Rabbi Jaime Aklepi

Jaime Klein Aklepi joined Temple Beth Am’s Clergy Team on July 1, 2016, having served the Miami Jewish community for over 20 years.

Rabbi Aklepi is a Past President of the Greater Miami Rabbinic Association and was the first female President of SEACCAR (Southeast Association of the Central Conference of American Rabbis). She is an American Jewish World Service Rabbinic Fellow, an active member of the Women’s Rabbinic Network and a member of the Florida State University Hillel Board of Directors.

Rabbi Aklepi can be seen frequently on WPBT2’s Viewpoint discussing important issues to the Jewish community. She began her career as the Director of the Hillel Jewish Student Center at the University of Miami, creating and implementing the first Birthright program to Israel. For 19 years Rabbi Aklepi was a dynamic and innovative Spiritual Leader at Congregation Bet Breira and Bet Breira Samu-El Or Olom in Miami.

A graduate of Brandeis University with a degree in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, she also studied The History of the Jewish People in the Master’s program at Haifa University. Rabbi Aklepi attended Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where she earned her Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature and Rabbinic Ordination. Additional studies include The Institute for Holocaust Studies program of Yad Vashem: Teaching the Holocaust and Anti-Semitism, as well as the Shalom Hartman Rabbinic Institute, both in Jerusalem. Recently Rabbi Aklepi received an Executive Certificate in Transformational Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Notre Dame focusing on governance, development and growth of nonprofits.

Rabbi Aklepi is married to Alex for 31 years, and they have three daughters: Eliana, a graduate of Temple Beth Am Day School and Drexel University, Mollie, who is attending FSU, and Gabriela, who enters the University of Miami in August.