The group, made up of 18 high school students from three different schools in Miami’s partner city of Yerucham, Israel, previously won the Regional Chairman’s Award for their work in the FIRST Israel Regional Competition. The Chairman’s Award is the FIRST competition’s most prestigious honor, awarded to the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST.

Click here to watch a video showing off the team’s winning robot.

The Y-Team helped start a 12-year robotics program in Yerucham. Kids can join a junior robotics team as early as the age of 6, with older students mentoring the younger children. Altogether, there are 25 robotics teams throughout Yerucham with more than 300 students participating, which means that 1 in 4 kids in Yerucham is learning about robotics and engineering.

“The town is crazy about robotics,” Yerucham Mayor Michael Biton said in a video created by the Y-Team touting their program. Click here to watch the video.

Following the St. Louis competition, the Y-Team visited Miami where they joined up with other teens from the community for Mitzvah Miami, a day of service helping to beautify Morningside Elementary School.

The next day, the team visited Coral Park High School’s engineering and science labs. The Yerucham students had the opportunity to meet the Miami school’s robotics team that they had been communicating with via Skype, sharing ideas and strategies prior to the competition.

The American and Israeli robotics teams toured FIU’s School of Engineering and saw the Wall of Wind, the largest and most powerful university research facility of its kind, capable of simulating a Category 5 hurricane.

Later in the week, the group visited the Michael-Ann Russell JCC, Scheck Hillel Community School and Lehrman Community Day School, meeting with students and sharing information about their team. As a result, there is interest in establishing a robotics team at Scheck Hillel and having a connection with the team in Yerucham. Friendships were developed and a greater understanding of the two communities was created.

The Y-Team also visited the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, a Committee of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and met with a Holocaust survivor.

For more information about the Y-Team, like their Facebook page, and for more information about the Miami-Yerucham partnership, visit them on Facebook or click here or contact Dahlia Bendavid, Director of Federation's Israel and Overseas Department at 786.866.8445 or email dbendavid@gmjf.org.

Business offices, hospitals, summer camps, schools and other social-service agencies are looking for teen volunteers to help them out during the summer months. All of the volunteer opportunities are available on a regular basis during the week and or on Sundays. You can also log some community service hours with all of these activities.

So don’t spend the summer bumming around texting, tweeting and Facebooking, spend it doing a mitzvah and contribute your time to the community!

For details and to register for your Summer of Service, contact Laura Guren Rodriguez, Director of the Jewish Volunteer Center, at 786.866.8680 or Volunteer@JewishMiami.org.

Along with more than 700 others on the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s Miami Mega Mission, Roberta took in the beauty of our spiritual homeland without so much as a single complaint. Everything about Israel was amazing and beautiful in her eyes.

Unfortunately, Roberta passed away in January at the age of 72. Her bus mates from the Mega Mission collected money to plant what they thought would be a few trees somewhere in Israel, in Roberta’s memory.

The trees were planted in Pardes Channa-Karkur (where the Federation is engaged in a partnership with the town’s more than 1,600 Ethiopian-Israeli residents), in what is now the Community Garden. The trees will supply fruit to Pardes Channa’s senior population, along with vegetables community members already planted.

For many of Roberta’s bus mates and friends, there is comfort knowing her memory will forever be present in the one place she always wanted to visit: Eretz Yisrael.

Enjoy these photos of the Community Garden as it flourishes in Pardes Channa-Karkur.

Planning for healthcare at the end of life is not strictly a legal issue; there are also Jewish perspectives on such matters. Patients and their families – as well as their rabbis and medical, legal and financial professionals – should be informed about all available options so they can make the decisions that best meet individual needs and values. Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, one of the leading experts on the topic – including advance care directives – will be the keynote speaker at three programs presented by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and its Jewish Chaplaincy Program, Maimonides Society, Attorneys’ Division and Foundation on Thursday, May 2.

Click here to read about Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff.

The Professional Advisors Council (PAC) of The Foundation of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and Federation’s Attorneys’ Division will present a morning session especially for legal and financial professionals, titled “Helping Clients Prepare Advance Directives: Jewish and Ethical Considerations.” The program will take place from 8 to 10 a.m. in the Board Room at Federation’s Stanley C. Myers Building, 4200 Biscayne Boulevard. The cost to attend is $10 (not tax-deductible as a charitable contribution) and includes kosher breakfast. Two hours of CLE Ethics credit has been applied for. Joseph Barry Schimmel, Esq., is Chair of PAC and Robert Zarco, Esq., is Chair of the Attorneys’ Division. For reservations or more information, click here or contact James Cohen, Director of PAC and the Attorneys’ Division, at jcohen@gmjf.org or 786.866.8426.

