Greater Miami Jewish Federation

Critics of Israel have criticized the federation for providing funds to what it considers Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territories during the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023. ⁴

History

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation was founded in 1938 in response to growing persecution of Jewish people in Europe. Since then, the Federation has evolved to help local Miami schools, Jewish community centers, and synagogues. It has also been a welcome center to Jews fleeing persecution elsewhere in the world, including from Cuba, the rest of Latin America, France, and the former Soviet Union. A central part of its mission following World War II has been support for the State of Israel. ¹

Initiatives

The main fundraising initiative of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation is its Annual Federation Campaign, which raises funds for local agencies like Jewish educational institutions and community centers, and social services organizations. ⁵

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation provides funds to immigrants to Israel, assisting in times of crisis and engaging in special partnerships with Yerucham and Or Akiva and the Ethiopian-Israeli community in Pardes Channah-Karkur. Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack against Israel, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation raised $30,000,000 for Israelis affected by the event. By September 2025, the federation’s Annual Federation Campaign had raised more than $26,000,000 for ongoing support of Israel. The federation supports programs in more than 70 countries to combat antisemitism and rebuild Jewish communities. ^{2  1  6}

The federation also conducts studies on Miami-Dade County, mostly reporting on demographic trends and Jewish identity in the area. Its “Jewish Miami: A 2024 Community Study” revealed a 25 percent increase in the number of Jewish households in Miami and found that 78 percent of Miami Jews felt emotionally attached to Israel. ⁷

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation partners with more than a dozen organizations to provide more than 170 programs and services, bring American Jews on tours of Israel, and provide grant and partnership support to Jewish groups.  ⁸

Political Influence

In October 2023, following the Hamas attack against Israel, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation organized and hosted an Israel Solidarity Rally at the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach. ⁹ In 2025, the federation posted a statement on the antisemitic shooting of two employees of the Embassy of Israel to the United States, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, at an American Jewish Committee (AJC) event in Washington, D.C. In the statement, the federation denounced the murder as “another piece in a mountain of conclusive evidence that the severe worldwide increase in overt, anti-Jewish violent acts and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack against Israel are directly and strongly correlated. Evil people around the world are justifying violent acts of hate against Jews and Israelis as Palestinian solidarity.” ¹⁰

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation has a history of supporting pro-Israel representatives in the United States Congress, dating back to the 1980s when it was one of several pro-Israel Jewish organizations that gave honoraria to senators and representatives who supported Israel in the federal legislature. ¹¹

Israel Funding Controversy

In July 2025, an opinion editorial published in the radical-left outlet Jacobin accused the Greater Miami Jewish Federation of donating funds to Israeli citizens moving to Gaza and the West Bank. The Greater Miami Jewish Federation gave a $20,000 grant to American Friends of Kehillas Simchas HaTorah Inc., which took donations in 2021 to build and support a synagogue in the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit in the disputed Palestinian territories. Critics of Israel and its Western supporters claim the settlement was built on private Palestinian land taken from the village of Wadi Foquin, severely hampering the village’s access to key resources and isolating it from neighboring Palestinian villages.” ⁴

The Jewish Federations of North America

The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) is a philanthropic coalition for 157 Jewish federations and nearly 400 Jewish communities across the continent, including the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. The group originated from the merger of the United Jewish Appeal and the Council of Jewish Federations in 1999. ^{12  13}

JFNA is most well-known for establishing the Secure Community Network after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which was expanded following the increase in anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks. ^{14  15  16}

JFNA also lobbies in Washington, D.C. to secure public funds for Jewish hospitals, nursing homes, community centers, and other social service programs. ¹⁷ JFNA gave $6 million in 2023 to the group Brothers and Sisters for Israel, which opposed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed changes to judicial selection in the country. ¹⁸

Leadership

As of 2025, Scott Kaufman was the interim president and CEO of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. ¹⁹ He is the former CEO of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, the primary philanthropic and volunteer organization for Detroit’s Jewish community. ²⁰

Before Kaufman, Jacob Solomon was the president and CEO of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation for 43 years. He joined the federation in 1981 as a planning associate and rose to top executive in 1992. Solomon retired from the position in 2024. While CEO, Solomon helped the federation raise hundreds of millions of dollars for Jewish education programs, including the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, Israeli scholarships, and other social services. ³

As of 2025, Lily Serviansky was the chair of the board at the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. ²¹ She has been actively involved in the Miami Jewish community since 1985, holding a number of positions within the federation. ²²

Financials

In 2023, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation reported $95,740,837 in total revenue,

$98,618,525 in total expenses, and $477,470,604 in total assets. ²³