CAJE Blog

Last month, The Jewish Education Project - in collaboration with the iCenter and The Jewish Agency - hosted a nationwide trip to Israel for Jewish educators.Appropriately called Mishlachot Areyvut / Delegations of Responsibility, the objective of this trip was twofold: to bear witness to the atrocities of October 7th and its aftermath, and to begin discussions about the future of Jewish education in a post-October 7th world.

Just before Passover, CAJE’s Diller Teen Fellows held a weeklong cultural exchange with their counterparts, the Diller Teens from our partnership community of Yerucham, Israel. While our Miami Fellows attended school during the day, the Yerucham Fellows explored Miami, gaining insights into how Judaism is expressed in the Diaspora. They visited synagogues across Miami and engaged in dynamic conversations with Rabbis and other clergy members.

On May 1, 2024, a group of motivated teens from Miami-Dade, along with exceptional volunteers and two remarkable Holocaust survivors, Allan Hall and Laszlo Selly, are preparing to participate in the global March of the Living. This important event honors the memory of those lost in the Holocaust and celebrates the resilience and vibrancy of Jewish life. It’s a powerful expression of unity, bringing together participants from around the world to share in this moment of collective remembrance.

On Monday night, April 22nd/15th of Nisan, Jews traditionally gather to celebrate Passover and commemorate the exodus from Egypt. We reenact the exodus through story, discussion, and song at the seder table. CAJE's Department of Adult Learning and Growth, in partnership with our faculty, has compiled Passover insights and teachings designed to help you spiritually prepare for the holiday. We have also included links to resources that you can share around your seder tables to spark meaningful conversations.

How can an experience in California in just five days achieve the goals of helping 8th graders explore their Jewish identity, deepen their connection to Israel, and build relationships with Jewish peers from across the country? IsraelNow has proven it's possible! One major objective of IsraelNow is to nurture and maintain a long-lasting connection and commitment to Jewish life among our community’s youth.

In the aftermath of October 7th, amidst heightened antisemitism and anti-Zionism, Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom Hazikaron hold deeper significance than ever before. Many Jews are asking: How can we celebrate when so many are suffering? How can we remember the trauma of our past, while we’re still experiencing it? How can we capture the heartbreak we have experienced while at the same time, highlighting the gratitude we feel? This past week, CAJE presented a pivotal webinar focused on empowering our Jewish institutions and professionals to innovate in how they commemorate of Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom Hazikaron.

On March 18th, Rabbi Efrat Zarren-Zohar, the Executive Director of CAJE, was invited to teach a lesson on leadership to Federation’s Elevate Leadership South Dade Cohort, a six-part leadership program for emerging leaders in South Dade. The program was designed to give the next generation the strategic and tactical leadership skills they need to succeed. Rabbi Zarren-Zohar created a lesson entitled “To Be a Jewish Leader: Striving for a Lev Shomea (Listening Heart)” and co-taught it with Rabbi Judith Kempler.

October 7 altered our world as we know it. In Jewish day schools, guidance counselors and psychologists were busier than ever dealing with students who had siblings and/or parents serving in the Israeli Defense Forces, teachers whose children were also in the IDF and/or whose spouses had been called to reserves… In Miami, the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE) had already created the infrastructure to support our school counselors and psychologists before there was an unprecedented need.