Arts & Culture

By: Nadav Lowell, 11th grade, Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys

According to the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 1,350,000 Jewish children were killed in the Holocaust, leaving only 150,000 surviving. Those that survived did not escape unscathed; many witnessed horrific deaths and horrible crimes. Children were forced to grow up fast and become self-reliant if they wanted to survive.

Most of the ways Jewish children survived were hazardous. Many children hid in bunkers, attics, or other hideaways, in constant fear of discovery. Some lived in the forest. Some children were sent to live with family and friends, and a lucky few were brought to England (via “Kindertransport”). A great many parents gave their children to the church, even knowing their children might be converted. Some parents encouraged children to hide their Jewish identity.

Given all of the above, I wonder what inner qualities and practices kept children alive, resilient, and even identified as Jewish, especially considering limited Jewish education. How did Jewish youth, after witnessing so many horrors and so much tragedy, stay true to their faith and their people?

To help me answer these questions, I turn to the writings of the Jewish youth, carefully collected and maintained by the Yad Vashem archives and others. For example, we have letters written by Hearshc Pollock, Chiya Marla, Jacob Marcus, and dozens more. Heartbreakingly, many of these were written not only to their own families but to neighboring Poles, community rabbis, and others, begging and pleading for interventions to save and protect their loved ones. These letters show me how these children-maintained hopes and dreams, and care for others, even while suffering and struggling themselves.

The Holocaust Art and Essay contest is hosted annually by Memphis Jewish Federation. Students in grades 9-12 across Tennessee and the Mid-South are invited to submit essays. This year’s theme was Courage and Hope: The Holocaust Through the Eyes of a Child.

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Familiarizing Jewish Memphians to the land, people, and culture of Israel is a major priority for Memphis Jewish Federation, and anniversaries are a great opportunity to do it in a big way. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, and to mark this significant milestone, Federation is rolling out a series of programs to celebrate Israel at 75.

“I’m excited about the slate of events we have, from small niche events to huge blow-outs reaching every corner of the community, and all so much in between,” said Jeri Moskovitz, Federation’s Israel at 75 Coordinator. “I’m sure there will be something to pique the interest of everyone in Jewish Memphis but even more than that, I’m certain that the year we have planned will bring Israel closer to Memphis in meaningful ways for everyone.”

Israel has been infused into events already on the community calendar such as adding sufganiyot (Israeli-style donuts) at Jewish Foundation of Memphis’ Latkes and Vodka event in December and serving Israeli cuisine at Federation’s Women’s Impact Luncheon in January.

In the upcoming months there will also be events specifically designed to highlight Israel. Two of those events are scheduled when representatives from Israel’s sister city, Shoham, visit in early February.  On Feb 7th, there is a Continuing Legal Education (CLE)-approved event for lawyers and Professional Advisors at Raymond James at 4:00pm with Shoham criminologist Dr. Ronit Peled-Laskov. A well-educated and captivating speaker, Dr. Peled-Laskov will present on how Israel deals with the rehabilitation of criminals, as compared to the approach taken in the United States. Moderated by U.S. District Court Judge Sheryl Lipman, the program is open to the entire community. Please RSVP your attendance to Carrie Richardson at crichardson@jcpmemphis.org.

Also, on February 7th at 7:00 PM, all Memphis Jewish teens are invited to an Israel at 75 birthday party at Beth Sholom Synagogue where Amir Sela from Shoham will lead a conversation about Israeli pop culture and music. The celebration will include birthday cake, of course. Please RSVP to crichardson@jcpmemphis.org.

On February 26th,  the Morris and Mollye Fogelman International Film Festival at the MJCC will feature the Israeli film, “Who are the Marcuses”, followed by a discussion with Rabbi Abe Schacter-Gampel and Paula Jacobson. The film delves into the lives of Holocaust refugees Lottie and Howard Marcus, who in 2016 left Ben-Gurion University of the Negev over a half billion dollars, the largest single charitable donation to the State of Israel in its history. The gift begged the questions: who are the Marcuses and where did they come up with this money? This documentary answers both those questions and examines the impact this gift has had on Israel’s vital water technology.

The community is in for a treat when on March 23rd, our own Alan Harkavy returns to Memphis for a “Conversation with Alan Harkavy: His Journey from Memphis to Israel.” Moderated by Karen and Jody Franklin, who have personally experienced touring Israel with Alan, the evening will include Israeli wine, stories and pictures.

