So, my family and I moved to Jacksonville, Florida. We've been living in South Florida for over 20 years. We had two boys decided that Miami was just to angry (especially the drivers) and wanted to leave, but still stay in Florida. Hence, Jacksonville. What people don't know about Jacksonville is that is really is part of Georgia. The mentality actually not the actual location although it's pretty close.
Leaving Miami where we have kosher markets, book stores, bakeries. Everything a observant family needs, but I couldn't wait to get out of Miami. The housing market was going through the roof. Who could afford to buy a home. Well the middle class was not able to buy a home in South Florida.
So we move to Jacksonville, I was able to get a transfer we find an apartment. There is one orthodox Shul Etz Chaim, one Chabad. This was back in 2001. We had a Albertsons that sold kosher meat and the bakery was parve under O-U. Perfect. No orthodox school for the kids, but there is a Solomon Schecter. Perfect. Small community, but very comfortable.
You learn to adapt. In fact, yiddishkeit meant so much more for me by having to work so hard to maintain it. Not being able to eat out anymore though has big a thorn for everyone. We try to have as many meals at the Shul so people can get out of the house. Our Rabbi Kaiser has brought a kollel here twice a year bring young families and young single yeshiva bochurs down and there is one week of intense learning going on.
We lost Albertsons, back then there were enough families keeping kosher to maintain the cost effective. But then Rabbi Kaiser and Robbie Roth built a orthodox school from the ground up. That was back in 2004, I think, maybe 2003. They started with 6 kids and they now have 30 kids grades nursery through 6th grade. We now have 4 Rabbi's in the community who have brought so much kevahnah - it's amazing.
There have been growing pains all communities go through it. All in all though, it's a fine place to live. We have become creative with our baking, our Shabbats have been inclusive. After lunch you can see families walking back and forth from home to home visiting everyone. Didn't find that in Miami or Cleveland.
So we've found that living in a small jewish community is a lot like having a huge extended family rather than living in a huge community and not really knowing many people at all. Most communities the women and children don't even go to Shul. We do, we have classes for all age groups. They last about 1 hour then it's all mayhem again because the parents are in the santuary davening and their kids are running all over the place wrecking havoc - mine included. They have tried everything to get parents to make sure their children are supervised. Meetings, games, letters nothing was really working. I guess the parents starting getting fed up as well because it seems a little more organzied or maybe I just stopped taking the kids until they learn how to behave. Going to Shul is a privlege and it is earned, one parent told me to tell my kids. My kids rather stay at home and I'm the one dragging them there. Of course once we get there and they see all their friends and the playground I'm usually dragging them out of the place because then they don't want to leave. It's harder for parents with younger kids. Mine are 6 and 7 so it is getting easier.
I guess the hardest part is the shopping for food. Kosher food can be a little tricky when you don't live near any of the major towns like Miami and Atlanta. Here in Jacksonville we got lucky. Publix has started bringing in fresh kosher meat every Thursday, but man oh man those prices can you imagine paying almost $50 for a brisket. Then Winn Dixie also got into the picture and now they are starting to get some stock, but it's slow in coming and still very expensive. But they are trying to hard that we really need to support these stores trying to meet the needs of our small community. We still have some people who have a co-op and they bring the meat in once a month, but you have to pay a delivery fee and order cases at a time. A lot of work and it takes a lot of planning. Which is why this all comes back to working really hard to keep our judisam alive in our homes as well as our hearts.
There is nothing more satisfying than to see my kids wearing the tzitzies, payos and kippahs on their heads traveling all around North Florida, eating kosher food at all times and knowing that they are learning the ways of Judisam. I took them to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine this past summer, there were people there taking pictures of me and my kids instead of the alligators. That was pretty funny. They kept coming up to me saying what beautiful hats my kids were wearing.
One thing I've found with the Christians here in Jacksonville. They are very respectful of other religions. In fact, most people in this town are just plain nicer than most places I've been too. Except when it comes to driving - no way as bad as Miami or Cleveland, in fact, I think most places of road rage no matter where you go. It's just the nature of rush hour, there are just some folks that aren't in so much of a rush during that time and they always pick the left hand lane to drive in wondering why some nut is riding on the tail. Which I guess would be me pleading for them to switch lanes. Maybe I should use another post to talk about driving. It can be really funny at times.
OK, so as my title said, Where exactly is the Bible Belt? I have no clue. I'm thinking that it's North Florida, Georgia, Alabama, I think even parts of central Florida like Ocala and Eustis and if you have ever heard of Eustis then you are a bible belter. I just made that up. I wonder if a Jewish person can be a bible belter? I'll have to ask Rabbi Kaiser.