From 4 to 6 p.m., Rabbi Dorff will return to the Federation Board Room to speak at a program geared for lay people and presented by The Foundation. This special learning opportunity, called “The Patient’s Right to Decide: Jewish Perspectives on Advance Medical Directives,” is being offered at no cost. Light kosher refreshments will be served. Reservations are requested and may be made by clicking here or by contacting Sarah Miranda at smiranda@gmjf.org or 786.866.8625. John M. Bussel is Chair of The Foundation.

“Jewish Perspectives on Advance Care Directives” is being presented by Mount Sinai Medical Center and Federation from 6 to 8 p.m. at the hospital’s Founders Conference Room (Warner Pavilion, first floor), 4300 Alton Road, Miami Beach. The program is the culmination of a four-part series for physicians, rabbis, medical professionals and community leadership, addressing the challenges of end-of-life care. To make a reservation or obtain information, call Norma Salvatierra at 305.674.2405.

There will be no solicitation of funds by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation at any of these programs.

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation is joining with other Jewish organizations across America to ask Jewish individuals over 18 years of age and of all backgrounds and interests to participate in an important new intergenerational survey. Your responses will help Jewish leaders better understand people’s attitudes, activities and plans. Please take a moment to answer this brief survey by clicking here. Also, please encourage your friends and family members to join you by forwarding this FastLink to them.

This national survey was created by Dr. David Elcott, the Henry and Marilyn Taub Professor of Practice in Public Service and Leadership at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and Stuart Himmelfarb, CEO and co-founder of B3/The Jewish Boomer Platform. Please note that all responses are confidential.

The Jewish Volunteer Center (JVC) of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation takes great pride in the thousands of dedicated volunteers who committed their time and energy this year to make a difference.

As part of National Volunteer Week, which focuses national attention on the impact and power of volunteerism and service as an integral aspect of civic leadership, Federation and the JVC would like to extend a special “thank you” to everyone who has participated in the past year.

“No matter how we say ‘thank you,’ our feelings of gratitude to everyone who volunteered this year through the Jewish Volunteer Center pale in comparison to the blessings they have bestowed upon our community with their acts of service,” said Mark Kravitz, Chair of the JVC.

Thanks to all of these volunteers, our community was served through:

• Individual Hands-on Volunteering: From playing guitar at a senior residence to tutoring to gleaning a field, individual volunteers spent countless hours helping others.

• Youth and Teen Volunteering: Holocaust survivors, hospitalized children and their families, senior citizens, children with special needs, clients of the JCS Kosher Food Bank, elementary school students, teachers and families, and our Jewish day schools all benefited from the special care of our dedicated youth and teen volunteers.

• Everything But The Turkey: More than 500 volunteers provided 1,500 servings of Thanksgiving side dishes for people at the Miami Rescue Mission.

• December 25 Jewish Community Volunteer Day: More than 400 volunteers touched the lives of thousands of people in need through 11 different projects on December 25.

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service: Through a JVC partnership with City Year, volunteers beautified a local high school.

• Super Sunday and Community Phonathons: Volunteers helped support local and overseas needs by making calls to the community for donations to the Annual Federation/UJA Campaign. At Super Sunday, Miami’s largest annual Jewish phonathon, more than 500 people raised more than $613,000.

• Good Deeds Day: Coinciding with Super Sunday, Good Deeds Day brought out the best in our community as volunteers throughout Miami lent a helping hand in even the smallest of ways.

In addition to all of the worthwhile projects, the JVC will recognize the Jewish Volunteer Center’s Outstanding Volunteers for 2013, Anat Garzon, Dean Meyerson and Sharon Rudman at the Federation’s Board of Directors meeting in May.

For more information about the Jewish Volunteer Center and to sign up for other volunteer opportunities, email Volunteer@JewishMiami.org or call Laura Guren Rodriguez at 786.866.8680.

From the Yiddish Theater and nickelodeons to Hollywood and Broadway, the Jewish people have made tremendous contributions to the world of entertainment. Through the month of May, Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) honors the Jewish fingerprint upon the nation’s popular culture. The 2013 observance will be held at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU (JMOF-FIU), 301 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 5.

The free program is co-sponsored by the JMOF-FIU, the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and Jewish Federation of Broward County’s Community Relations Committee.

Dr. Stephen Whitfield of Brandeis University and Marcia Jo Zerivitz, founding Executive Director of JMOF-FIU, will explore how two percent of the U.S. population has had such a huge impact upon the entertainment industry.