The spring will bring additional events to celebrate our beloved Israel including a PJ Library birthday party, Israel at 75 Shabbat at the congregations, and a Lag B’Omer field day collaboration between the local Jewish Day Schools.  Jeri Moskovitz suggests you go ahead and mark your calendars for the adult community-wide celebration of Israel’s 75th Birthday on May 18th. “The goal of the night, in the spirit of the vastly successful ‘Taste of Israel,’ will be to transform Memphis Botanic Gardens to make you feel as if you have traveled to Israel without having to board a plane! Attendees will “travel” to different areas of the venue and visit different sites, sounds, textures, and flavors of Israel, whether it be music, food, wine, and even a shuk,” Jeri explained.   

“Jeri and all the committees she is working with have planned a fabulous calendar of programs with something for everyone to celebrate this historic milestone in Jewish history,” said Federation Executive Vice President Bluma Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein.

For more information on any of these events, please contact jmoskovitz@jcpmemphis.org.

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Memphis Jewish Federation has announced its fourteenth annual Holocaust Art and Essay Competition for Mid-South and Tennessee students in grades 6-12.

This year’s contest theme is Courage and Hope: The Holocaust Through the Eyes of a Child. Middle school students in grades 6-8 are invited to submit artwork, and high school students in grades 9-12 are invited to submit essays. Cash prizes for the top winners are made possible by the Kaethe Mela Family Memorial Fund of the Jewish Foundation of Memphis.

Students are invited to consider how children use courage and hope during the horror? How did children survive in hiding and in camps? How were children affected by their loss of education and childhood? How did children resist? Could a child’s imagination take them to a beautiful place and away from the harsh reality of living through the Holocaust?

“This annual competition serves to raise awareness of the Holocaust in both the Jewish and broader communities,” said Bluma Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein, Executive Vice President of Memphis Jewish Federation. “In our current era of rising antisemitism and rampant unfamiliarity with the Holocaust in the general community, this contest is sorely needed.”

As in previous years, all artwork entered into the competition will be displayed in the lobby of the Memphis Jewish Community Center.

Contest winners will be recognized at the 61st Annual Yom HaShoah Community Commemoration on Monday, April 17, 2023, featuring Tova Friedman. Tova is one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz, author of The Daughter of Auschwitz, and featured in many Tik Toks known as Tova Toks telling her story.

The first-place winning essay will be published in the program booklet and the first-place winning artwork will adorn the cover of the program booklet. The winning essay will also be published in The Hebrew Watchman and this blog, and shared on social media.

All entries will be judged according to the following criteria: creativity, passion, and relevance to the topic. Full guidelines and resources for entrants are available here and should be carefully reviewed before submission.

Students should email their essays to HolocaustEssayMJF@gmail.com.  Artwork should be dropped off at the Memphis Jewish Federation following the published guidelines including photo of artwork and attachment emailed to HolocaustArtContest@gmail.com. All entries are due by the close of business on Monday, March 6, 2023. Please include entrants’ name, grade, school, and contact information.

For more information, please contact Lorraine Wolf at lwolf@jcpmemphis.org.

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By Rebecca (Brown) Eisenstadter, Director of Memphis NCSY/JSU Chapter

In the face of rising global antisemitism, local Jewish teens will have the opportunity to celebrate their Judaism at a Jewish pride art workshop being offered by Memphis Israel Scholars on Sunday, December 4, 2022. The program, to be held at the Memphis Jewish Community Center from 1:00 to 3:30 P.M., will be led by artist and Israel activist Danielle Yablonka.

The art workshop is the latest in a series of programs offered by Memphis Israel Scholars, an initiative of NCSY/JSU. Memphis Israel Scholars provides Israel advocacy skills and leadership training to local Jewish teens of all backgrounds to help combat antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment. The program is generously sponsored by Memphis Jewish Federation’s Lemsky Endowment Fund.

The art workshop is a response to the global rise of antisemitism, an issue local teens are struggling with. Many are having trouble coming to terms with the fact that entertainment and sports figures they look up to are saying openly antisemitic things, and they are realizing – for the first time – that antisemitism is very real, and they aren’t equipped to deal with it.

The Memphis Israel Scholars program was created to address this issue, though when it was founded in 2018 it focused more on the need to prepare teens for antisemitism on their future college campuses. Today, that focus has evolved to address antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment that teens confront even before they graduate high school.

