It's Happening In Miami

Registration is now open for the 20th anniversary year of Milk & Honey Volunteer Drive-Thru & Drop-Off, taking place Sunday, September 18, presented by Jewish Community Services of Florida (JCS) and the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

Join your Jewish community for a meaningful day preparing and delivering Rosh Hashanah baskets and personal hygiene kits to Holocaust Survivors and homebound elderly. Volunteers will gather at 9 a.m. at Michael-Ann Russell JCC in North Miami Beach or Temple Judea in Coral Gables to assemble the baskets and later deliver them, bringing hundreds of appreciative seniors throughout Miami-Dade County sustenance and joy at the Jewish New Year. The event will be a contactless drive-thru and drop-off format. Click here to register today!

Spend your summer with the Miami Jewish Film Festival (MJFF) at the second annual Summer Movies Under the Stars film series, which brings classics, family favorites and exciting blockbusters to screens across the city every Thursday beginning at 8:30 p.m.

All events are free and open to the public and are shown at four different public parks in Miami Beach, including Lummus Park, Altos Del Mar Park, Muss Park and Pride Park. The lineup kicked off with Top Gun and runs through Thursday, September 15 with selections such as Spider-Man: No Way Home; Who Framed Roger Rabbit; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; and Dirty Dancing. Guests are encouraged to bring blankets, lawn chairs, drinks, snacks and even pets to make themselves feel at home. Click here for more information and a complete schedule of showtimes and locations.

MJFF is a program of Greater Miami Jewish Federation subsidiary the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education, and the project is a collaboration with the City of Miami Beach OnStage! Program.

PJ Library invites you to Splash into Shabbat

Friday, August 5 from 5:00-6:30 p.m. Dave & Mary Alper JCC 11155 SW 112 Avenue, Kendall

Join PJ Library as we celebrate Shabbat with a story, snack, and swim. We will light candles and welcome in a Summer Sabbath poolside at Alper JCC.

There is no cost to attend, but space is limited. RSVP by August 2nd.

For more information, please contact Amanda Burns at aburns@gmjf.org or Jenine Simon at jsimon@alperjcc.org

Music for Hope Benefit Concert for Ukraine PERFORMANCE Wednesday July 13 | 7:30 PM Temple Emanu-El

The Career Institute of the Miami Music Festival in partnership with Temple Emanu-El announce a special benefit concert to raise funds to support humanitarian relief efforts for the people of Ukraine. The evening will highlight music by Ukrainian, Tartar, and Georgian composers in various chamber music and vocal selections. This performance is free and open to the public. Seating is general admission.

Generously Supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation

Reserve Seats

Holocaust Impact Theatre General Interest Meeting August 22nd | 7 PM | Alper JCC Miami

Holocaust Impact Theatre (HIT) is BACK! HIT is a theater group comprised of local high school students who write, perform, direct, and produce an annual show to address social injustice using themes from the Holocaust to reflect on the dangers of hate. Interested? Contact Ruth Gordon at (305) 793-9537.

Hillel International is sending your graduating high school senior a gift to celebrate their accomplishments and help them get a head start on their college journey. Members of the Class of 2026 can click here to claim their gift and connect to current students and Hillel staff at their college or university. In addition, grads will be entered in a raffle for a chance to win a $500 gift card!

Federation’s Annual Campaign supports seven Hillels across Florida – Central Florida Hillel, Hillel at FSU, Hillel of Broward and Palm Beach, Hillels of the Florida Suncoast, UF Hillel and UM Hillel. Campus Hillels are more than 600 colleges and universities around the world help students strengthen their Jewish identity through educational opportunities, holiday celebration, activities, travel experiences and mentoring. The programs are unique to each community and can include weekly Shabbat dinner, outings to local events, game nights, guest speakers, service projects and more.

Participate in our confidential and anonymous mental health survey to be entered in a raffle for a $50 gift card! Are you the parent of a teen or young adult or do you work with them in a professional setting? Federation wants to hear from you — and them!

According to the US Surgeon General, teens and young adults are facing a dangerous mental health crisis. Federation’s Youth Mental Health Task Force is conducting a brief, confidential and anonymous survey of teens, young adults, parents and professionals to assess the area's most pressing needs and ensure appropriate services are available.

Make your voice heard and participate in the brief survey by clicking here. It should take no more than 10 minutes and your participation does a world of good.

