Miami-Dade has become a global hub of Jewish life. We must build on this moment | Opinion

There’s a simple rule I’ve learned in business and politics: Follow the builders. Wherever they go, prosperity follows. And when they leave, that’s your early warning sign.

For centuries, the Jewish people have been among history’s most reliable builders — of businesses, schools, hospitals, cities, you name it. Wherever they’ve put down roots, local economies have flourished. And wherever they’ve been pushed out, societies have tended to stagnate and deteriorate.

As pockets of antisemitism take hold around the world today, like the murder Wednesday night of two Israeli Embassy staffers near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC — Jews are slowly and steadily packing up and choosing new homes — in Israel and even here in Miami.

Let’s start with where they’re leaving.

Since 2015, more than 50,000 Jews have left France, most heading to Israel. That’s not because the weather in Tel Aviv is nicer. It’s because antisemitic violence — from kosher supermarket shootings to synagogue stabbings — has become unbearable.

After the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, antisemitic incidents in France surged 300%. France is hemorrhaging one of its most educated, civically engaged populations.

Similar trends are emerging in Latin America. In Venezuela, the Jewish population has dropped from 22,000 to fewer than 6,000 in the past two decades. In Argentina, Jewish families increasingly cite safety and instability as reasons for leaving.

In the United States, it depends on where you look. While places like New York City — once a proud capital of Jewish life — are making national headlines for antisemitic mobs chasing Jewish students into libraries, Miami is making headlines for being one of the safest, most welcoming cities for Jews in America.

According to the 2024 Jewish Miami Community Study from Brandeis University, roughly 25% of Jewish adults here moved to the area within the past decade. About 26% came from New York, while another 17% came from Latin America — places like Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia. Another nearly 20% came from Israel.

Miami-Dade’s Jewish population now tops 130,000 — and it’s thriving. Jewish day schools are expanding. New synagogues and cultural centers are being built. The downtown/Brickell area is becoming a hub for young Jewish professionals, with a 13% rise in Jewish children citywide, many of them in Orthodox households.

What does this have to do with economics?

Let’s look to history. When Spain expelled its Jews in 1492, it lost countless financiers, scholars and doctors. Their exodus triggered an economic unraveling that turned Spain from an empire into a cautionary tale. Meanwhile, the Ottoman Empire welcomed the exiled Jews, integrating them into commerce, science and public administration — and thrived for centuries.

In the 20th century, pogroms in Eastern Europe and the Nazis drove millions of Jews to America, Britain and what would become Israel. The Soviet Union was beset by brain drain and stagnation. The U.S. and Israel? Powerhouses of science, technology and economic growth.

Arab nations like Egypt, Iraq and Yemen in the mid-20th century pushed out over 850,000 Jews and never recovered their lost capital — human or financial. Meanwhile, Israel, powered by that influx of refugees, went from a desert backwater to the startup nation.

Today, Israel has one of the most vibrant tech sectors in the world, a nation of builders.

So here’s the million-dollar question: What’s Miami going to do with this moment?

We are becoming a global hub of Jewish life, innovation and investment. If we play our cards right, we can turn this city into the next great engine of Jewish prosperity — and American prosperity.

When I was mayor of Miami Beach, I saw what happens when you empower builders. We raised roads to fight sea level rise. We reformed the police department. We turned a sleepy beachfront into an international destination. We didn’t wait for permission — we just got it done.

Now it’s time to do that for our Jewish future. To welcome, to protect and most of all — to build.

Because history tells us: When the Jews arrive, the future begins.

Philip Levine, a cruise industry entrepreneur, is a former two-term mayor of Miami Beach and onetime Democratic candidate for governor of Florida.

This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 6:00 AM.