Memphis Israel Scholars kicked off its programming earlier this year with a workshop in October led by Yahya Mahamid, an Israeli Muslim who served in the IDF and has since dedicated himself to educating others about antisemitism and misinformation about Israel.

Lea Thomas, a senior at St. Mary’s, said the program really challenged stereotypes – in a good way.

“Yahya encouraged me to fulfill the Jewish value of loving our neighbors as ourselves,” she said. “Even though we both come from extremely different backgrounds, it was incredibly rewarding to share experiences and cultures.”

Brooke Sanderson, a sophomore at Goldie Margolin School for Girls, described Mr. Mahamid’s story as “really moving.”

“What stood out to me when he spoke was how when you see something (negative), you must speak up right away. Because if you don’t, it only gets harder (later on),” she said.

The upcoming art workshop is designed to help strengthen teens’ connection to Judaism because that’s the first step in combating antisemitism. They must be proud of who they are and where they come from in order to stand up for it, NCSY/JSU wants to empower as many Jewish teens as possible through engagements like this workshop.

The Memphis Israel Scholars art workshop is free of charge and open to all local Jewish teens. For information, email brownr@ncsy.org or call 504-235-6834.

Memphis NCSY/JSU is a division of NCSY, the international youth group of the Orthodox Union, and receives an annual grant from Memphis Jewish Federation.

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By: Julia Zabek, 11th grade, Knoxville Catholic High School.

Internationally, January 27th is dedicated as a day of Holocaust remembrance to keep alive the memory of millions of lives taken heinously in this genocide. But is a singular day enough to encapsulate the grief and tragedy that plagued those directly affected and their families? In short answer– no. Maintaining the legacy of all those who suffered and died is a continuous and global effort that is observed on a public and personal scale.

When American troops moved with Allied forces to liberate concentration camps at the end of World War II, Supreme Commander Eisenhower enforced detailed documentation on the state of the camps and their many horrors. Amidst a time of vicious war and great propaganda, this documentation was crucial to maintain the validity of the story without convoluting it with false information meant to harness fear. The crimes committed within the barb-wired and cemented walls deserve to remain in the light with excruciating detail, for downplaying and moving such stories out of sight would be to erase their meaning in all. These events were real, and the story of its victims deserves to be told and remembered for centuries to come.

The Holocaust proves to be a deeply unsettling topic, one that channels pure grief into anyone’s chest. I recall my experience in the Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. on a school field trip. As our pack of 8th graders shuffled through the museum, it was not uncommon to encounter another student brought to tears or others to utter silence. I remember specifically a room filled with the shoes of Holocaust victims, hundreds upon hundreds of pairs. Seeing numbers attributed to something so horrific creates a statistic, one that strips the individuality of each victim. Yet each shoe was different, different styles and sizes, some even belonging to children. Standing there in that room, one is brought to think of how each shoe belonged to an individual– one with a life, a family, goals, aspirations, all wiped away with a simple number. It is crucial to bring up this fact to preserve the memory on an individual level. Though many victims were unidentified, unnamed, and unfound, we cannot allow them to be erased from history as Hitler intended to do in his deranged pursuit of an Aryan race.

On a personal level, it is important to delve deep into history and if applicable, pass on the stories of our ancestors. My family comes from Poland, myself being the first born in America. When I was younger, I was able to visit my great-grandmother regularly and was often reminded of the sacrifices of my great-grandfather who was the commander of a rural rebellion amidst World War II. He was killed by Nazis, leaving his pregnant wife with only memories, and we honor his memory by visiting a scantily marked tomb. My great grandmother lived on to tell his story, just as those who were lucky enough to survive the concentration camps lived on to tell the stories of the less fortunate. In this way, I believe the most fundamental part of safeguarding the memory of those who were lost is by keeping alive the most personal and intimate accounts, the ones that capture the pain and sacrifice in its entirety. Though these lives have been lost, their memory lives on through institutions, memorials, and the ones who pass on their stories– the ones who care the most.

Memphis Jewish Federation’s 60th annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration will be held Thursday, April 28, 2022, at 6:30 P.M. in-person in the Memphis Jewish Community Center Belz Social Hall, or via Zoom and Facebook Live. Advance registration is required for both in-person and Zoom attendance, and can be found at www.jcpmemphis.org/yomhashoah.

