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Salute to Jewish Educators

Join us for the 2025 Salute to Jewish Educators, our annual celebration honoring dedicated teachers!

Event Details
Sunday, March 9
3-5 PM

Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community
Daniel M. Soref Community Hall
6255 N. Santa Monica Blvd.

Tribute Book

Honor an educator by purchasing an ad in the 2025 Salute to Jewish Educators Tribute Book, using the form below. Educators and event attendees will receive a copy of this book at Salute to Jewish Educators event on March 9, 2025.

To see past examples, View the 2024 Tribute Book.

Nomination for Teacher Recognition

Nominations are now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted their entries and supported the nomination process!

View 2025 Award Winners

Teacher Impact & School Support Award

Teacher Impact Award
This award honors a teacher who has made a unique and meaningful impact in their school community. Unlike a “Best Teacher” award, this recognition celebrates a teacher’s exceptional contributions in areas such as mentoring, innovation, supporting others, or any other distinctive way they have gone above and beyond in their role.

School Support Award
This award is presented to a non-teacher—such as an administrator, staff member, volunteer, or aide—who has made a significant and positive contribution to the school community. It recognizes their exceptional dedication and the unique impact they have had in supporting and enriching the school experience.

The Levy Family CJL Jewish Educator of the Year

The Milwaukee Jewish community is blessed with superb Jewish educators and CJL wishes to highlight their contributions and thereby elevate the status of Jewish educators in Milwaukee.  This award enables our community to show gratitude for all the time, effort and care our best educators give to their students.

Guidelines for Consideration
The award recognizes nominees who:
1) Have been engaged in Jewish education for a minimum of five years in Milwaukee.
2) Demonstrate leadership within the field of Jewish education.
3) Inspire students with a love for Jewish learning.
4) Personify the Jewish ideals of love of learning and search for knowledge.
5) Have contributed to the elevation of the status of Jewish educators within the Jewish community.
6) Engaged in the delivery of Jewish content on an ongoing basis.

Jerry Benjamin Inspiration Award for Informal Jewish Education

The award is in memory of Jerry Benjamin. Jerry, CJL Lifetime Impact Award winner and past president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, was the cofounder of CAJE, the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education. He inspired thousands of Jewish educators through his work in Milwaukee and around the world. This award is a tribute to his passion about Jewish education.

Each year at the Educator Recognition Event CJL honors teachers from local schools. We recognize that important Jewish education also happens in INFORMAL settings and OUTSIDE the classroom.

Informal education includes camps, youth groups, art programs, environmental education, Jewish travel programs, and all other types of Jewish education happening outside of a classroom environment.

The Inspiration Award enables our community to recognize excellence and innovation in informal education.

Guidelines for Consideration

The award recognizes nominees who:
1) Are involved in informal (outside the classroom) Jewish education in Milwaukee.
2) Demonstrate leadership within the field of informal Jewish education.
3) Inspires participants to be their best Jewish selves.
4) Personifies Jewish values in action.

Gill Incentive for Teachers Award (GIFT)

The Gill Incentive For Teachers (GIFT) is an award designed to stimulate and encourage teachers to translate their unique educational ideas and initiatives into effective classroom projects. This award is for a project completed during the 2023-2024 school years in Milwaukee. Proposals may focus on one of these areas:
– School/classroom culture
– Teaching/learning materials
– Enrichment activities, including special one-time class/school projects
– Creative lessons

Maximum award is $1,000, which may be divided among multiple winners.


Questions? Contact Nicole Boico at NicoleB@MilwaukeeJewish.org.


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