“The arrival of over two million Jews from Eastern Europe a century ago coincided with the emergence of mass entertainment in the United States,” said Whitfield. “This was not entirely a coincidence, as the energies and dynamism of the newcomers and their children were unleashed in the popular arts because so few barriers to entry existed.”

Immigrant Jewish entrepreneurs and their sons were vital to the birth of major Hollywood studios like MGM, Paramount and Warner Brothers. Furthermore, Jewish businessmen were making an impact on the silver screen and were once the heads simultaneously of the three major American networks: NBC, ABC and CBS. Whitfield and Zerivitz will discuss how these Eastern European immigrants made their mark on Hollywood and further examine their influence today.

In 2005, the JCRC and the JMOF-FIU approached Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) with the idea of creating JAHM. As a freshman Member, she embraced the concept, wrote the language for the bill, obtained bi-partisan co-sponsors, and spearheaded the legislation through the House of Representatives. And on April 20, 2006, President George W. Bush proclaimed that May would be dedicated to celebrating Jewish heritage in America.

JAHM encourages all races, religions, ethnic groups and cultures to learn about Jewish contributions; it provides a rich opportunity for educators to teach diversity and cultural awareness and tolerance – the key ingredients to combating ignorance and hatred.

For more information on JAHM and the national 2013 observance, please visit www.jahm.us.

Masa Israel Journey, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation/Jewish Agency for Israel-funded program that brings post-college adults on transformative experiences through Israel, has two new, five-month programs available that will ignite the passions of anyone with an interest in Judaic studies, Israel, organic living and wine — Israel Wine Experience and LaMidbar.

Israel Wine Experience is a five-month program with the time split between Ohalo College in the Golan Heights-area town of Katzrin, and the vineyards of Burgundy, France. While in France, students will take a sensory evaluation course and tour local wineries with France’s leading sommeliers and winemakers.

At Ohalo, participants will attend daily seminars on enology, the science of wine making, and viticulture, the science, production and study of grapes. Classes will also be taught on the history of wine in Israel, which has 200 wineries and produces more than 1 million bottles per year. Then for three months, participants will intern at an Israeli winery and follow Israel’s growing season from sow to harvest.

Israel Wine Experience runs from June 2 through October 31. The deadline for registration is May 2. For more information and to sign up, visit destinationisrael.com/Israel-wine-experience.

LaMidbar takes place at Kibbutz Neot Semadar in the shadows of the Negev Desert mountains. Participants will join a kibbutz work team and spend one day a week on an ecological project, learning about sustainable living practices. They will learn to build using local materials and sustainable building techniques suited to the desert environment, such as straw bales, mud and clay plaster, and learn about passive cooling towers and generating energy from organic waste.

Experiencing kibbutz life as a community is a beautiful feature of LaMidbar, where participants will eat together, share tea around a campfire, work together, enjoy Shabbat dinner and conversation. As a team, they will work the land, milking and herding goats, making cheese from the goats’ milk, growing organic vegetables, harvesting the orchards at the kibbutz’s date plantation and picking and curing olives.

In addition, this experience allows one's inner artist to emerge by working in the studios of local artisans, undertaking an apprenticeship in carpentry, metal work or stained glass creation.

LaMidbar starts July 1 and ends November 30. A second session in 2014 starts February 1 and ends June 30. The deadline to apply for the fall semester is June 15. For more information and to apply, visit masa.neot-semadar.org.

Throughout the five months, participants in both the Israel Wine Experience and LaMidbar will explore the religious connections between their chosen field and Judaism, while taking intensive Hebrew ulpan classes.

For more information on either of these programs or any Masa Israel Journey experiences, contact Israel Programs Coordinator Tara Stiel at 786.866.8458 or email tstiel@gmjf.org.

Join teens from around Miami-Dade County for Mitzvah Miami on Sunday, April 28, as they partner with J-Serve, an international day of service for Jewish teens.

Mitzvah Miami, a project of the Jewish Volunteer Center of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation will bring together around 300 teens to help beautify Morningside Elementary School, located at 6620 NE 5th Avenue. Volunteers will help with a landscaping project, paint murals, restore a Friendship Circle, build planter and compost boxes and host an Earth Day/Lag B'omer Fair for students and families at the school.

The school beautification project is in partnership with J-Serve, the official day of Jewish Youth Service. On this day, more than 10,000 Jewish teenagers from all over the world participate will participate in projects in the spirit of Tikkun Olam—making the world a better place. For more information on J-Serve, visit jserve.org.

Mitzvah Miami will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. A kosher lunch will be served and community service hours are available. This program is sponsored by Bubbie's and Holy Bagels (as of April 10, 2013).