Dennis Prager Shabbat Keynote Address: How to Raise a Mensch - How to Be a Mensch

Saturday, May 28 at 9:30 am at Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus - 20350 NE 26th Ave, North Miami Beach, FL 33180

Join us for Shabbat Morning Services Saturday, May 28 at 9:30 am with a special keynote address by Dennis Prager "How to Raise a Mensch- How to be a Mensch"

Dennis Prager is a best-selling author, columnist, and one of America’s most respected and popular radio talk show hosts. He is the co-founder of PragerU, which has garnered more than 5 billion views on its website, mobile app, and social media channels.

Free event. Open to the community.

For more details, visit: http://btbrc.org/event/dennis-prager/

Bows and Arrows of Love##

by Rabbi Moishe Kievman Chabad Chayil

Lag BaOmer is a festive day on the Jewish calendar, celebrating the anniversary of the passing of the great sage and mystic Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Also known as the Rashbi (an acronym for his name), he was the author of the Zohar, a foundational work of the Kabbalah, who requested that the day of his passing be celebrated, and not mourned.

It also commemorates another event. In the weeks between Passover and Shavuot, a plague raged amongst the disciples of the great sage Rabbi Akiva and on Lag BaOmer the dying ceased. The Talmud tells us that the plague affected the students of Rabbi Akiva “because they did not act respectfully towards each other.” Thus, Lag BaOmer carries the theme of the imperative to love and respect one’s fellow (ahavat yisrael). Lag BaOmer teaches us that while working to help improve our fellow man, we must never allow these efforts to compromise our love and respect for him.

It is traditional to light bonfires on Lag BaOmer eve, commemorating the immense light that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai introduced into the world via his mystical teachings.

Children customarily go out into the fields and play with imitation bows and arrows. This commemorates the midrashic tradition that no rainbow was seen during Rabbi Shimon’s lifetime.

Rainbows first appeared after Noah’s flood, when G‑d promised to never again devastate the world. When the world is deserving of punishment, G‑d sends a rainbow instead. Rabbi Shimon’s merit protected the world, rendering the rainbow superfluous.

But there’s a much deeper meaning behind the bow and arrow game, with a lesson not just for Lag BaOmer, but something we can apply every day of the year.

The first weapons devised by man were designed for hand-to-hand combat. But a person's enemy or prey is not always an arm's-length away, or even within sight. Soon the warrior and hunter felt the need for a weapon that could reach a target a great distance away, or which lies invisible and protected behind barriers of every sort.

With a bow and arrow, the tension in an arched bough of wood is exploited to propel a missile for great distances and slash through barriers. The inventor of this device first had to grasp the paradox that the deadly arrow must be pulled back toward one's own heart in order to strike the heart of the opponent, and that the more it is drawn toward oneself, the more distant an adversary it can reach.

Chassidut teaches us that the same rules that apply to tools of destruction, apply to tools of construction - the tools we use to help build each other. And this is the deeper theme and lesson of Lag BaOmer: In order to reach a friend or relative who is otherwise unreachable, we have to first dig deep within our own heart. The deeper place from within our heart this love comes from, the deeper it will penetrate in our loved ones heart. The more we work on our own character, the more our children will work on theirs.

The Rebbe writes in Hayom Yom “If you rebuke your brother and he does not listen, then it is you who is to blame. Words that come from the heart, enter the heart”. If you haven't penetrated their heart, dig deeper within your own heart.

This year, Lag BaOmer is Wednesday Night - Thursday, May 18-19, 2022. I encourage you to join a Lag BaOmer celebration taking place at any Chabad or synagogue near you. You are of course welcome to join us at Chabad Chayil in HIghland Lakes for a bonfire, bbq and kumzitz, to G-d willing take place Wednesday, May 18 at 8:30pm. There’s no charge and you can bring your own music instruments to join the kumzitz. For the complete history and more lessons you can learn from this fun and Kabbalistic holiday visit www.ChabadChayil.org/Lag.

About the author: Rabbi Kievman is the ambassador of The Rebbe to Highland Lakes, FL. He is founder of CHAP - an afterschool program for Jewish children in Public Schools, rabbi at The Family Shul & together with his wife directs Chabad Chayil. He can be reached at (305) 770-1919 or rabbi@ChabadChayil.org