So we've been here 6 years this Thanksgiving. I can't wait for Thanksgiving. My most favorite holiday. I get two free vacation days from work and I can turn the tv on watch some parades, cook (ugh) pretty much relax. This year my goal is to have dinner much earlier in the day so we don't fill up with the Thanksgiving feast too late.
Leaving Miami where we have kosher markets, book stores, bakeries. Everything a observant family needs, but I couldn't wait to get out of Miami. The housing market was going through the roof. Who could afford to buy a home. Well the middle class was not able to buy a home in South Florida.
So we move to Jacksonville, I was able to get a transfer we find an apartment. There is one orthodox Shul Etz Chaim, one Chabad. This was back in 2001. We had a Albertsons that sold kosher meat and the bakery was parve under O-U. Perfect. No orthodox school for the kids, but there is a Solomon Schecter. Perfect. Small community, but very comfortable.
You learn to adapt. In fact, yiddishkeit meant so much more for me by having to work so hard to maintain it. Not being able to eat out anymore though has big a thorn for everyone. We try to have as many meals at the Shul so people can get out of the house. Our Rabbi Kaiser has brought a kollel here twice a year bring young families and young single yeshiva bochurs down and there is one week of intense learning going on.
We lost Albertsons, back then there were enough families keeping kosher to maintain the cost effective. But then Rabbi Kaiser and Robbie Roth built a orthodox school from the ground up. That was back in 2004, I think, maybe 2003. They started with 6 kids and they now have 30 kids grades nursery through 6th grade. We now have 4 Rabbi's in the community who have brought so much kevahnah - it's amazing.
There have been growing pains all communities go through it. All in all though, it's a fine place to live. We have become creative with our baking, our Shabbats have been inclusive. After lunch you can see families walking back and forth from home to home visiting everyone. Didn't find that in Miami or Cleveland.
So we've found that living in a small jewish community is a lot like having a huge extended family rather than living in a huge community and not really knowing many people at all. Most communities the women and children don't even go to Shul. We do, we have classes for all age groups. They last about 1 hour then it's all mayhem again because the parents are in the santuary davening and their kids are running all over the place wrecking havoc - mine included. They have tried everything to get parents to make sure their children are supervised. Meetings, games, letters nothing was really working. I guess the parents starting getting fed up as well because it seems a little more organzied or maybe I just stopped taking the kids until they learn how to behave. Going to Shul is a privlege and it is earned, one parent told me to tell my kids. My kids rather stay at home and I'm the one dragging them there. Of course once we get there and they see all their friends and the playground I'm usually dragging them out of the place because then they don't want to leave. It's harder for parents with younger kids. Mine are 6 and 7 so it is getting easier.
I guess the hardest part is the shopping for food. Kosher food can be a little tricky when you don't live near any of the major towns like Miami and Atlanta. Here in Jacksonville we got lucky. Publix has started bringing in fresh kosher meat every Thursday, but man oh man those prices can you imagine paying almost $50 for a brisket. Then Winn Dixie also got into the picture and now they are starting to get some stock, but it's slow in coming and still very expensive. But they are trying to hard that we really need to support these stores trying to meet the needs of our small community. We still have some people who have a co-op and they bring the meat in once a month, but you have to pay a delivery fee and order cases at a time. A lot of work and it takes a lot of planning. Which is why this all comes back to working really hard to keep our judisam alive in our homes as well as our hearts.
There is nothing more satisfying than to see my kids wearing the tzitzies, payos and kippahs on their heads traveling all around North Florida, eating kosher food at all times and knowing that they are learning the ways of Judisam. I took them to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine this past summer, there were people there taking pictures of me and my kids instead of the alligators. That was pretty funny. They kept coming up to me saying what beautiful hats my kids were wearing.
One thing I've found with the Christians here in Jacksonville. They are very respectful of other religions. In fact, most people in this town are just plain nicer than most places I've been too. Except when it comes to driving - no way as bad as Miami or Cleveland, in fact, I think most places of road rage no matter where you go. It's just the nature of rush hour, there are just some folks that aren't in so much of a rush during that time and they always pick the left hand lane to drive in wondering why some nut is riding on the tail. Which I guess would be me pleading for them to switch lanes. Maybe I should use another post to talk about driving. It can be really funny at times.
OK, so as my title said, Where exactly is the Bible Belt? I have no clue. I'm thinking that it's North Florida, Georgia, Alabama, I think even parts of central Florida like Ocala and Eustis and if you have ever heard of Eustis then you are a bible belter. I just made that up. I wonder if a Jewish person can be a bible belter? I'll have to ask Rabbi Kaiser.
So we've been here 6 years this Thanksgiving. I can't wait for Thanksgiving. My most favorite holiday. I get two free vacation days from work and I can turn the tv on watch some parades, cook (ugh) pretty much relax. This year my goal is to have dinner much earlier in the day so we don't fill up with the Thanksgiving feast too late.
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