For more information or to register, CLICK HERE or call Laura Guren Rodriguez, Director of the Jewish Volunteer Center at 786.866.8680 or email volunteer@gmjf.org.

One hundred thirty local residents assembles on March 28 to become part of a legacy that changed modern Jewish education, as they depart on the 25th annual March of the Living, a two-week journey to Poland and Israel. March of the Living was launched by Miami’s Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE) in 1988, when 50 high school students, Holocaust survivors and chaperones visited landmarks of Nazi genocide in Eastern Europe and then traveled directly to Israel to witness a flourishing Jewish society. This year, 300 South Floridians – 130 from Miami – will join 15,000 Jewish youth from around the world, as they experience a similar itinerary in Poland and Israel. The program is now formally known as the Leo Martin March of the Living, in memory of Holocaust survivor Leo Martin of Miami, one of its founders and most avid supporters. CAJE is a subsidiary of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

“Twenty-five years ago, the March of the Living was born in Miami as entirely new idea,” said Dr. Leon Weissberg, Director of the Leo Martin March of the Living. “Now it is a rite of passage for all Jewish high school juniors and seniors in our community. In 25 years, more than 1,600 local participants have taken part in the March.”

After arriving in Poland, March of the Living participants will join in 70th anniversary commemorations of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, an historic act of Jewish resistance in which a poorly armed ghetto population courageously confronted overwhelming numbers of Nazi SS troops to avoid transportation to the Treblinka extermination camp. Ultimately, the Nazis killed 13,000 Jewish men, women and children in Warsaw.

Among other experiences in Poland will be a visit to Plonsk where there will be a dedication to the town’s most famous progeny, the late David Ben- Gurion, an outspoken Zionist who later became Israel’s first Prime Minister.

The March of Living contingent will arrive in Israel on April 12 in time to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the founding of the modern State of Israel. They will join Israeli citizens in anniversary festivities and also will travel the country to gain a complete perspective of the greatest triumph of the Jewish people in the 20th century.

The impact of the March is so profound that a number of participants from its earliest years are now sending their offspring on the trip. This multi-generational phenomenon is now being duplicated in Jewish communities worldwide, as the March of the Living is recognized as a critical global tool for Holocaust remembrance and education.

For more information about the March of the Living, contact Dr. Leon Weissberg, Director, at 305.576.4030.

More than six years ago, Miami’s Jewish community established a long-term partnership with the Israeli town of Yerucham, located in the Negev Desert. Michael Biton, Yerucham’s mayor, was recently in the U.S. and stopped in Miami to discuss the past six years of partnership and what’s ahead for the Miami-Yerucham connection.

Q: You recently spoke at the JCCs of North America Professional Conference on building a partnership with Israeli cities. What did you tell the JCC representatives who attended from all over the U.S.?

A: It was a practical discussion. It takes at least two very devoted partners, here and overseas, working together. If there’s only one partner, it will never happen. The relationship between the partners is about friendship and love and family. It’s beyond professional and strategic thinking, which is important, but peoplehood and Jewish identity is the work of the soul. What we created here in Miami, it’s an unbelievable model.

Q: What connects our two cities that makes this model so successful?

A: Miami is struggling to maintain Jewish identity and how to strengthen Jewish peoplehood. How to educate the next generation of leaders and about Tikkun Olam. Surprisingly, this is also the struggle of Yerucham. How to educate the next generation to commit themselves to Israeli society, to Tikkun Olam, how to develop and strengthen the community. So we share mutual challenges. In each place they are different; some are unique to Miami, some are unique to us, but we are relevant to each other.

Q: What can the people of Miami do to help combat these struggles?

A: First of all, they are doing it already. Federation directly invests in Yerucham annually. But partnership isn’t only about money. It’s about people. Just come and visit. Be a partner. Come and volunteer. And whenever you are ready to do something for Israel through Federation, the best place to do that, and the best place for Israeli society is Yerucham.

Q: Why do you think Miami and Yerucham are so devoted to this partnership?

A: There is a miracle that is called Jewish life. A Moroccan guy from Yerucham whose parents speak Arabic can meet an Ashkenazi guy in Miami, whose parents are Holocaust survivors and another Jewish guy who had to move out of Venezuela recently in one room, and sometimes they don’t even speak the same language, but somewhere in their hearts and bodies, there is a desire to connect. Something that goes thousands of years back; something you don’t even understand until it happens. There’s no rational explanation why Jews are so connected, why they are so devoted, but it’s there.

Q: It has been more than six years since Miami and Yerucham began its partnership with one another. How do you think that relationship has grown in the past six years?

