Diller Teen Fellows Kick Off Their First Shabbaton of the Year
Posted on 12/12/2025 @ 05:00 AM
By Bari Lutz, Diller Teen Fellows
Program Coordinator
The Diller Teen Fellowship program is Miami’s premier leadership development initiative, selecting a group of 20 Jewish teens entering grades 10 and 11.
This year-long experience focuses on strengthening personal Jewish identity, creating authentic connections with Israel and Israeli peers, and cultivating leadership skills rooted in purposeful Tikkun Olam.
As a proudly pluralistic community, Diller unites teens from a wide range of schools, synagogues, and backgrounds, giving them the chance to learn from one another’s stories and perspectives.
Cohort 13 embraced this diversity from the start, coming together this past weekend to celebrate Shabbat, engage in meaningful conversations about their Jewish identities, and continue building their sense of community.
One of the standout moments of the Shabbat was our Sand Bottles Activity, a creative exercise inviting Fellows from every community to represent the different aspects of their Jewish identity through layers of colored sand.
“A program to me that stood out the most was definitely the Sand Bottle activity, in which we decorated a bottle with different colors of sand that represented aspects of someone’s Jewish identity like reading the Torah or engaging with Jewish values,” shared Sophia Ofir, Cohort 13 Fellow. “It showed me physically and visually how I feel about my Jewish identity and how different aspects of Judaism affect my everyday life.”
Throughout the weekend, Fellows also took part in programs exploring their individual relationships with G-d, examining how intention and mindfulness can elevate the Shabbat experience, and discussing complex topics such as antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
These conversations encouraged Fellows to reflect not only on their personal identities but also on their roles within the broader Jewish community.
The Shabbaton was made even more meaningful by the participation of Rabbi Efrat Zarren-Zohar, Executive Director of CAJE Miami, and her husband, Avi Rosenberg. Their presence offered Fellows with a meaningful opportunity to engage directly with community leaders, ask thoughtful questions, and explore Jewish values through shared learning and dialogue.
For many Fellows, these interactions and discussions opened the door to new personal insights.
“This Shabbaton was a great moment for introspection on what being Jewish means to each of us,” Reflected Manuel Apraiz, Cohort 13 Fellow. “I feel that I not only got to learn about everyone else’s Jewish identity but I was also able to reflect on what I value and learn about my own identity.”
Over the course of the weekend, Cohort 13 began forming friendships, deepening their self-awareness, and establishing the foundation for a year defined by growth, purpose, and connection.
This first Shabbaton marks only the beginning of a transformative year for this year’s Cohort 13 Fellows.
For more information about this transformative program, please contact Bari Lutz barilutz@caje-miami.org and visit dillermiami.org
