CAJE News

Through CAJE Miami’s Pedagogy of Partnership (PoP) initiative, Jewish day school classrooms are being transformed, becoming more collaborative, student-centered, and rooted in meaningful dialogue. This year, the program spans multiple schools and grade levels, engaging 200 students, 14 teachers, and 3 school leaders in building a shared culture of learning. At the heart of PoP is chavruta— a traditional Jewish learning practice in which two learners partner to explore texts through questioning, discussion, and shared thinking. More than just working in pairs, chavruta builds responsibility, listening, and the ability to develop and challenge ideas together.

CAJE Adult Learning is proud to partner with Miami New Drama to present The Zionists: A Family Storm, a powerful new play by S. Asher Gelman. Set at a luxury resort in Turks and Caicos as a hurricane bears down, the play brings the Rosenberg family together just as buried tensions around identity, faith, politics, and belonging erupt, testing the bonds that hold them together. At its core, The Zionists is a family drama about an argument many Jewish families are living through right now: how to relate to Israel in the aftermath of October 7 and during the ongoing Gaza war. As the storm closes in, the family’s reunion becomes a fierce and deeply personal confrontation between competing moral, political, and emotional responses to this moment.

For many parents and educators, bringing young children into the Passover Seder can feel like a stretch. The Seder is long, structured, and filled with words that may feel beyond a young child’s grasp. And yet this is exactly where the opportunity lies! Young children don’t need to understand every word of the Haggadah to connect to the story. They experience it. They feel it. And when we shift from “getting through the Seder” to “inviting children into it,” the night becomes something alive, memorable, and deeply meaningful. Start with the Big Idea: From Narrowness to Freedom At its core, the Seder tells the story of moving from Egypt, a place of captivity, or narrowness, to liberation and freedom.

Across the country, schools are grappling with a growing challenge: recruiting and retaining talented educators. Jewish day schools are no exception. At a time when the demand for strong, dedicated teachers is higher than ever, the question is not only how to bring educators into our schools — but how to ensure they feel valued, supported, and inspired to stay. In Miami, we believe we have a unique opportunity to lead.

This past month, CAJE’s Diller Teen Fellows gathered for their second Shabbaton of the year, a weekend dedicated to leadership in action. Unlike previous Shabbatonim, the Leadership Shabbaton was designed and led entirely by the Fellows themselves. Over several weeks, the teens divided into committees to create meaningful programs for their peers. Their goal was not simply to present activities, but to build experiences that would inspire reflection, strengthen community, and deepen their understanding of leadership today.

This past week felt almost surreal. Purim always invites reflection. It is the holiday that reminds Jews that history does not always move in straight lines. Identities are hidden. Events suddenly reverse themselves. The expected outcome is not always the one that arrives. This year that lesson felt especially vivid. While Jews around the world were celebrating Purim, many people were also watching events unfold in the Middle East that some observers were already describing as a kind of modern-day Purim story. Purim itself offers a powerful lesson about identity.

On February 5th, our community gathered at Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center for a truly meaningful celebration - the ElevatEd Graduation Dinner. Nearly 90 educators, family members, community leaders, Federation representatives, CAJE partners, and honored guests filled the room, creating an atmosphere of pride, gratitude, and shared purpose. ElevatEd is a national initiative dedicated to elevating the field of Jewish early childhood education by investing in educators themselves.

I found Robert Kraft’s Superbowl half-time ad — as well intentioned as it certainly was – sadly so disappointing, and I would add, damaging to our vision of who we Jews are and what we are capable of doing and being. The symbolism of the nebbishy, timid Jew being bullied by the school mob and then saved by the righteous gentile, a tall and strong young man of color, who comes to his aid by slapping a blue square on his knapsack and assuring him of his empathy, is so Schindler’s List that it made me feel utter despair… what does it teach the non-Jew who is watching, about what he or she needs to do to take action against antisemitism?