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By Laura Linder

I came across a prayer, used by Federation in the 1980s when we were fighting for the freedom of our Jewish family in the Former Soviet Union. With just a few word changes, this prayer again is so relevant for our times. I hope these words will resonate with you and will be shared with family and friends at your seder table. 

“This Passover, we remember our ancestors, the Israelites, who walked through the desert driven by the same dreams, visions, and hopes that inspire us all. We remember the victims of the Holocaust who were unable to escape the horrors of the Shoah. And we think of the Ukrainians who are attempting to escape the cruelty of Putin, many forced to walk towards freedom, leaving their homes and loved ones behind.

In Memphis, Jews gather for Passover seder in the safety and comfort of our homes. On the other side of the world, Ukrainian Jews reel in the despair from the loss of life, the constant merciless attacks against innocent civilians, the fear of wondering where and when the next attack will occur, and the knowledge that they may never be able to return to their homeland.

If we are not for one another, who will be for us?

Let us take a moment to reflect on our freedom. May there come a time, in the not-too-distant future, when Jews around the world can feel freedom from hunger and poverty. There is no doubt that the crisis in Ukraine and resulting inflation will significantly impact families in need and we, as always, will be ready to do our part. Together, we will be there to overcome this crisis, the next, and whatever lays ahead.

Let us pray as we break the bread of affliction that our brethren can find peace, security, and renewed prosperity in the days ahead. Let us renew our promise to extend ourselves, to meet our responsibility toward them, and to do our utmost to alleviate the suffering of any Jew anywhere in need or danger.

And when we say ‘Next year in Jerusalem’, let us pray for peace for all people everywhere.”

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom and a joyous Passover.

-Laura

CLICK TO SUPPORT HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS IN UKRAINE

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With her piece entitled Life in a Jar, Colonial Middle School student Whitney Ousley took the first place ribbon in Art in Memphis Jewish Federation’s 2021 Holocaust Art & Essay Competition. Submissions for this year’s contest, themed Safeguarding the Sacred: Perspectives on Holocaust Memory, must be submitted by close of business, Monday, March 21. Details can be found here.

Memphis Jewish Federation has announced its 13th Annual Holocaust Art & Essay Competition for Mid-South and Tennessee students in grades 6-12.

This year’s contest theme is Safeguarding the Sacred: Perspectives on Holocaust Memory. Students are invited to consider how Holocaust memory is transmitted through the generations and / or the threats posed to memory by Holocaust denial and trivialization. Contest entrants may explore one or more avenues of memory preservation: personal testimony, diaries, hidden archives, judicial prosecutions, historical accounts, visual arts, etc. and consider the opportunities and challenges posed by these methods to the future of Holocaust memory.

Middle school students in grades 6-8 are invited to submit artwork, and high school students in grades 9-12 are invited to submit essays. Cash prizes for the top winners are made possible by the Kaethe Mela Family Memorial Fund of the Jewish Foundation of Memphis.

“With all the disturbing Holocaust distortion we are currently seeing around us, we felt it was critical to focus on Holocaust memory for this year’s contest,” said Bluma Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein, executive vice president of Federation. “We hope that students exploring this theme will internalize the scope and magnitude of the Holocaust and the paramount need to protect its memory.”

For the first time, the contest will also entertain digital art entries, with specific guidelines. As in previous years, all artwork entered into the competition will be displayed in the lobby of the Memphis Jewish Community Center.

Contest winners will be recognized at the 60th Annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration on Thursday, April 28, 2022, featuring Elisha Wiesel. As the son of Elie Wiesel, Elisha has assumed his father’s mission of safeguarding the memory of the Holocaust.

The first-place winning essay will be published in the program booklet and the first-place winning artwork will adorn the cover of the program booklet. The winning essay will also be published in The Hebrew Watchman and in JCP Connect, Jewish Community Partners’ online blog (www.jcpconnect.org) and shared on social media.

All entries will be judged according to the following criteria: creativity, passion, and relevance to the topic. Full guidelines and resources for entrants are available here and should be carefully reviewed before submission.

Students should email their essays to HolocaustEssayMJF@gmail.com. Non-digital artwork should be dropped off at the Memphis Jewish Federation office, 6560 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, 38138. Digital artwork should be submitted digitally to HolocaustArtContest@gmail.com following all the specific guidelines. All entries are due by the close of business on Monday, March 21. Please include entrants’ name, grade, school, and contact information.

