News From the Greater Miami Jewish Federation

The resurgence of COVID-19 has reminded us once again of the challenges our community faces and how Federation is meeting the needs of the moment.

“I was a teenager — just the age of these young people that brought me this wonderful gift — when the war began,” said Olga Dozorets, a 96-year-old resident of Mykolayiv, Ukraine. “It was a miracle to survive it. Now it is another miracle to feel the sweetness and light of Chanukah.”

Are you a young adult interested in launching your professional career at the intersection of service and Jewish engagement?

This year marks the 14th Annual Jewish Community Volunteer Days: Seasons for Giving, organized by Federation’s Jewish Volunteer Center (JVC), Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and Repair the World.

We are one big Jewish family and the unity was in full force on Wednesday’s Chanukah celebration hosted by the Miami-Yerucham Partnership.

This Chanukah, give your child the Gift of Israel, a program of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation that allows you to save for their future Jewish educational experience in Israel.

Federation continues to support Holocaust Survivors through our collaboration with KAVOD Survivors of the Holocaust Emergency Fund (SHEF) coalition.

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) is exploring how to most effectively combat antisemitism and hate through the legal system via a virtual conversation with Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and Colorado Attorney General Philip J. Weiser on Tuesday, December 14, 7-8 p.m.

This past Wednesday, 25 leaders from Miami-Dade's Black and Jewish communities convened at Base Miami for the kickoff to the Jewish Community Relations Council’s (JCRC) #ShineaLight on Antisemitism and Racism Campaign, part of a nationwide initiative.

Federation is helping Israelis exercise choice and self-determination around their Jewish identities and practice as a member of iRep, the Israel Religious Expression Platform comprised of 25 Jewish federations and foundations.

As we ring in 2022, we need your help to meet the challenges we face as a people. Our community has grappled with so much this year including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, violence and upheaval in Israel and the tragic collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside.

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation and its Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) mourn the death of Congresswoman Carrie Meek. The daughter of a sharecropper and granddaughter of slaves, she fought passionately against discrimination and inequality for all communities and was a staunch advocate for refugees and immigrants, in particular Miami’s Haitian community. She also spoke out against the unequal treatment of Afro-Cubans by Cuba’s communist government and marched in Freedom Sunday on Dec. 6, 1987, when 200,000 people protested in Washington, DC in support of Soviet Jewry.

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation, its Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) are appalled and outraged by this weekend’s vandalism of the Homestead Jewish Center, where an alleged right-wing extremist scaled the synagogue fence and hung a makeshift banner that read, “The goyim know 88.” The incident occurred early Saturday morning during Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) and one day before the beginning of Hanukkah.

Thanks to the generous legacy of Saul Schottenstein, individuals and families facing food insufficiency will have something special to include in their Chanukah celebration.

The miracle of Chanukah is celebrated in Jewish communities around the world and now you can be a part of the traditions.

Caregivers of children with special needs can enjoy an important virtual program on selfcare on Thursday, December 2 from 7-8:30 p.m.

With the help of hundreds of passionate volunteers, Everything But the Turkey’s B’nai Mitzvah year was a resounding success!

Thank you, Miami! Because of your overwhelming generosity, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation raised more than $1.2 million on Give Miami Day.