The Temple Wins Grand Champions and Best Hot Chicken
at the 2022 Kosher Nashville Hot Chicken Festival
Jason Mitchell, Rabbi Michael Shulman,
and our preppers, Mike Rosen and Rabbi Michael Danziger!
We are proud of our Temple Team, Chikkun Olam!
August 2, 2021
The Temple Welcomes Rabbi Michael Danziger as Senior Rabbi
by Barbara Dab
The Jewish Observer Nashville
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 they are all healthy and he was present at his first Lunch with the Rabbi last month and is conducting regular Shabbat services.
“It was a bit rough at first, but we’re doing fine and I’m happy to be here,” he says. Danziger’s first few weeks are being met with excitement.
To read the full article, click here.
March 31, 2022
Cantor Tracy Fishbein to Perform Jewish Music in Concert
by Barbara Dab
The Jewish Observer Nashville
Part of the fabric of Jewish life is the deep connection to and relationship with music. In addition to Jewish liturgy, Jews have contributed to the popular and classical music traditions. Cantor Tracy Fishbein of The Temple will share that legacy in concert with the Belmont Chorale and University Singers on Sunday, April 10th.
The program, which is being conducted by Jane Warren, Assistant Professor of Music at Belmont University, is another expression of the growing relationship between The Temple and Belmont. Rabbi Mark Schiftan, of The Temple, says he is pleased to see this latest collaboration. “Cantor Fishbein’s concert, featuring Jewish music, highlights the evolving embrace and partnership between the Jewish community and a historically Christian university.”
To read the full article, click here.
November 30, 2021
New Jewish Community High School to Open Fall 2022
By Barbara Dab, Editor
The Jewish Observer Nashville
When Carson Pounds starts high school next Fall, he will grab his backpack and head off to a brand-new Jewish Community High School on the grounds of The Temple. The still-unnamed school is the result of a collaboration between Rabbi Mark Schiftan of The Temple and Rabbi Saul Strosberg of Sherith Israel.
At first glance, it may seem an unusual partnership between the Reform and Orthodox ideologies. But both Rabbis say the shared vision is a natural outcome as each is passionate about providing local students with high-quality education, tailored to the needs of the individual. Rabbi Schiftan says the school is also something he is proud to leave as a legacy following his retirement next summer.
To read the full article, click here.
October 29, 2021
The Temple Helps Members Find Community Within Your Community!
By Sheri Rosenberg
The Temple Director of Membership and Inclusion
The Temple has created Temple Tribes, with the goal of creating smaller communities within our Temple community, where everyone can feel more connected. Our Tribes help to build meaningful friendships while doing something of interest in a small, informal setting.
Sheri Rosenberg, Director of Membership and Inclusion shares, “We know that it is important to bring together members based on demographics, such as young adults, families with young children, and that works at times, but not always. We realized that we should be bringing people together based on shared interests and passion, creating Temple Tribes! Working together with our Membership Committee, we came up with our plan to engage members to lead and participate in passion-driven small groups.”
To read the full article, click here.
June 22, 2021
In the News
Mazel Tov to the following members of The Temple for their recent appointments.
Cindee Gold, President, Gordon Jewish Community Center Board of Directors
Lisa Kranc, First Woman Chair of the Board of Trustees at Brandeis University. She is a Class of ’75 alumna.
Susan Zager, President, Jewish Family Service of Nashville and Middle Tennessee Board of Directors
April 30, 2021
Hayley Levy to Receive 2021 Sandy Averbuch Young Leader Award
By Barbara Dab, Editor
The Jewish Observer Nashville
It didn’t take long for Hayley Levy, a member of The Temple, to decide that Nashville would be her forever home. What was supposed to be a three-month assignment in 2016 assisting The Temple with a fundraising project, turned into a two-year position. And after a brief stint in frosty Minnesota, Hayley packed back up and returned to Nashville where she quickly began laying the foundation for what looks to be a very long and very meaningful connection to her new hometown.
She says, “At first people really took me under their wing, introduced me to groups like NowGen, and helped me meet other young people.” And when she returned, this time for good, she says, “People could not have been more excited to welcome me a second time.”
To read the full article, click here.
March 30, 2021
Pandemic Connections: A Look at How We’re Doing
In a cover story by Editor Barbara Dab in the April 2021 edition of The Jewish Observer Nashville, examples of how Nashville synagogues, including The Temple, have used “new technology as a way to combat the loneliness, fear and anxiety that comes with being socially distant.”
Among the highlighted programs are The Temple’s “Let’s Connect,” a weekly support group, facilitated by Harriet Schiftan, MSW, President and CEO of Gilda’s Club, and member Anna Sir’s bi-weekly Zoom hangouts for seniors through Jewish Family Service.
To read the full article, click here.
March 30, 2021
The Post-Covid Congregation: One Rabbi’s Vision
By Rabbi Mark Shiftan, The Temple
The congregation of the future is here: We are on the eve of a new, golden age of the synagogue, massive in scope of potential, positive change, not only resilient in strength but in its accrual of newfound energy, creativity, innovation and inclusion.
We have the ability, despite consistent and continuing challenges regarding its alleged imminent decline, to enter a period of transformational growth, evolution, and substantial change. And the resounding truth is that we are already there, right at the front doorstep of an incredible moment of dramatic institutional pivoting to a new era of renewed and enhanced meaning and opportunity for the role of The American Synagogue.
To read the full article, click here.
March 30, 2021
The Temple’s Rabbi Michael Shulman Becomes 18Doors Rukin Rabbinic Fellow
The Temple’s Rabbi Michael Shulman is now part of the second cohort of the 18Doors Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship Program, which launched with a virtual kick-off retreat earlier last month.
The new Rukin Rabbinic Fellows are part of a unique community of practice, which will help them hone their skills working with interfaith couples and families. Each will participate in professional development provided by 18Doors.
March 4, 2021
The Rev. Charlie Curb Center for Faith Leadership Announces Judeo-Christian Studies Initiative
Belmont University Program to Focus on Providing Opportunities for Interfaith Dialogue and Understanding
Under the umbrella of this initiative, three endowments totaling more than $150,000 with university matching funds have been established, thanks to donors Dr. Frank and Julie Boehm, Mark and Harriet Schiftan, and Shelly and Trish Krizelman. Each of these funds will focus on unique goals and objectives.
The Rabbi Mark & Harriet Schiftan Holocaust Endowment Fund will focus attention on Holocaust studies, awareness and remembrance, and will seek to educate Belmont students, as well as the greater Nashville community, concerning issues related to the Holocaust.
“I’m both excited and elated for my role in the creation and establishment of the Judeo-Christian Initiative at Belmont,” said Rabbi Mark Schiftan. “This initiative will include an honest examination of the history, lessons and legacy of the Holocaust and its broader impact and meaning on the culture and character of this current moment in time, as well as its important and lasting lessons for peoples of faith communities – Belmont students included – over their lifetimes.”
February 28, 2021
January 30, 2021
