In Wake of Nashville Synagogue Shooting, Security Intensifies at Jewish Institutions

Heightened security precautions are in place at Jewish institutions in Nashville after a bullet was fired Monday morning at a synagogue in the Tennessee capital.

According to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, a maintenance worker at the West End Synagogue was outdoors, on the side of the facility, at 8:30 am when he heard a loud pop. When he walked around to the front of the building a few minutes later, he discovered a hole in a metal window frame.

The bullet was recovered at the scene and is being examined, according to Nashville police, who noted that security will be increased for the time being around local Jewish institutions.

Chabad of Nashville, co-directed by Rabbi Yitzchok and Esther Tiechtel, sits on the Genesis Campus for Jewish Life just a few miles away from the West End Synagogue. The rabbi recounts that “when we heard of the shooting incident, we knew that someone was trying to shatter the peace and serenity in our community, yet we are determined not to let that happen.”

“We are a united Jewish community,” he continues, “and work closely with the Jewish Federation of Nashville, who immediately contacted all of the local Jewish institutions and organizations so that we can mobilize as one. Together with the 10,000 members of the Jewish community—out of 1 million citizens of Nashville, which represents about 1 percent of the population—we stand strong and proud, and we will not be deterred by random acts of violence by individuals who try to instill terror amongst us.”

Tiechtel, however, acknowledges a visceral public reaction to the news earlier this week.

“At first, people were shocked and afraid,” he says, “yet after reaching out to them with words of reassurance that the G‑d of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, especially when seeing the hand of G‑d in this that no one was hurt, they felt reassured and were put at ease. We also spoke about the importance of having kosher mezuzot on the doorposts of Jewish homes and offices as part of a spiritual protection plan.”

The rabbi notes the overall appreciation of the police in working to keep the Jewish community safe. He and his wife have been in Nashville nearly 18 years, he says, and while there have admittedly been instances of anti-Semitism before, he recalls nothing on the scale of Monday’s incident.

“There is an immense respect in the city for people of the Jewish faith, as people who keep the word of G‑d,” notes Tiechtel. “They often quote from the book of Genesis: ‘And He will bless those that bless them.’ ”

He also shares a rather telling story. Once, he says, when lighting theChanukah menorah on the steps of the Tennessee State Capitol, he saw a middle-aged man with tears in his eyes. He asked why he was so visibly moved.

The man explained that he grew up in a place called Tullahoma, about an hour from Pulaski, Tenn., where the Ku Klux Klan first began. He remembers marches with men in white hoods; he remembers burning crosses and anti-Semitism. He said for him to see the lighting of an 18-foot menorah in public, relates Tiechtel, “we have come a long way from the days of blatant open anti-Semitism in our state. He was moved by a sense of Jewish pride.”

Vandalism Came First

The shooting came just a month after someone entered the Jewish Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house on the campus of Vanderbilt University and painted three swastikas on the walls. Police are still looking for the perpetrator in that case.

Rabbi Shlomo Rothstein, co-director at the Rohr Chabad House at Vanderbilt with his wife, Nechama, notes that following that incident, police security has increased, “especially at high-traffic times like Shabbat dinner.”

Rothstein also teamed up with other Jewish organizations on campus, including AEPi and Hillel, to condemn the act. Groups across the board participated in a March 30 rally and silent walk on campus against anti-Semitism, which included participation from some 550 students and school administrators.

In fact, the recent criminal acts have seemed to rouse students, according to Rothstein, with Jewish programming continuing in full swing.

“We’ve seen an upsurge in Jewish pride,” stated the rabbi. “It has really galvanized the community to be proud of who they are and not get shouted down.”