebration.

In concert: the band, Yosha, featuring husband and wife Yossi and Natasha Amit, festival organizers.

In the end, Dov Rosenblatt (my son), cantor-in-residence at Sherith Israel and a founder, together with Matt Leff, of the JAM Fest , said the decision was made to go ahead with the event, as a symbol of the Jewish spirit, while including emotional elements in the program to emphasize the powerful need to support Israel in its hour of need.

He said the organizers were given a green light by the Gordon Jewish Community Center (the venue) and the local police. “We put our faith in them and the community, and God,” Dov said. “The goal was to celebrate Jewish pride and culture at a time when everyone needed just to be together.” 

Hundreds of people of all ages turned out on a beautiful sunny day to enjoy the food, the music and the chance to express their solidarity with Israel. 

Jack Simon, a local psychologist, was the emcee of the program, and on several occasions he told the crowd, “it’s ok to be happy, it’s ok to be sad, to be yourself. There is no greater power than the power of unity,” he said.

Among the many booths was one for arts and crafts, another offering information on how to help Israel, and one for reflection and prayer. The performers, a mix of local Grammy winners and Jewish bands with international renown, included Soul Farm, Yosha, Jacob’s Ladder, and Distant Cousins (my son’s band). Several sang Psalm 23, in Hebrew or English. 

A highly emotional moment came when the Hebrew names of all of those being held hostage were read out by a local Israeli. The only sound in the large crowd for those several minutes was the gleeful cries of young children playing in a Moon Bounce in a far corner of the JCC grounds.

Another highlight was when Yair Levi, an Israeli musician who arrived on the chartered plane, explained that he was given permission by the Israeli army to visit the U.S. and speak to groups about Israel’s effort to eradicate Hamas while doing its best to spare the lives of innocents.

“I am going back to the army in a few days, and I will tell everyone about the warmth and caring I found here,” he said before leading the crowd in Hatikva. 

It was touching to see that some of the Israelis from the plane postponed their travel plans in order to attend the event on Sunday, and they and their children joyfully sang and danced throughout the day. A real connection had been made.

The following day Federation CEO Horwitz observed that the festival managed to project pride, Jewish values and culture, “showing how we combat Jew-haters by living vibrant Jewish lives.” And Pam Kelner of JFS said on Tuesday that she is receiving notes from the Israelis saying how much they’ll miss the community’s warm embrace. 

“They saw what the Nashville community is all about,” she said.

Correction/Follow Up

The photo image of a New York Times online headline that I used in my last post, “Why Israel Loses The Media Wars,” was not the one I intended. 

Below is a better example of how The Times relied on a false Palestinian Authority statement blaming Israel for last week’s rocket attack near a Gaza City hospital. The Times later published a lengthy correction saying most sources agree Islamic Jihad, not Israel, fired the fatal rocket.