Tampa, FL | Imamother

amother

Sapphire

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 12:50 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Oh wow, that’s amazing!!! So you are to Tampa what west palm is to Miami? Where do YOU live, and what kind of community is there where you are?
Also, I just want to say.....PUBLIX IS THE BEST!!! (I grew up in south Fl)

Right now we live in Sarasota. DH and I are chassidish but we're both actually BTs from the area and for financial + covid reasons have been living at home for the past few months. There's not a huge community here, or restaurants, but we get CY from Costco/BJs/KosherKaddy (they deliver to Sarasota), pas bread/pretzels/cakes from TJs/Sprouts, meat from KosherKaddy, etc. Once in a blue moon we go to the Winn Dixie in Tampa.

We don't have kids that go to school yet, but the local Chabad house has a preschool and there is a Jewish elementary and middle school in Ft Myers (called Maimonides) (usually 50 - 90 min drive depending on where in Sarasota you are). There are definitely more frum people in the Ft Myers/cape coral area.

It's roughing it sometimes but it's home Wink

amother

Sapphire

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 12:51 am

amother [ Tan ] wrote:

I am dreaming of joining a community like that! Chassidish, out of town, cheap housing, no income tax... Sounds like a dream come true!
The only thing keeping me back here is that it's SO FAR from my family (in the tristate area).

Does anyone know what part of Tampa? Also, will the houses be single family with yards? (A girl can dream...)

Hah, a yard AND a pool if you'd like!

amother

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 7:06 am

amother [ Sapphire ] wrote:

Wow!! Kudos to you guys, that can’t be easy.
Are any of these places (Tampa, Sarasota, ft. Myers, Cape Coral) quiet areas? I grew up in NMB, and while it definitely isn’t quiet now, it definitely had a quiet feeling then. Chilled, not busy....that’s the kind of place I’m looking to move to. We are currently in NY, and our community is great, nice and quiet, not really a NY feeling at all, but we both want to get out of NY....

amother

Violet

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 8:20 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Wow!! Kiddos to you guys, that can’t be easy.
Are any of these places (Tampa, Sarasota, ft. Myers, Cape Coral) quiet areas? I grew up in NMB, and while it definitely isn’t quiet now, it definitely had a quiet feeling then. Chilled, not busy....that’s the kind of place I’m looking to move to. We are currently in NY, and our community is great, nice and quiet, not really a NY feeling at all, but we both want to get out of NY....

Why don’t u move back to nmb, isn’t it easiest for you to do that?

amother

Sapphire

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 11:10 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Honestly all are quieter than Miami. But Tampa is very busy (major college town, many businesses and legal buildings, port city, etc) as is Ft Myers (although not as much). Cape Coral might be a bit quieter than ft Myers but I haven't been there often. Sarasota is exploding with growth and usually very busy during Season. Of course each area has quieter parts to it but that's at the cost of being close to a shul usually. My in laws live 4 miles away from a shul for example. It's not an easy walk in the heat, so he generally won't go in the summer time (way too warm with chassidishe levush).

Frum wise, Tampa, Ft Myers (slash cape coral), and Naples are probably your best bet. But even then, maybe 5-15 observant families in each place, including the local shluchim. However, if you like the real OOT feel and have a good job lined up in the area, Sarasota is definitely doable.

I'd think very hard and long before moving to a very OOT place like around here. I would visit for a week or two to visit the areas you're interested in and then reach out to the local Chabads to get their perspective. You might be better off in Jacksonville or the surrounding areas of Orlando, which have larger frum communities.

amother

Ivory

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 11:58 am

amother [ Mint ] wrote:

There's no info yet. As of now it's only a talk. Talk of only chassidish, I think Bobovish. Talk of a school/shul. Nothing is final yet.

