Jun 28, 2018

Miami’s Young Adults Benefit From Israel Experiences

Your donation to the Greater Miami Jewish Federation's Annual Campaign helps teens and young adults from Miami with important Israel experiences. The Miami Community Birthright Israel, Onward Israel Miami and members of Scheck Hillel Community Day School’s ninth-grade class all traveled to Israel this summer, exploring different regions of the country, participating in mitzvah projects and strengthening our community partnerships with Yerucham and Pardes Channa-Karkur.

In addition to many other adventures throughout the week, the Miami Community Birthright Israel visited Pardes Channa-Karkur, where Federation has supported a partnership with a community of Ethiopian-Israeli residents. A couple of years ago, Federation helped build a Gojo, a traditional Ethiopian home that serves as a center for multi-generational programming, including social, cultural and educational experiences on the grounds of the Community Garden. The Birthright group visited the Gojo and planted trees in the garden. They also traveled to our partnership city of Yerucham, where they dined with the Culinary Queens of Yerucham, spent time with seniors at the local community center and learned about the award-winning robotics team at the Yerucham Science Center.

The Onward Israel Miami group has 24 Miami-Dade area college students participating in an eight-week internship in Tel Aviv. The highly subsidized internship program not only provides the students with resume-building skills, but also provides the opportunity to see different parts of Israel. This group also visited Yerucham last week, where they heard about Youth Futures, a collaborative program between Federation and our overseas partner, The Jewish Agency for Israel, which trains local mentors to work as trusted guides and help students improve school performance, strengthen social integration and inspire community engagement. Onward Israel participants also met with the Deputy Mayor of Yerucham and enjoyed a scenic bike ride around Yerucham Lake.

Finally, a group of ninth-grade students from Miami’s Scheck Hillel Community School also spent some time in Israel, learning about the significance of serving in the IDF, the importance of community and much more. The trip lays an important foundation of Israel, its people, customs and traditions that will continue to be built upon as the students continue their education. Later this summer, Diller Teen Fellows and a group from the Hebraica School of Madrichim will visit Israel and Federation partnership cities.