News From the Greater Miami Jewish Federation

Aspiring dentist Jessica Schlaen, 17, recently shared her passion for good oral health by distributing teeth-cleaning supplies and teaching the importance of proper brushing with children in Miami’s partnership city of Yerucham, Israel.

“I was amazed to see the cutting-edge nature of our programs,” said Federation General Campaign Chair Jeffrey Scheck, who recently returned from The Jewish Federations of North America’s Campaign Chairs and Directors Mission to Paris and Israel.

More than 200 French Jews arrived in Israel Wednesday, July 20 aboard a special aliyah (immigration) flight organized by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s overseas partner, The Jewish Agency for Israel, along with the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption and Keren Hayesod-UIA.

Less than two years since its launch, Miami's Russian-Speaking PJ Library program has more than 300 subscribers from Northeast Dade’s Russian Jewish population. Like the original PJ Library program, participants ages 6 months through 8 years old receive free, monthly Jewish-themed books and music.

With the Olympics only a few weeks away, international sports is on everyone’s minds, including those at the three Greater Miami Jewish Federation-funded Jewish community centers in Miami.

This summer, 1,300 young Jews from 20 countries are traveling to rural Hungary to attend Camp Szarvas, an annual program that merges the fun of sleepaway camp with the celebration of Jewish peoplehood.

Miami’s own Michelle and Matan Ben-Aviv are featured this week in a Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) story about a program they created in partnership with the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and the Hebrew Free Loan Association (HFLA) of South Florida to lower the financial obstacles to accessing fertility treatments and having a child.

Join the Young Leadership Division, Federation’s under 40 division, and AIPAC’s Miami Club on Thursday evening, July 21 for cocktails and a fascinating briefing on how the Jewish and African America communities are working together to advocate for Israel.

Registration has opened for the Leo Martin March of the Living (LMMOL), April 8-23, 2018, an impactful educational program for teens studying the Holocaust.

B’nai Mitzvahs in Jerusalem, wine tasting in Kiryat Tivon, ATV rides, rafting down the Jordan River, dinner in a Bedouin tent, a traditional Ethiopian lunch and dance performance in Pardes Channa-Karkur, sunset burgers and beers in Tel Aviv, taking in history at Independence Hall, and a visit to the Yitzhak Rabin Center…participants on the 2016 Summer Family Mission to Israel experienced it all and then some on their 10 day journey through our spiritual homeland.

B’nai Mitzvahs, Boureka baking and Bimbas: participants on the 2016 Summer Family Mission encountered all three over the past week traveling through Israel. Mission participants met with members of the Y-Team, a championship robotics group from Yerucham, Federation’s partnership city in the Negev.

Federation elected Amy N. Dean to serve as Chair of its Board of Directors, and Jeffrey Scheck to serve as Vice Chair and General Campaign Chair, effective July 1, 2016. Federation also selected a full slate of 2016-17 Officers and Board of Directors Members during its recent Annual Meeting, and honored outgoing Board Chair Robert G. Berrin.

Last month, a delegation of Ministers of Knesset visited Miami and other US cities to learn more about the American Jewish community. MK Nachman Shai wrote an editorial in the Jerusalem Post about his observations.

A full Birthright bus of Miamians and Israeli soldiers is making its way through Israel! So far the group has explored Tzfat, played soccer in Pardes Channa-Karkur, enjoyed Tel Aviv and even picked enough butternut squash with Project Leket, an initiative in southern Israel that promotes food rescue, to feed 600 people!

On April 16, a horrific earthquake hit Ecuador killing hundreds and injuring thousands. The Federation-funded American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) was on the ground immediately working with partners and providing aid to those who needed it most.

The Claims Conference (Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) has secured an additional $500 million above previously announced levels for 2016-2018.Helping the tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors in need around the globe is a critical priority of Jewish Federations across North America.

Federation and its overseas partners have provided more than 8,000 Jews in the Ukraine with food, medicine, medical care, clothing, housing subsidies, post-trauma care, and Jewish community connections since armed conflict erupted in the region over the past two years. Nearly 10,000 people in the region have died, and inflation and unemployment have skyrocketed, leaving those once independent now struggling to cope.

Join more than 1,500 Jewish women philanthropists in Washington, D.C. this September for unforgettable days of learning, inspiration and friendship at the International Lion of Judah Conference (ILOJC).