Rabbi Jaime Aklepi

Rabbi Jaime Klein Aklepi has proudly served the Temple Beth Am community for over a decade and the greater Miami Jewish community for more than three decades. At Temple Beth Am, she serves as clergy liaison to Sisterhood and the UnBIASed Initiative, oversees Temple Beth Am University, and provides spiritual leadership and guidance to the Shabbat Morning Reform Minyan. She also plays an integral role in the congregation’s support groups, offering compassion, connection, and guidance to members of the community.

Rabbi Aklepi is a Past President of the Greater Miami Rabbinic Association and was the first woman to serve as President of the Southeast Association of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (SEACCAR). She is an active member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Women’s Rabbinic Network. She is also a Senior Educator Learning Fellow at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and serves on the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s BeWell Youth Mental Health Committee.

Rabbi Aklepi began her career as Director of the Hillel Jewish Student Center at the University of Miami, where she helped create and implement the first Birthright Israel program. She went on to serve for 19 years as 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, Rabbi Aklepi also pursued graduate studies in the History of the Jewish People at the University of Haifa. She attended Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, where she received rabbinic ordination and earned a Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature. She was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.

Her continued commitment to learning and leadership includes studies at Yad Vashem’s Institute for Holocaust Studies, focusing on Holocaust and antisemitism education, and the Shalom Hartman Rabbinic Institute in Jerusalem. She also earned an Executive Certificate in Transformational Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Notre Dame, with a focus on nonprofit governance, development, and organizational growth.

Rabbi Aklepi and her husband, Alex, have been married for 41 years and are the proud parents of three daughters: Eliana Aklepi, Esq., a graduate of Temple Beth Am Day School; Mollie Aklepi, LCSW; and Dr. Gabriela Aklepi, MD.