A: Miami joined Yerucham when it was in a fragile situation. The education services were low, the feeling among its people was not so great and there was negative immigration. Six years from that moment, a lot of it because of Miami, Yerucham is growing. We’ve added 5 percent into our population, we’ve built hundreds of houses and apartments for the first time after 15 years of a frozen real estate market. Because of Miami, we’re building a hotel.

Because of Miami we are the leaders in Israel in terms of youth activity. This is very specific achievement of Miami, because it is massively invested in that.

Q: What would you like to see happen in the next several years with regards to the Miami-Yerucham partnership?

A: In the next few years, I would like to see that maybe 2, 3, or 5,000 Jews from Miami visited Yerucham, spent time there, volunteered, learned. At the same time, most of my community is aware and involved and committed to the partnership on all levels. So my dream for the next several years is that the number of people who are impacted by this partnership will grow and it will be a celebration of Jewish friendship and support for Israel.

Q: What else would you like your partners in Miami to know?

A: We are celebrating six years of partnership. We can be proud of what we accomplished and we can and should define new directions and new strategic plans for both sides of the partnership. Our family is making a difference in Israeli society where it should be done, in the periphery, in the Negev, in Yerucham.

And to any person that involves and commits themselves to Israel, I would like to thank you on behalf of the people of Yerucham.

If you would like to know more about Miami’s partnership with Yerucham, click here or contact Israel and Overseas Director Dahlia Bendavid at 786.866.8445 or dbendavid@gmjf.org.

Amy Hirshberg Lederman is an award-winning, nationally-syndicated columnist, author, Jewish educator, public speaker, and attorney.

She practiced law for 14 years before pursuing her passion of Jewish education. She has served as the Assistant North American Director of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School and the Director of the Department of Jewish Education and Identity for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and is the Development Associate for the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona. She currently teaches courses on Jewish spirituality, ethics, law and literature.

Amy received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College, her Juris Doctor from the University of Arizona and her Master’s Degree in Jewish Education from the Spertus College of Jewish Studies. In 1997-98, Amy moved with her family to Israel where she was part of an international group of Jewish educators who studied at Hebrew University.

Hundreds of South Floridians will gather at the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation on Sunday, April 7, at 6:30 p.m., to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust in observance of Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.

A highlight of the event will be the U.S. debut of eight works of art painted by renowned Belgian artist Carol Deutsch, who perished in the Holocaust. The panels depicting various biblical scenes are on loan from the permanent collection of Yad Vashem, Israel’s renowned Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. They remained hidden throughout World War II and were discovered by Deutsch’s daughter and mother-in-law in 1945, less than a year after the artist died in the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Beginning at 6:30 p.m., a multi-generational group — including elderly Holocaust survivors, families and school children — will assemble at the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach to observe this annual occasion with a solemn commemoration. The program will feature prayers, songs, a candle-lighting ceremony and other presentations, memorializing the men, women and children who died in the Holocaust and paying tribute to those who survived. The Second Avenue Jewish Chorale will perform as part of the observance.

Yom HaShoah also will present a tribute to Jewish American soldiers who were captured by the Nazis during World War II and held in concentration camps. Fred Rosenkof, a U.S. Army veteran, will testify about witnessing Jews being brutalized in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp while he was a prisoner of war.

Earlier in the day, the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach will host a screening of director Claude Lanzmann’s acclaimed film Shoah, an examination of Nazi extermination of the Jews at Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau. Presentation of the nine-hour film will begin at 7:30 a.m. with breaks for discussion and lunch.

The Yom HaShoah observance is being presented by the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation in partnership with a coalition of civic, cultural, educational and charitable organizations. It is supported by the City of Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council.

The Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach is located at 1933-45 Meridian Avenue. Free parking is available south of the Memorial. In case of rain, the program will be held at Temple Emanu-El, 1701 Washington Avenue. For additional information, call the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach at 305-538-1663.

Once upon a time there was a remarkable family engagement program that brought free, high-quality Jewish books and music each month into the homes of thousands of children all across the Miami area, thanks to the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and The Blank Family Foundation. That program is called PJ Library.

One day, in the summer of 2011, PJ Library decided it wanted to go to school so it could also bring its stories of Jewish values and holiday traditions to children in their classrooms. Thanks to the generosity of The Harold Grinspoon Foundation, PJ Library Miami was able to become one of the first PJ Goes to School, or PJGTS, programs in the country.

PJGTS enables teachers in Jewish early childhood institutions to introduce a new book each month to their classes. Each classroom receives two copies of the book, plus teaching guides designed specifically for that book. The school directors and teachers incorporate these tools into their existing curriculum.

