Tennessee Governor Meets Young Shliach

This past week, Rabbi Yitzchok Tiechtel from Chabad of Nashville was invited to the office of Tennessee’s Governor, Mr. Bill Haslam, at the Tennessee State Capitol. This visit was a follow up to the lighting of the Menorah this past Chanukah at the State Capitol by the Governor and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Rabbi Tiechtel was joined by his son; the young Shliach Levi Tiechtel, the president of Chabad of Nashville; Mr. Tommy Bernard, and by the honorable Judge Scott Rosenberg.

During the meeting, Rabbi Tiechtel thanked the governor for his support of the Jewish community, and spoke about the beautiful new Chabad Center that is being built by Chabad of Nashville, and about the growth of Chabad across Tennessee, lead by the head Shliach of the state Rabbi Levi Klein. As of today, there has been established a Chabad Center in everyone of the four major cities across the state, including: Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and two in Nashville (including Chabad at Vanderbilt University).

During the meeting, the governor inquired by the young Shliach where he goes to school; Levi told the governor that he goes to the Shluchim Online School. The governor asked what kind of school is that, and Levi explained how his classmates are around the world, how he learns for six hours every day – via the computer – the Talmud and Jewish history in several languages, how his teacher sees him and all of his friends and how his network of friends are nationwide. The Governor was amazed by this concept, enjoyed the enthusiasm and excitement of the young Shliach and gave him a big hearty southern handshake.

The governor was presented with a beautiful Menorah, and said he will place it prominently in the Governor’s Mansion. The Speaker of the House, Beth Harwell, was also presented with her own Menorah, and said this will be the first Menorah that will grace the office of the Speaker in the Capitol Building.

On Monday of this week, Rabbi Tiechtel was also honored with being the Chaplain of the Day, and gave the invocation at the opening of the session of the Tennessee House of Representatives. The invocation included the message the Rebbe told Rabbi Moshe Feller to give to the US House of Representatives in Washington D.C. about the Seven Noahide laws, and governing with justice, knowing that the presence of G-d dwells in their midst.

Following the presentation of the Invocation, Rabbi Tiechtel was presented with a certificate proclaiming him to be the Chaplain of the Day for the Tennessee State House of Representatives.

These events were a major Kidsuh Hashem, as the Jewish community of Tennessee is only 30,000 people out of five million, and was a major Kidush Lubavitch for the Shluchim of the Rebbe.

Click here to see a video of the invocation.