CAJE Blog

The culmination of the Diller Teen Fellows Cohort 6 program year is about to happen as the Fellows depart for the Israel Summer Seminar this Sunday, June 30th! For three weeks, Diller Teen Fellows will be immersed in the thematic narrative guiding their trip: “Connecting To The Past To Build A Better Future: Experience Israel Through Storytelling."

CAJE and the Greater Miami Jewish Federation are thrilled to announce the official start of the Jewish Resource Specialist (JRS) Initiative, which brings together 5 different congregations and JCCs to expand engagement of their Jewish ECE families and deepen the Jewish learning within their ECE centers.

Dr. Leon Weissberg wraps up an amazing semester of exploring Bereshit (Genesis), From Adam to Abraham: The First Twenty Generations. This in-depth course is one of our Rachel Wasserman Scholars Curriculum from the Melton School. Be on the lookout, Bereshit (Genesis) Part II - The Story of the First Jewish Family, will be offered as part of our Fall semester, scheduled to begin after the High Holy Days. #SelfiesWithScholars

Dayeinu means “it would have been enough for us” and is a kind of tikkun, a repair of the ingratitude expressed by the Israelites as they complained their way across the desert wilderness. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out: “It’s as if the poet/songwriter of Dayeinu were saying ‘where they complained, let us give thanks.’ So in that spirit, here are CAJE’s Dayeinu’s for this year in no particular order...

CAJE’s Congregational Education Department awarded $40,000 in Education Enhancement Grants to 8 Congregational Education programs in Miami-Dade from the Sharsheret grant money given by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. This Educational Enhancement Grant allowed Congregational Education Directors to enhance, embellish and extend their educational experiences and offerings in ways that are integral to their programs.

“We were arm in arm holding the dirt from Israel, facing the fields of Majdanek that 18,000 Jews were murdered on and Allan held me and said, ‘always remember, this will never happen to you or to your kids or to your grandkids because you and everyone else here will teach them to resist.’ Hearing Allan say that really impacted me because I truly felt that no matter what, my generation would never ever let something as terrible as the Holocaust happen again. It empowered me to really believe in the words, never again.” - Essence Slomianski

Diller Teen Fellows is unlike any other program, offering extraordinary and invaluable opportunities to teens as participants during the fellowship and for a lifetime as Jewish leaders. How is Diller Different? The Diller experience does not end after the Fellowship year. Internationally, the Diller Teen Fellows staff are investing in their alumni network, offering countless programs and opportunities to continue to learn, grow, and make a difference in the world.

Judaism teaches that every one of us is created B’tzelem Elohim- in G!d’s image. How can early childhood educators live out this value? In Reggio Emilia, Italy, they demonstrated it to us through their unique approach to early childhood education.