After its pilot year, local participation in PJ Goes to School grew and the program is now in 16 Jewish early childhood institutions in Miami, reaching about 700 students:
-Bet Breira Samu-El Or Olom/ECE
-Bet Shira Early Childhood Center
-Bronson Early Childhood Center/Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center
-Gordon Schools at Beth David Congregation
-Glen Greenstein ECE at Dave and Mary Alper Jewish Community Center
-Hebrew Academy (RASG)
-Jacobson Sinai Academy ECE/Temple Sinai of North Dade
-Joni & Stanley Tate Early Childhood Center/Temple Israel of Greater Miami
-Lehrman Community Day School
-Margaux Early Childhood School/Temple Judea
-Suzy Fischer Early Childhood Academy/Hochberg Preparatory
-Tauber Academy ECE/Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center
-Temple Beth Am Day School
-Temple Beth Sholom Foundation School
-Temple Menorah Jewish Montessori
-The Gan (Chabad Montessori)

Twice a year, the directors and lead teachers from the participating schools gather for professional development workshops and are given training on using the books as a means of enhancing literacy and engaging families in the learning process.

Many of the students at these schools already receive PJ Library books in their homes, however the value of reading them in both locations is immeasurable.

“What happens during story time at school is very different from what happens during story time at home. It’s very different when a parent sits and reads a book than when a teacher is reading to the whole class,” PJ Library Committee Member Clara Bicas said.

The Director of the PJ Goes to School Program, Lisa Litman, develops resource guides that work with the books. These lesson plans are an enhancement to what is already being done in the classrooms and uses the creativity and spirit of each teacher to present the stories to the students. The guides weave Jewish values throughout each school’s existing programs and support schools as they inspire Jewish conversations in the classroom and in the home.

PJ Library, a program of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, is funded in partnership with The Harold Grinspoon Foundation and made possible for Miami’s community thanks to the generosity of the Blank Family Foundation.

To find out more about PJ Library, visit JewishMiami.org/PJLibrary, or call Laura Goldberg at 786.866.8572. To read more about PJ Goes to School, click here.

At the start of the recession, many people who had been successful in their chosen careers suddenly found themselves out of a job and unable to find employment.

Career counselors with ParnossahWorks Miami, a partnership between Jewish Community Services of South Florida and the Greater Miami Jewish Federation that helps job seekers gain immediate access to available job opportunities, found that many of the people they were helping lacked the skills to make them marketable in today’s work environment, as well as the time and resources to invest in a lengthy degree program. Job-seekers were, however, interested in attending short-term programs that would enable them to upgrade their skills and become more marketable.

In order to address this community need, a new opportunity was launched, thanks to the generous support of an anonymous donor. ParnossahWorks Miami is now able to offer a limited number of grants to individuals for short-term training programs that will increase their employability. The training grants will be focused on, but not limited to healthcare, hospitality, technology and clerical work—key industries in South Florida, as identified by the U.S. Department of Labor.

“These grants will provide full or partial assistance to men and women who are looking to expand their vocational skills,” said Gisela Ades, one of the founders of the ParnossahWorks Miami program. “Whether they need to learn new computer software programs or take a six-month course that will lead them on a new and rewarding career path, these grants will allow them to do just that.”

To qualify for a training grant, interested applicants must be Jewish residents of Miami-Dade County who have a financial need and who have expressed an interest in gaining further skills. Applicants must register on www.parnossahworksmiami.org, meet with a career counselor and submit an online grant application. Requests will be evaluated by ParnossahWorks Miami staff on a rolling basis. Applicants will be expected to commit to completing the program and reporting on their post-training employment status. Applications are available here. For further information, please contact a JCS career counselor by calling 305-403-6554.

ParnossahWorks Miami was launched in February 2010 thanks to the generous support of Ades, along with her husband Daniel, and the Blank Family Foundation. This partnership recognized the need to expand employment assistance to Jewish residents of Miami, and the ParnossahWorks program, developed by FEGS Health and Human Services was brought to Miami.

ParnossahWorks Miami’s online system offers free access to job listings and job-search resources. Users can register for employment and career seminars. Since its launch in 2010 through the end of 2012, ParnossahWorks Miami has assisted 874 job-seekers with career counseling and resume writing, and more than half of the people seen have found jobs.

If you are interested in finding a job, posting an open position, or applying for a training grant, contact ParnossahWorks Miami at 305.403.6554, email jobseeker@pwmiami.org, employers@pwmiami.org, or visit ParnossahWorksMiami.org.

