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Every Child Has Their Own Path

Sep 4, 2026

Every Child Has Their Own Path

What if the key to helping a child succeed is not asking, “How do we get this child to fit into our classroom?” but instead asking, “How can we shape our classroom to help this child thrive?” This question is at the heart of Al Pi Darko – Hebrew for “according to his/her path.” It reflects the idea that every child learns differently, and that our responsibility as educators is to understand each child and find the approaches that allow them to learn, participate, and succeed. Last year, CAJE Miami brought this philosophy to our Jewish early childhood centers through the Al Pi Darko initiative, in partnership with Matan. The initiative was met with tremendous enthusiasm and demonstrated the power of giving educators practical tools to better understand and support children with diverse needs. The success of that initiative left us asking: How can we continue this important work as children move from early childhood into our Jewish day schools?
Amsterdam, Anne Frank, and the Dialogues We Need to Have

Aug 28, 2026

Amsterdam, Anne Frank, and the Dialogues We Need to Have

Amsterdam is almost impossible not to love. Canals flow through neighborhoods of narrow seventeenth-century houses, flowers spill from windows, boats glide beneath bridges, and some of the greatest art in the world sits in museums that somehow feel like part of the neighborhood. There is history everywhere, along with several million bicycles whose riders apparently operate under a different set of traffic laws than the rest of humanity. I went to a city with a Jewish history that is both outstanding and devastating. Sephardic Jews fleeing Spain and Portugal began arriving in significant numbers at the end of the sixteenth century, followed by Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. Amsterdam became one of the great centers of Jewish life in Europe.
Three Journeys, One Jewish Future

Aug 21, 2026

Three Journeys, One Jewish Future

There are moments in a teenager’s life when something shifts: a new friendship, a conversation that stays with them, a place they visit that changes the way they see the world. Sometimes, one experience can become the beginning of a lifelong connection to the Jewish community, Israel, and their own identity. That is the power behind CAJE’s Miami teen programs. Through IsraelNow Miami, Diller Teen Fellows Miami, and Miami’s Leo Martin March of the Living, CAJE meets teens at these different moments with opportunities to connect, learn, lead, and discover their place in the Jewish community. And sometimes, the world reminds us just how important that work is.
CAJE and JNTP: Investing in Our Teachers, Strengthening Our Schools

Aug 14, 2026

CAJE and JNTP: Investing in Our Teachers, Strengthening Our Schools

A few months ago, the 7th cohort of the CAJE’s Jewish New Teacher Project (JNTP) program came to a close. Over the past two years, this cohort brought together 20 educators from six South Florida schools — Scheck Hillel Community School, Yeshiva Elementary School, Hebrew Academy (RASG), Tamim Academy, Yeshiva Toras Chaim, and Katz Hillel Day School. These experienced teachers stepped into the role of mentors, committing to support new educators during their most formative and often most challenging years in the classroom.
Meet Rachel Benaim Abudarham

Aug 7, 2026

Meet Rachel Benaim Abudarham

It is my great joy to introduce Rachel Benaim Abudarham as CAJE’s new Senior Educator and Assistant Director of Adult Learning. A little about her: Rachel is a Sephardic Jew, born and raised in South Florida. For her, this is not a new landscape — it is home. She was trained in study halls across the United States, Israel and Sweden, sharpened in Columbia University classrooms and shaped by a 15-year, award-winning career as a journalist chasing Jewish stories around the globe. A lifelong student, her current doctoral research explores embodied memory in Moroccan and Sephardic Jewish communities— her own community — which is a scholarly way of saying that she cares about how history lives inside us.
Return to Israel: Diller Fellows Reconnect with Our Global Jewish Family

Jul 31, 2026

Return to Israel: Diller Fellows Reconnect with Our Global Jewish Family

This summer, something long anticipated finally became reality. For the first time since 2023, Miami Diller Teen Fellows returned to Israel for the Diller Israel Summer Seminar (ISS), joining more than 700 Jewish teens from 32 communities across seven countries for an experience centered on leadership, Jewish peoplehood, and connection. After two summers in which the program was unable to travel to Israel, returning felt especially meaningful.
Can Disagreement Make Us Stronger?

Jul 24, 2026

Can Disagreement Make Us Stronger?

Yesterday, we observed Tisha B’Av, the darkest day on the Jewish calendar — a day that recalls not only the destruction of the ancient Temples, but also the devastating cost of hatred, division and infighting within the Jewish people. The message could not feel more urgent. That is why CAJE has commissioned the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies to bring its award-winning curriculum, Mahloket Matters: Jewish Wisdom for a Divided World, directly to our community.
Interview with  Carly Orshan - Class of 1998

Jul 17, 2026

Interview with  Carly Orshan - Class of 1998

Many of you might not know that Dr. Carly Orshan, CAJE’s Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, Teen Department, and Congregational Education, is also a proud graduate of Temple Beth Am’s Day School (Class of 1998). The interview below was originally printed in the Beth Am newsletter and we are grateful for their recognition of a stellar member of our staff. Carly began as our Diller Teen Fellows Coordinator, chosen because she had experience leading her BBYO youth group, running a company providing yoga for children and was a unique, home-grown, Miami talent.
Wonder, Resilience, Inclusion: What Israel’s Early Childhood Classrooms Taught Me

Jul 10, 2026

Wonder, Resilience, Inclusion: What Israel’s Early Childhood Classrooms Taught Me

During my recent trip to Israel, I had the privilege of visiting several early childhood programs and meeting with educators, directors, researchers, and leaders who are shaping the field in powerful ways. As someone who spends so much of my professional life thinking about young children, teachers, families, inclusion, Jewish identity, and emotionally responsive practice, these visits were deeply meaningful. Three programs in particular stayed with me: Beit Issie Shapiro in Ra’anana, Wonder School in Tel Aviv, and Hatzav Kindergarten in Jerusalem. Each one offered a different window into what is possible when early childhood education is treated not as childcare, but as sacred, intentional, visionary work.
250+ Years of American Jewish Life

Jul 3, 2026

250+ Years of American Jewish Life

As America marks its 250th year, I have been thinking about the place of Jews in our country’s story. Many people are surprised to learn that Jews were present long before the founding of the United States. In 1654, a group of just 23 Jewish refugees arrived in New Amsterdam, present-day New York City, seeking the opportunity to live openly as Jews. More than a century later, when America declared its independence, the Jewish population of the colonies numbered only about 2,500 people. Today, the United States is home to approximately 7.5 million Jews, making it one of the largest Jewish communities in the world.