President's Message
Dear Temple Family,
I hope to see you at our annual Hanukkah Celebration on Saturday, December 28 at 6 pm. We will light the outdoor menorah together and then join in the Sanctuary to light all of your menorahs! A beautiful sight and a wonderful way to share the holiday together! All the latkes and jelly donuts you can eat!!! Please RSVP to the office. The event is free, we just need to be sure we have a seat for you!
The Florida Legislature has designated the month of January as Florida Jewish History Month.
Did you know?
The first known Jews moved to the city of Pensacola in 1763. By 1821, 30-40 Jews lived in the northern parts of the state. Among them was Moses Levy, an influential Moroccan lumber dealer who built a Jewish colony in Micanopy, home of the present-day University of Florida.
In 1832, the first Jews arrived in Key West. The Jewish community started after a shipwreck when Joseph Wolfson’s family sailed from Hungary. The Key West Jewish community was instrumental in the cigar industry. Many Jews and Cubans became close business partners and friends which led to Jewish support for Cuban independence throughout the 1890’s. Many of the Jewish settlers were merchants, and Key West passed an ordinance on a heavy tax for pushcarts. In response, the Jews of Key West opened their own stores and permanently settled in the area.
On March 3, 1845, Florida became a state. Fewer than 100 Jews lived in the state, which then had a population of 66,500.
In 1857, when six Jews perished in a yellow fever epidemic, the Jacksonville Hebrew Cemetery was established as a separate section of Jacksonville’s Old City Cemetery. This was the first Jewish cemetery in Florida. The first chapter of B’nai B’rith was founded in 1874 in Pensacola.
By the turn of the 20th century, there were six Jewish congregations in Florida. All remain in existence today. In the 1890’s, the Florida Jewish population was 2,500. Florida’s first and only Jewish Governor David Sholtz was in office from 1933-37. He considered education a high priority and issued free textbooks to schools and increased school appropriations.
Until the railroad arrived in Florida, it was difficult to get to Miami. The earliest permanent Jewish settler in Miami was Isador Cohen who helped found many Jewish and civic organizations. The early Jews of Miami (about 25 people) had religious services in homes beginning in 1896. After the great fire that destroyed most of the businesses and a yellow fever epidemic in 1899, the Jewish population of Miami declined to 3 people.
Until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Jews were an “outsider” minority without an organized ability to fight the widespread discrimination they faced in real estate, employment, higher education and politics. Jews were forced to start their own law firms, banks and other professional institutions because they could not become partners in gentile firms. They established their own hospital (Mt. Sinai Medical Center) because Jewish doctors were denied hospital privileges elsewhere. Jews were barred from country clubs, fraternities and other social clubs. Given the discrimination that was accepted among large segments of the non-Jewish population, the economic, political and cultural contributions made by Jews to the State of Florida are even greater achievements because of the barriers they faced and overcame. Chapters of the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress were created in Florida to battle anti-Semitism and protect Jewish life. These groups have helped ease discrimination, but by no means has discrimination been entirely stamped out.
During the early 1900’s Miami Beach did not welcome Jews. Developer Carl Fisher placed restrictions in his land deeds prohibiting the sale of lots north of Fifth Street to Jews. Eventually, several modest Jewish-owned hotels and apartments arose on property sold to Jews by the Lummus Brothers of Fifth Street.
The 1930’s marked the dismantling of restrictive barriers to Jewish ownership of real estate throughout Miami Beach, as large numbers of Jews purchased commercial properties from debt-ridden owners, only too happy to sell them. Jews also began buying residential lots whose restrictive covenants proved impossible to enforce after the property had changed owners a couple of times. While discrimination had by no means vanished, Jews continued to migrate to the sunny shores of Miami Beach.
It soon became known for its casinos and nightlife. Irwin Levy, Robert Rapaport and Aaron Schecter developed Century Villages beginning in 1967 that drew a large number of retired garment workers and teachers to the area (including my grandma!). Several years later, other retirement and golf communities were developed in Delray Beach and the “rush” of Jewish settlement accelerated.
Today, 16% of the American Jewish community lives in Florida. Our state hosts the nation’s third largest Jewish community (after New York and California) with at least 850,000. In Brevard County, there are 5,000 Jewish families.
Pretty interesting facts!
From my home to yours, wishing each of you a happy and healthy 2020!