In preparation for Super Sunday on Sunday, March 10, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s Youth Ambassadors are planning, collecting and rallying at their schools for Miami’s largest annual Jewish community phonathon.

Federation’s Youth Ambassadors program connects students from five Miami-area Jewish day schools with the work of Federation and its partner agencies and organizations. The program teaches important leadership skills while enabling students to see firsthand how the Annual Federation/UJA Campaign supports a wide variety of vital programs services throughout the Jewish community.

At each of the participating schools, the week before Super Sunday has been dubbed “Federation Week,” where the students, led by their Youth Ambassadors, will participate in an array of activities that support the Federation Mission. Dollars raised will help to fund 106 programs and services in Miami, in Israel and in more than 70 other countries worldwide.

At Lehrman Community Day School, Youth Ambassadors have set up a Federation Question of the Day box, and the class that answers the most questions correctly during the week will get a reward. Every student is asked to put $1 in a special tzedakah box for Federation and posters are being hung around the school promoting Super Sunday. Students will also be wearing stickers on the Friday before Super Sunday, to remind their parents and friends of the upcoming event.

Parents and families with students at Beth Am Day School have been getting notices about Super Sunday through the weekly school newsletter, “Chai Lights,” encouraging them to attend and volunteer at the annual event. Student council members are speaking to the entire student body during Friday’s Kabbalat Shabbat assembly, hoping to get them involved as well.

At Scheck Hillel Community Day School, students are continuing their food collections for the Jewish Community Services Kosher Food Bank. They will set up a special table outside the cafeteria where students can sign up to volunteer to make calls on Super Sunday.

Students at Jacobson Sinai Academy will do a 5-mile “Walk for Israel,” and are asking people to sponsor them at $1 per mile. The Youth Ambassadors are hosting two dress-down days where students can wear jeans for $3 and t-shirts for $2 (in place of their regular school uniform). The money raised through all of these initiatives will benefit the Annual Federation/UJA Campaign.

On Sunday, March 3, students from Hebrew Academy (RASG) held their annual Beach Bash Phonathon, where they raised nearly $54,000 for the Federation's Annual Campaign. Throughout the week, students at Hebrew Academy will host a food drive, make Passover cards for seniors who live in Federation-sponsored housing and raise money for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s “Hibuki” doll project. Students who participate in Super Sunday events can wear school t-shirts instead of their regular school uniform shirts as a symbol of appreciation for the funding Federation provides to the school.

Mytyl Simancas-Bister, who is chairing Super Sunday along with her husband and their three children, suggested the Youth Ambassadors and their fellow students will also be making practice calls to people they know so they will be more comfortable on Super Sunday. The Youth Ambassadors were recently taught how to fill out a pledge card, and were given a stack so they can show their classmates and friends how to fill one out.

Federation's beneficiary agencies, day schools and Miami-area synagogues are also eligible for the Super Sunday Incentive Program. The program allots them 50 percent of any eligible gift raised by that institution’s representatives on Super Sunday. Also, the agency, school or synagogue with the most pre-registered Super Sunday volunteers will receive an additional $1,000 just by attending.

To learn more about the Federation Youth Ambassadors, contact Laura Guren Rodriguez at lrodriguez@gmjf.org or 786.866.8680. To volunteer or for more information on Super Sunday, click here.

Miami-Dade residents 40 and older can apply now for a unique opportunity to share their professional skills and build lasting connections in Yerucham, Miami’s partnership community in Israel.

As part of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s Volunteer BaMidbar (Volunteer in the Desert), participants will live and work in Yerucham for two weeks beginning May 30. Volunteers will lend their time and talents to local businesses and nonprofit organizations where their particular skills are needed. In addition, they will teach conversational English to adults for two or three evenings a week. The Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s Miami-Yerucham Partnership is working with Skilled Volunteers for Israel to present this pilot program.

Yerucham, a town situated in the Negev Desert, is an up-and-coming community with a diverse population of nearly 9,400 residents, including Jews from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Since 2007, Federation has worked with the Yerucham community to create partnerships focusing on a variety of areas, including business development, school projects and youth programs. Volunteer in the Desert participants will see these connections first-hand — as well as experience — day trips throughout the region. They will also join local host families for Shabbat, and participate in Jewish text and spirituality workshops.

"This opportunity enables people to forge a deep connection with Israel by volunteering and developing personal relationships with the Israeli people. By engaging with Israelis, teaching them, and being immersed for several weeks in everyday Israeli life, volunteers will experience Israel in an intimate and profound way," said Lisa Kudish Rosenburg, Chair of the Miami-Yerucham Partnership Committee.

