Miami, Florida Local News
A Campaign to Restore, Renovate, and Reimagine our Temple Judea Campus | Coral Gables Community News#
[ad_1]
Temple Judea is proud to welcome the new Education Director, Seth Lewis Levin. Lewis Levin will be overseeing the campus Education Department and comes to us after the former Senior Director of Education, Beth Young took a position as the Director of Jewish Life at Camp Coleman.
Seth, a long-time Temple member, brings a wealth of experience from both traditional and Jewish educational leadership. The team has also added new professionals, including Jackie Vera as the Director of the Margaux School for Early Childhood Education. Jackie brings over 17 years of teaching Reggio and Jewish studies at the school and is passionate about instructional excellence. She is joined by Yuliette Antunez, the Pedagogista at the Margaux School who also is celebrating over 17 years here. Joining our team is Guy Nir, the new Curriculum Coordinator. Nir has led Jewish learning in Mexico City and Israel and is thrilled to add Modern Hebrew to our programs. Skylar Kramer, the new Director of Teen, and Youth Engagement brings that “Camp Coleman magic” to our engaging youth groups activities from 1st to 12th grade, as well as a critical Better Together program for teens and retirees.
Longtime leaders of our educational program are Director of B’nai Mitzvah, Gaby Enser-Tangir, Mikki Feinberg, (former Director of the Margaux School and now Director of Community and Family Engagement for our Early Childhood Program) and Janice Garcia. Gaby has expanded the B’nai Mitzvah program to include community and family engagement with the tweens, teens, and their families on Monday nights. Janice Garcia the Educational Registrar has helped lead the team for over 16 years and has recently revamped our communication, registration, and enrollment process.
Under Lewis Levin’s direction, we are excited to launch our new Jewish After School experience this coming fall with a generous $100,000 grant from the Jewish After School Accelerator, our Burger Family High Holy Days Youth Service & Cultural Endowment Fund, and the Temple Judea Unrestricted Endowment Fund. This enhancement to our education program steams from the decades-long success of our renowned Margaux Early Childhood School.
Initiatives for this year include expanding family and youth educational programming on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with our partners BeWell Miami, Moving Traditions, Keshet, and the iCenter. We have also expanded our adult learning opportunities to include additional courses on Israel, Jewish women in leadership, parenting education, Scholar-in-Residence, and film series. Next fall, we will offer “wrap around” programming each day of the week for children ages 15 months to 12th grade as well as additional adult learning opportunities for parents, grandparents, empty-nesters, twenty-somethings, and retirees. Torah study, Jewish history, Israel, Modern Hebrew, and play are at the center of all our work.
For more information about our new programs, please see our revamped website at: https://www.judeagables.org/learning.html. We are thrilled to have you and your family!
About Temple Judea:
Now celebrating 75 years of Jewish Learning and Living in Coral Gables, Temple Judea is one of the largest Reform synagogues in Miami with approximately 650 member families. The Temple grounds itself through its foundational statement – “Through a strong Jewish Community, we better ourselves and the world.” For more information, visit www.JudeaGables.org.
Seth Lewis Levin Bio:
Seth Lewis Levin is the new Senior Director of Education at Temple Judea. Seth brings a wealth of experience as a school and congregational leadership from Brooklyn, NY where he worked at Congregation Beth Elohim and as a district and school leader in the New York City public and charter schools. Most recently, Seth served as the Senior Director of School Leadership for Bezos Academy, a growing national network of tuition free, high-quality preschools. Seth holds a Masters in School Leadership from the Baruch University, a Masters in Teaching from New York University, a Masters in Media and Library Information Science from Long Island University and is excited to extend his studies at Hebrew Union College. Seth and his wife Kami share three children, Sydney, Elijah and Ava who have been active for years in Temple Judea education and youth activities.
Rabbi Jonathan Fisch bio:
Rabbi Jonathan Fisch started his tenure at Temple Judea in 2014 and quickly found his stride and home. You can find him learning, teaching, laughing, doing magic, and engaging with all levels of learners. Watching Rabbi Fisch smile while dancing with our preschool children, or telling stories on Fridays at our Margaux Preschool Shabbat fills the sanctuary and his soul with peace, ruach, and joy. His love of Torah, Mitzvot, G-d and Israel are brought into all aspects of his career, he especially loves working with interfaith families, conversion students and supporting families as they navigate life cycle events. While not at Temple Judea, Rabbi Fisch is an active Chaplain for the Coral Gables Police Department and loves supporting the holy work of our first responders. He is blessed to have the most incredible challah baking, education focused wife, and two daughters eight and six. His door to learning, talking and sharing is always open.