Ilene Herr
President
I hope to see you at our annual Hanukkah Celebration on Saturday, December 28 at 6 pm. We will light the outdoor menorah together and then join in the Sanctuary to light all of your menorahs! A beautiful sight and a wonderful way to share the holiday together! All the latkes and jelly donuts you can eat!!! Please RSVP to the office. The event is free, we just need to be sure we have a seat for you!
The Florida Legislature has designated the month of January as Florida Jewish History Month.
Did you know?
The first known Jews moved to the city of Pensacola in 1763. By 1821, 30-40 Jews lived in the northern parts of the state. Among them was Moses Levy, an influential Moroccan lumber dealer who built a Jewish colony in Micanopy, home of the present-day University of Florida.
In 1832, the first Jews arrived in Key West. The Jewish community started after a shipwreck when Joseph Wolfson’s family sailed from Hungary. The Key West Jewish community was instrumental in the cigar industry. Many Jews and Cubans became close business partners and friends which led to Jewish support for Cuban independence throughout the 1890’s. Many of the Jewish settlers were merchants, and Key West passed an ordinance on a heavy tax for pushcarts. In response, the Jews of Key West opened their own stores and permanently settled in the area.
On March 3, 1845, Florida became a state. Fewer than 100 Jews lived in the state, which then had a population of 66,500.
In 1857, when six Jews perished in a yellow fever epidemic, the Jacksonville Hebrew Cemetery was established as a separate section of Jacksonville’s Old City Cemetery. This was the first Jewish cemetery in Florida. The first chapter of B’nai B’rith was founded in 1874 in Pensacola.
By the turn of the 20th century, there were six Jewish congregations in Florida. All remain in existence today. In the 1890’s, the Florida Jewish population was 2,500. Florida’s first and only Jewish Governor David Sholtz was in office from 1933-37. He considered education a high priority and issued free textbooks to schools and increased school appropriations.
Until the railroad arrived in Florida, it was difficult to get to Miami. The earliest permanent Jewish settler in Miami was Isador Cohen who helped found many Jewish and civic organizations. The early Jews of Miami (about 25 people) had religious services in homes beginning in 1896. After the great fire that destroyed most of the businesses and a yellow fever epidemic in 1899, the Jewish population of Miami declined to 3 people.
Until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Jews were an “outsider” minority without an organized ability to fight the widespread discrimination they faced in real estate, employment, higher education and politics. Jews were forced to start their own law firms, banks and other professional institutions because they could not become partners in gentile firms. They established their own hospital (Mt. Sinai Medical Center) because Jewish doctors were denied hospital privileges elsewhere. Jews were barred from country clubs, fraternities and other social clubs. Given the discrimination that was accepted among large segments of the non-Jewish population, the economic, political and cultural contributions made by Jews to the State of Florida are even greater achievements because of the barriers they faced and overcame. Chapters of the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress were created in Florida to battle anti-Semitism and protect Jewish life. These groups have helped ease discrimination, but by no means has discrimination been entirely stamped out.
During the early 1900’s Miami Beach did not welcome Jews. Developer Carl Fisher placed restrictions in his land deeds prohibiting the sale of lots north of Fifth Street to Jews. Eventually, several modest Jewish-owned hotels and apartments arose on property sold to Jews by the Lummus Brothers of Fifth Street.
The 1930’s marked the dismantling of restrictive barriers to Jewish ownership of real estate throughout Miami Beach, as large numbers of Jews purchased commercial properties from debt-ridden owners, only too happy to sell them. Jews also began buying residential lots whose restrictive covenants proved impossible to enforce after the property had changed owners a couple of times. While discrimination had by no means vanished, Jews continued to migrate to the sunny shores of Miami Beach.
It soon became known for its casinos and nightlife. Irwin Levy, Robert Rapaport and Aaron Schecter developed Century Villages beginning in 1967 that drew a large number of retired garment workers and teachers to the area (including my grandma!). Several years later, other retirement and golf communities were developed in Delray Beach and the “rush” of Jewish settlement accelerated.
Today, 16% of the American Jewish community lives in Florida. Our state hosts the nation’s third largest Jewish community (after New York and California) with at least 850,000. In Brevard County, there are 5,000 Jewish families.
Pretty interesting facts!
From my home to yours, wishing each of you a happy and healthy 2020!
Ilene Herr
President