The program runs from May 30 to June 13. Participants receive housing accommodations, airport transfers, insurance, regional trips, workshops and home hospitality for Shabbat meals. They will pay for their own airfare, meals and incidentals. The cost is only $800 for three weeks, or $600 for two weeks. This is a special subsidized rate for Miami-Dade community members. All others pay $3,400.

Volunteer projects involve skills such as writing, marketing, photography, social media and fundraising. Professionals with other skills are encouraged to apply, as they will be matched with organizations in Yerucham that need their talents.

To learn more about the Miami-Yerucham Partnership, click here.

Download an application online. For more information, click here or email IsraelOverseas@JewishMiami.org or contact Dahlia Bendavid, Director of Federation’s Israel and Overseas Department, at 786.866.8445.

This year, Miami’s largest annual Jewish community phonathon will be more social than ever, as the Greater Miami Jewish Federation celebrates its 75th and Israel’s 65th birthdays with tweets, hashtags, check-ins and status updates at Super Sunday.

Join volunteers of all ages on Sunday, March 10 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Federation's Stanley C. Myers Building, 4200 Biscayne Boulevard. Share Miami and Israel's milestones by making calls to help support the 2013 Federation/UJA Campaign, which provides a vital lifeline of programs and services for Jewish people in Miami, in Israel and in more than 70 other countries around the world.

Volunteers are asked to bring their smart phones and tablets to not only make fundraising calls, but to also send out tweets on Twitter, pics on Instagram, videos on YouTube, photos on Flickr and updates on Facebook.

While supporting the Annual Campaign, volunteers also can raise money for local Federation-funded agencies, synagogues and day schools by signing up for the Super Sunday Incentive Program at check-in. Any Miami-Dade County synagogue, agency or day school that receives an allocation from the Federation/UJA Campaign can receive 50 percent of any eligible gift raised by that agency’s representatives on Super Sunday. Also, the organization with the most pre-registered Super Sunday volunteers will receive an additional $1,000 just by attending!

Super Sunday, a decades-long tradition for families, is being chaired by the Bister-Simancas family — Mytyl, Sergio, Ari, Danny and Yael. The Training Vice Chair is Marilyn Myman and the Youth Activities Vice Chair is Judy Kapiloff. The North Dade Vice Chair is Joshua Kaplan; the South Dade Vice Chair is Andrew Wolf; and the Miami Beach Vice Chair is Dan Berkowitz.

Registration for Super Sunday is closed, but walk-ins are welcome. To make a gift now, click here.

Super Sunday, the Miami Jewish community’s largest annual fundraising phonathon, was energized this year by a significant increase in the amount of money pledged to the 2013 Greater Miami Jewish Federation/UJA Campaign. Five hundred volunteers reached out by telephone to collect 1,240 pledges to the Campaign worth a total of nearly $613,000.

According to Robert Berrin, Federation’s General Campaign Chairman, the day was a complete success.

“It started early in the morning with a swell of volunteers arriving and calling other members of our community for pledges,” Berrin said. “As the day progressed, it was evident that there was a significant rise in the number of new gifts pledged to the Campaign, as well as an increase in the number of recovered gifts from people who gave in the past but abstained during the past few recessionary years.”

As shifts of volunteers reached out to members of the community throughout the day, the atmosphere at Federation’s Stanley C. Myers Building was celebratory in recognition of the organization’s 75th anniversary and the State of Israel’s 65th birthday. There was a spirit of joy in the children’s area, where colorful exhibitions, story readings and sing-alongs entertained and enlightened youngsters. Slices of birthday cake were passed to one and all, as callers kept up a steady stream of telephone solicitations to support Federation’s network of social service agencies at home and abroad.

“We are very encouraged by this year’s response to Super Sunday and are hopeful that the enthusiasm that we witnessed today will empower us to assist more of our brothers and sisters in need,” said Brian L. Bilzin, Chair of the Board of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. “Our goal was to increase the number of participants in our campaign, regardless of the amount each pledged, because community involvement and responsibility are so critical. Looking at the end-of-day numbers, it is clear that our goal has been achieved.”

The Bister-Simancas family – Mytyl, Sergio, Ari, Danny and Yael – chaired Super Sunday 2013, reflecting a decades-long tradition of family involvement in the event. They contributed a special spirit of enthusiasm to the event that was contagious throughout the day.

“All of the members of my family came with friends who support them and support our community,” said Mytyl Simancas Bister. “That is the message of Super Sunday – that we are all responsible for one another and must respond when we hear the call to help others.”

If you were unable to make a gift on Super Sunday and would like to do so, please click here.