Jackie Vera bio:
Jackie Vera began her journey at the Margaux School in 2007 shortly after graduating high school. While pursuing her bachelor’s degree in recreational therapy, she ventured beyond the education field, exploring various opportunities. However, it was at Temple Judea where Jackie discovered her true passion and decided to establish her roots and nurture her professional growth. After graduating college, a profound love for education blossomed within her, prompting her to pursue a master’s degree in early childhood education. Throughout her time at the Margaux School, she has continuously evolved, assuming different roles in her quest for professional development. Over the course of a decade, she has been fortunate enough to be a part of this welcoming community. Today, as the Margaux School’s Early Childhood Director, Jackie has achieved her ultimate career goal.
Janice Garcia bio:
Janice Garcia, a seasoned registrar with a remarkable 16-year legacy at Temple Judea. Throughout her tenure, Janice played a pivotal role in registration, enrollment, and communication, showcasing meticulous record-keeping, efficient data management, adept problem-solving, and the implementation of new databases and programs. Beyond her professional commitment, she is a devoted single parent raising three wonderful daughters, Tiffany, Daniella, and Natalie.
Gaby Enser-Tangir bio:
Gaby has been teaching, mentoring, and touching the lives of our B’nai Mitzvah and families for 20 years at Temple Judea. Her ruach, passion for Judaism, knowledge and charismatic personality are key to building community. Gaby has taught students from preschool to adulthood, providing our congregants with inspiration, warmth, and a sense of belonging. Gaby and her husband emigrated from Argentina two decades ago and Gaby’s been enhancing Jewish lives in our congregation since then. Gaby studied Chasanut in Argentina and she served as a Cantor in Buenos Aires as well as in Brazil during High Holidays. She studied Communication Science oriented in Education and publicity. Gaby’s communication, branding and marketing skills have helped tremendously in communicating with kavanah, intention, for the education department this past year and she is committed to continue moving our education department in that direction.
Some of her strengths are in the categories of “Influencing” and “Relationship Building” and she brings those talents to our team and community at large. Gaby takes pride in her work mentoring more than 600 B’nai Mitzvah students and families, along with many other congregants of their various ages. She has a passion for tweens and teens, creating a space for them to feel connected, building strong bonds with them that last to adulthood.
Guy Nir bio:
Guy is the Curriculum Coordinator and a Hebrew Teacher at Temple Judea. With over 17 years of experience, and with an unwavering commitment to education and a profound connection to his Jewish heritage, Guy has shaped young minds at various schools, enriched their lives through engaging educational programs, and nurtured their love for Hebrew language and culture.
Earlier in his career as Director of Educational Programs, Guy developed and managed innovative and inspirational educational programs for students of all ages and levels in various schools and universities, such as the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and as a Hebrew teacher at the ‘Colegio Hebreo Maguen David’ in Mexico City.
Guy takes pride in his work with diverse students, from mentally challenged students to teenaged girls at risk.
Guy was born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel, and completed his studies at the Open University of Israel. Guy moved to the United States in 2023, he lives with his beautiful wife Andrea and their baby Jonathan in Coral Gables.
Yuliette Antunez bio:
Yuliette Antunez began her journey at the Margaux School at Temple Judea in August of 2006 as an assistant teacher while earning her B.A. in Psychology at FIU. Inspired by the interactions with children and families, she earned her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education.
Being a teacher in the classroom, professional development was something that always encouraged Yuliette to keep growing and learning in the field of Early Childhood Education. She began coaching and supporting the teachers after 12 years in the classroom. She supports the teachers in extending their learning through reflective practice while encouraging them to be curious and HAVING FUN!
Yuliette is grateful for the Temple Judea community and is grateful to be learning alongside the children, families, and teachers while discovering shehecheyanu moments and embracing simcha everyday all while nurturing love for learning- in children and adults alike!
Skylar Kramer bio:
Skylar Kramer is Temple Judea’s Experiential Education Director. With a degree in elementary education, and four years of experience in Jewish Summer camping, she brings creativity and fun to our education team. Skylar has begun her professional career with us building our youth group and teen programming and serving as an assistant director of our J-PLEx religious school. Skylar is also a member of the URJ CLASP Fellowship. This Fellowship allows Temple Judea to maintain a strong partnership with URJ Camp Coleman, where she spends her summers as a Unit Head.
[ad_2]
Community News Releases
Source link