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By Chana Rovner
10th Grade, Goldie Margolin School for Girls
First Place, Memphis Jewish Federation’s 12th Annual Holocaust Essay Contest
 
During the Second World War, a great tragedy happened to us and others like us in Nazi Germany. The Nazis put people they thought were lesser in concentration camps in an attempt to “purify the Aryan race”. We would like to assume most people in Nazi Germany didn’t agree with Hitler and were forced to further their cause as a consequence of living in a fascist police state, but given recent events, empathizing with people who stand by when terrible things are happening is much harder. This is where allies are important, they didn’t passively stand by, they tried their hardest to get us out of Germany. Allies are important for any marginalized group, but they were responsible for our continued existence today.

There were many challenges that arose for the people trying to escape Germany at that time. They had to find people who were willing to hide or protect them until they could leave. They had to have plans for every situation. They had to plan for the possibility of getting caught, endangering the people who helped them, and what happens after they get out. They had to wrestle with moral dilemmas associated with getting out. They had to choose what was important to take with them across borders. They had to think about leaving their friends and family behind and find a way to go on knowing that they could have saved someone else. Did they have a moral obligation to help as many other people as possible right then, or should they simply hide?

The allies had many things to wrestle with as well. They had to take into account their own family’s health and safety and actively choose to fight and help other people. They had to figure out the best way to keep everyone safe and hidden while thinking about if getting the refugees out quickly was the most important thing. Was it safer to wait and hide? Is it worth it to put your own family at risk for another person? They had to weigh the risks of everything while outwardly pretending everything was fine. True allies are the most important thing to have, they have helped us get through the toughest of times with no hope of payment.

Once they had found allies to protect them and get them out, what do they do? How do they go on knowing that you could have done more? Did they feel responsible for others’ deaths? Do they thank their allies? If so, how? Now that they are outside of it and it’s all over, they have to think about how others perceive them. Will they try to hurt them more? It may take years for people’s perceptions to change. After all of this, are they willing to wait for as long as it takes to gain acceptance? If they can’t handle the trauma and possible PTSD, is throwing their life away a morally good option? Other people sacrificed themselves so they could go on living, do they owe it to them to keep living?

After going through a traumatic experience, such as that, a person has to question everything. They have to figure out a way to move on from possibly losing everyone and everything. They have to thank the people that helped them along the way. They have to deal with everyone’s preconceived notions of them since the Nazi propaganda is still used today. They had to wrestle with humanity and morality and they did. We got through. We survived and we can continue to survive thanks to all of our allies.

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Lives Restarted, the award-winning documentary film chronicling the story of Holocaust survivors who made their home and began rebuilding their lives in Memphis, was shown at this year’s Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival (BRJFF), which is a program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Baton Rouge.

Commissioned by Jewish Community Partners and directed by Memphian and Jordanian-American Waheed AlQawasmi, the documentary traces the lives of Holocaust survivors after their release from camps and follows their individual journeys to find freedom in America. The film focuses on the challenges of restarting their lives, and in most cases, without speaking English, pennies in their pockets and only what they could carry in a small suitcase when they arrived in the U.S. The film was produced by Memphian and Second Generation Survivor Jerry Ehrlich, and features the stories of many notable Memphians.

Each year, the BRJFF offers a free Holocaust film to all school-aged students in the area, with a speaker connecting the story on screen to a context relatable to the younger generation in the audience. Lives Restarted was screened twice to 1,500 public and private school students.

 “The film made a special impact on our students this year, because it’s the first Holocaust film we’ve ever shown that takes place in the south,” said Julie Hoffman, a volunteer who helps organize the festival. “It made the experience feel closer to home and more real.”

Memphis Jewish Federation (MJF) arranged for local Second Generation Survivor, and longtime member of MJF’s Holocaust Memorial Committee, Dorothy Goldwin, to speak to the Baton Rouge students via Skype. Dorothy is featured in the film telling the story of her parents, Mayer and Paula Kelman, Holocaust survivors from Poland, who settled in Memphis after liberation, spoke to the students via Skype.

“For me, as a second gen survivor, the fact that 1,500 middle and high school students have been educated about the Holocaust is monumental considering what is happening today with the rise of anti-Semitism and few millennials knowing that the Holocaust happened,” Dorothy said after the event. 

