Hatzalah volunteers at Eden Gardens

Eli Steinhardt, originally from Chicago and now from Boca Raton, is the moving force behind the great new Jewish community called Eden Gardens in Orlando, Florida.

He’s proud of the fact that just a few years after completing extensive construction on a series of beautiful homes, he has a number of year-round residents on the sprawling and beautiful property that currently features a daily minyan with an onsite community yeshiva on the way.

Many of the owners and renters were planning on spending the holidays there until Hurricanes Helene and Milton made their introduction into most of Florida with a special destructive focus on the western part of the state and most specifically Tampa.

Not only was most of Florida awash courtesy of these world-class storms, but some locals told me that it had rained in most of South Florida for nearly two weeks straight, that from the introduction of Helene to the arrival of Milton.

And Steinhardt was probably thinking that it’s a good thing that Sukkos is occurring toward the end of Florida’s hurricane season, which officially ends on November 1. But then again if you are a New Yorker, you might recall that the notorious damaging Hurricane Sandy hit the northeast on October 31.

So, what these two new storms meant was that it might be a little challenging to enjoy the usually splendid Florida weather for the chagim.

So, people delayed their travel plans with many hoping to arrive just prior to Yom Kippur and stay through Sukkos. But Milton’s high winds just a day or two before Yom Kippur meant that the Orlando airport as well as the Tampa airport had to suspend all flights until the storm moved on. Tampa is about an hour drive from Orlando.

On Thursday night just prior to Yom Kippur Eli received a call from a resident of Tampa relating to him that like most everyone else in Tampa, the fledgling frum community had no power in their homes, meaning no lights or refrigeration, simply meaning that Yom Kippur would be very difficult to observe properly.

Evidently it was a perfect storm and its manifestation that was evolving here. The out-of-town folks could not get into Orlando for Yom Kippur and the Tampa community was in a way stuck where they were too.

A Tampa local, Sheya Lerner, cold-called Eli to tell him about what the community in Tampa was dealing with and asked if somehow he could help house 25 families for 36 hours, that is Friday morning until after Yom Kippur on Saturday night.

Eli responded that he would poll his owners of homes on the Eden Gardens property who could not get into town about whether they would consider the proposal. Across the board the homeowners agreed to make their homes available to the families from Tampa.

After Yom Kippur Eli received the following note from Mr. Lerner and the Tampa community: “I want to take a moment to talk heart to heart. What Eden Gardens owners and community members did for the Tampa community this Yom Kippur is unbelievable.

Our entire community was miserable on Friday morning since we did not have our power back and people were worried about how they were going to fast. They were concerned about how they would be able to daven normally, were they going to have food for a seudah, and so on.

All of a sudden with one phone call to Eli Steinhardt, a spark of light illuminated the darkness. Eli’s response was: ‘Sure, bring your entire community to Eden Gardens. I’m sure the community will be happy to host you.’ The simcha in our community when we heard that we have where to be for Yom Kippur was unimaginable—what an extraordinary chesed.”

Eli added that Gitti and Izzy Serebrowsky, who live in Eden Gardens year-round, provided food for everyone both prior to and after the fast.

We live in challenging and even difficult times but still we have to pause and wonder—who is like this people Israel? n

 

 

Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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