Miami (February 14, 2016)—Targum Shlishi’s support has contributed to several major cultural and educational projects in Miami in the past year. Those initiatives include the upcoming Limmud Miami on February 21 and several innovative past events, among them a seminar to train rabbis in soulful education, multiple events at the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center, and the Miami Jewish Film Festival.
“Although the majority of our funding goes towards national and international projects, we are pleased and proud to support some of the excellent work that is happening in the greater Miami Jewish community,” says Raquel Rubin, co-director of Targum Shlishi.
Selected Upcoming Projects:
Limmud Miami
Limmud Miami takes place on February 21, 2016; this will be the third year for the one-day, dynamic learning experience. Limmud offers a wide range of sessions, including workshops, presentations, films, discussions, exhibits, performances, and more, led by gifted educators and performers. Limmud provides learning experiences for all ages, from young children to adults, with one hundred sessions featuring seventy speakers on a wide-ranging and provocative line-up of topics that range from talks about Jews and modernism and the Jewish roots of comic book superheroes to family craft projects. For more information, visit the website: http://limmudmiami.org.
Selected Previous Projects:
Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami, Transforming Congregations Through Soulful Education: Training of Clergy and Professional Staff
Targum Shlishi helped to support this one-day intensive seminar held in 2015 for rabbis and associated staff, organized by the interdenominational Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami in partnership with Ayeka. Approximately twenty-five people attended the program, which was geared towards addressing the changing role of the rabbi. Whereas in the past the rabbi was a repository of information, today when information is readily available through the Internet, books, and classes, the key role of rabbis is to facilitate inner transformation and growth. The goal of the seminar was to introduce rabbis to this new paradigm and train them, which in turn will help transform synagogues into centers of learning and growth. Among the questions that the seminar focused on were:
- How is it possible to evoke the souls of our students?
- How can we enable our congregants to hear their own authentic inner voices?
For more information about soulful education for rabbis, visit the Ayeka website: www.ayeka.org.
Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center, Multiple Projects
Targum Shlishi’s support helped with the realization of three innovative projects organized by the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center in North Miami Beach. “Butterflies Don’t Live Here Anymore” was a modern dance performance to commemorate the Holocaust in a creative and moving way. The event, presented in conjunction with the 2015 Holocaust Remembrance Day, took place three times, twice for the community and once for school groups, by Panama’s Espacio Creativo Foundation. The dancers included eight professional dancers from choreographer Fernando Hurtado’s dance company and seventy dancers from the local community. Additionally, Targum Shlishi supported the center’s Israel Independence Day Celebration, a free celebration that brings together many local organizations, agencies, synagogues, and schools in a diverse, free program that includes exhibits, performances, and interactive activities. Targum Shlishi also supported the annual Meet the Author Jewish Book Series, which brings several authors to the Miami area for free author events, and seeks to address a lack of Jewish literary programming in the Miami area. To learn more about the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center, visit the website: www.marjcc.org.
Miami Jewish Film Festival
This was the nineteenth year for the Miami Jewish Film Festival (MJFF). This year’s festival was held on January 14–28, 2016, and featured eighty films from twenty countries, which were presented at ten venues throughout Miami. For many years, Targum Shlishi supported individual films related to Holocaust topics; in 2016, Targum Shlishi’s grant helped make possible the screening of a documentary about Yitzhak Rabin: Rabin in His Own Words. For further information, go to the festival’s website: http://miamijewishfilmfestival.org.
About Targum Shlishi
Targum Shlishi is dedicated to providing a range of creative solutions to problems facing Jewry today. Premised on the conviction that dynamic change and adaptation have historically been crucial to a vibrant and relevant Judaism and to the survival of its people, Targum Shlishi’s initiatives are designed to stimulate the development of new ideas and innovative strategies that will enable Jewish life, its culture, and its traditions to continue to flourish. For more information on the foundation, visit its website at www.targumshlishi.org. Follow Aryeh Rubin, Targum Shlishi’s director, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Aryeh5.
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