News From the Greater Miami Jewish Federation

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation, its Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami (RAGM) welcome the release today of 13 Israeli hostages, 10 Thai nationals and one Filipino citizen abducted from Israel by Hamas and other terrorists on October 7.

“I knew I couldn’t be the only person in Miami with a child in Israel. It takes a mother in the same situation to understand, said Denise Dunager, M.S.Ed, a Refuat Ha-Nefesh Fellow, who founded and facilitates the Support Group for Women With Children in Israel.

Answering the call from several South Florida grassroots Israeli organizations, Federation funded a cargo plane carrying 110 tons of much-needed goods to Israelis struggling as a result of the ongoing war.

More than 290,000 ardent supporters from across the country — including 1,100 from Miami — rallied at the March for Israel on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. at what proved to be the largest pro-Israel gathering in US history.

With a dramatic reduction in farmers and other agricultural workers since Hamas' deadly terrorist attack, Israel is facing a potential food crisis, and Federation's overseas partners are stepping in to help.

March for Israel. March to free the hostages. March against antisemitism. Join the Greater Miami Jewish Federation in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, November 14, from 1 to 3 p.m. for the March for Israel on the National Mall.

Since the earliest hours and days of the war in Israel, Federation overseas partner World ORT has been delivering urgent educational and psychological support for students, teachers and their families.

Give Miami Day is next Thursday, November 16! When you donate to the Annual Greater Miami Jewish Federation/UJA Campaign on Give Miami Day, your generosity goes even further. That’s because every donation between $25 and $10,000, including new pledges or payments on an existing pledge, made to Federation will receive a bonus gift from The Miami Foundation.

This past Monday, eight City of Miami Beach firefighters deployed to Israel to spend two weeks volunteering as first responders in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa.

Thousands of school-age evacuees from Israel’s southern communities, whose education has come to a halt due to the war, are attending makeshift schools in the hotels where their families are now residing.

In the days immediately following the start of the war in Israel, three young South Floridians combined compassion and creativity to raise much-needed funds for the people of Israel, netting a total of $3,369 for the Greater Miami Jewish Federation Israel Emergency Fund (IEF).

Yesterday, Thursday, November 2, eight South Florida Congresspeople participated in a special Town Hall Briefing on Israel to show their solidarity with the Jewish community.

Since Hamas’ brutal terror attack, reports of antisemitic incidents have risen nearly 400 percent compared to this time last year, according to the ADL. This meteoric increase in Jew hatred is occurring globally and has grown remarkably worse online, where ADL has recorded a nearly 1,000 percent increase in the daily average of violent messages mentioning Jews and Israel in white supremacist and right-wing extremist channels.

A sad-faced stuffed dog with long arms is providing comfort to children caught in the middle of the war in Israel.

Federation’s community commemoration of Kristallnacht — The Night of Broken Glass — at the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach on Sunday, November 5 at 6 p.m. marks the start of Holocaust Education Week.

Our Federation has launched a new online form for the public to report threats, incidents and suspicious activity related to Jewish organizations, facilities or community members.

Aviv Asher Katz, 2. Raz Asher Katz, 4. Alexander Danzig, 74. Amit Shani, 16. Amiran Cooper, 84. These are the names of just five of the more than 220 hostages who were taken during Hamas’ brutal terror attack.

Miami’s partnership city of Yerucham is making the desert bloom with love for Israel's citizens and soldiers who are experiencing extreme trauma and hardship during these unbearable times.