“The presentation of the film and Dorothy’s presentation were incredible,” said Ellen Sager, Executive Director for Jewish Federation of Greater Baton Rouge. “The feedback we got from the schools was nothing but positive. Thank you to the Memphis community for sharing this with us.”  

“The students were riveted by Dorothy’s story,” said Julie, the volunteer organizer. “You could hear a pin drop as she recounted everything her parents went through and the effects on their whole family. She engaged with the students, answered their questions, and helped them understand that her parents were typical young people—just like the student audience—when their world was turned upside down.”

You can stream Lives Restarted now with your Amazon Prime Video account.

And don’t forget: Memphis Jewish Federation’s Holocaust Memorial Committee is teaming up with Meitav Menachem, Community Shlicha at the Memphis Jewish Community Center to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Monday, January 27th. Community members are invited to view, on their own time, The Devil Next Door, a Netflix documentary series about suspected Nazi death camp guard Ivan “Ivan the Terrible” Demjanjuk who lived in Cleveland, Ohio after the war. We will be watching the first two episodes and Meitav will lead a collective Zoom discussion on Monday evening from 8:30-9:10 pm. Consider inviting a few friends over for a watch party!

You can join the Zoom discussion here: https://zoom.us/j/569464365

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Photo above– Jason Caplan, to the left with the guitar, leads a group of seniors at the MJCC through an exercise with his unique program, the Universal Language Room. Funded in part by a Memphis Jewish Federation Fedovation Impact Grant, Universal Language Room guides participants to exchange ideas and communicate through melody and rhythm. The application cycle for 2020 grants from Federation and Jewish Foundation opens Monday, January 6, 2020.

Memphis Jewish Federation and the Jewish Foundation of Memphis are excited to announce the opening of the 2020 grant application cycle the week of January 6, 2020. There are many grant opportunities for both individuals and nonprofit organizations.

Memphis Jewish Federation grants include Community, Fedovation Impact, and Lemsky Endowment Fund grants.

Funded by the Annual Community Campaign and open to Memphis Jewish Federation Strategic Partners, Community Grants fund the operations and programs of the agencies, schools, youth groups and programs driving Jewish life in Memphis. Local grant funds are used to connect and engage members of the Memphis Jewish community to Jewish life and/or care for the vulnerable and at-risk in our community. Applications are due by March 5, 2020.

Fedovation Impact Grants are designed to stimulate innovation and impact in the Memphis Jewish community. Also funded by the Annual Campaign, they support an array of meaningful programs all tied to Jewish Community Partners’ strategic priorities: Caring for our Fellow Jews, Jewish Education and Engagement Across the Age Spectrum, and Sustaining Jewish Memphis. Grants are open to anyone servicing the Memphis Jewish community. Letters of Intent are due by January 21, 2020.

Established through the generosity of the late Abe Lemsky, Of Blessed Memory, Lemsky Endowment Fund grants support the strengthening of bonds between Memphis Jews and Israel through a wide array of programs and Israel experiences for all demographics. Memphis Jewish community agencies, schools and congregations are eligible to apply for local Israel engagement grants. New applicants or returning applicants with a new program should submit a Letter of Intent by January 21, 2020. Applications for returning applicants with returning programs are due by February 12, 2020.

Rising high school juniors and seniors may apply for a Lemsky Teen Israel Experience grant to offset the costs of an immersive Summer 2020 Israel experience. Applications are due by April 30, 2020. Young adults post-high school through age 32 may apply for a Next Stop Israel grant for immersive summer, gap-year, semester or winter/spring break Israel experiences. Applications are due by June 30, 2020.

Jewish Foundation of Memphis grants are through the B’nai Tzedek teen philanthropy program. The teens have $10,000 to allocate in 2020 to local Jewish organizations. The grant application will be open for one month, closing on February 6, 2020. The B’nai Tzedek teens will meet on February 10 to review the applications. Then on February 23, the teens will visit each organization that submitted an application to hear in person about all the programs. On March 3, the teens will make their final granting decisions and the organizations will be presented with their awards at a reception on March 23.

All Letters of Intent and applications can be found online.

To learn more about Memphis Jewish Federation grants, contact Bluma Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein at bzuckerbrot-finkelstein@jcpmemphis.org or 901-767-8515 and to learn more about Jewish Foundation of Memphis grants, contact Sarah VanderWalde at 901-682-4328 or svanderwalde@jcpmemphis.org.

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