On Thursday, May 7, Scheck Hillel Community School hosted the 8th Annual South Florida Jewish Day School Robotics Festival Supported by the Eleanor M. and Herbert D. Katz Foundation, bringing together 205 students and educators from 11 Jewish day schools across South Florida for a full day dedicated to robotics, engineering, coding, creativity, and collaborative learning. Over the past eight years, the festival has grown into a signature STEM event within the South Florida Jewish day school community, offering students an opportunity not only to showcase their technical skills, but also to engage in meaningful collaboration with peers from schools throughout the tri-county area.
In Ancient Rome, life revolved around the Coliseum. In New York City, the cultural capital of America, all roads lead to Times Square. And in London, Buckingham Palace stands as the heart of the city. These central monuments reveal the core values of each society — spectacle, commerce, and monarchy respectively. So, what lies at the center of the Jewish Nation? In the opening of the book of Numbers, God instructs the Israelites to arrange themselves by tribe, giving each its assigned position, distinctive flag, and marching formation. But perhaps most significantly, these tribal designations all revolve around a single focal point: "The Israelites shall camp each man with his standard, under the banners of their ancestral house; they shall encamp, surrounding the Tent of Meeting." (Numbers / Bamidbar 2:2)
On April 22nd, we were honored to celebrate two great milestones— Yom HaAtzma’ut, Israel’s Independence Day (in the Jewish calendar the 5th of Iyar) and Carla Spector, who is retiring after 50 years working for CAJE. This week’s blog presents a few reflections on Carla from me and her direct boss, Dr. Bella Tendler Krieger, CAJE’s Director of Adult Learning and Growth, and then some of the remarks Carla shared with the many attendees.