I'm very interested in that community. Which Bobov the real one or not? Wink

...just kidding. But I'm really interested in that community.

amother

Ivory

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 7:47 pm

amother [ Tan ] wrote:

Just out of curiosity, what "type" are you? I'm wondering what kind of a crowd this will attract. I'm interested, but wouldn't want to be the odd one out...

I think I'm regular Chassidish if that means anything Wink

I'm not Satmer, I dont want to say our Chassidus as that will identify me somewhat. I wear beige-nude stockings without seams. I wear a shoulder length shaitel with no other covering. Yiddish is my family's first language. My kids dont watch non jewish movies only movies made by frum Yidden and which my husband and I approve of. My kids dont use the internet. I dont have internet on my phone. My husband and I only watch clean documentary type movies. The only thing I do differently than the majority of Chassidishe women is that I drive.

I would move to Tampa if it's a fully functioning Chassisdishe kehilla. Years ago my husband would never consider it but now he didnt object when I mentioned it. I think many are getting tired from the NY life.

amother

Tan

Tue, Jun 23 2020, 7:58 pm

amother [ Ivory ] wrote:

I think I'm regular Chassidish if that means anything Wink

Sounds great. Post here if you get more info...

amother

Wed, Jun 24 2020, 6:15 am

amother [ Sapphire ] wrote:

We definitely need to be near the shul, wherever we live. Out of curiosity, I looked at some houses, and it seems none of them are near a shul in Tampa :-(
I’m so done with NY, then again, I was done the second I moved here! 😂 This is totally not my kind of place, although our community is really amazing.
I’m looking at Orlando and Jacksonville too, those are already in my list.
You mention Naples, which would be a dream come true for me, but I thought there is no frum community there?

amother

Sapphire

Wed, Jun 24 2020, 9:54 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Haha I feel you, I moved to NJ for 2 years and was exhausted by the atmosphere the moment I got there. Lol. Kinda nice to be back in Florida!

Yes you might have to look around carefully for houses... Sometimes it's worth it to rent and wait for a house to go on sale depending on the area... For sure I can't imagine more than a 3 mile walk to shul (even that is difficult). I know a Chabad Rabbi in this area who used to live 4 miles away from his shul, and I remember that he would strategically leave well-hidden bottles of water along his route in case of emergencies! Also, it helps to look for "walking routes" vs street routes. Sometimes you can cut off a few minutes of a walk by going through a park that you wouldn't be able to do in a car.

I honestly don't know that much about the Naples community. I know it's definitely on the smaller side. From what I understand, Aroma Market in Boca delivers weekly to Naples, so there must be someone buying....

Rappel

Wed, Jun 24 2020, 10:01 am

amother [ Sapphire ] wrote:

Frum wise, Tampa, Ft Myers (slash cape coral), and Naples are probably your best bet. But even then, maybe 5-15 observant families in each place, including the local shluchim. However, if you like the real OOT feel and have a good job lined up in the area, Sarasota is definitely doable.

I'd think very hard and long before moving to a very OOT place like around here. I would visit for a week or two to visit the areas you're interested in and then reach out to the local Chabads to get their perspective. You might be better off in Jacksonville or the surrounding areas of Orlando, which have larger frum communities.

There are frum Jews in Sarasota, other than the shluchim? Really? Since when?

amother

Sienna

Wed, Jun 24 2020, 10:15 am

We're putting together a heimeshe community in Tampa Fl.
There will be a talmud torah and school led by Chassidishe staff.
Brand new construction houses in a development starting at $250k for a 2500sqft 4 bdrm.
We are working to reserve 150 houses one next to each other for phase one.
There will be an updated brochure with photos and more details this coming week iy"h
Please fill out the following questionnaire if you have more interest,
Thank You

Floridamove2021@gmail.com

amother

Sapphire

Wed, Jun 24 2020, 10:43 am

Rappel wrote:

There are frum Jews in Sarasota, other than the shluchim? Really? Since when?

Since the past 5-10 years. I'm talking about in the whole county, which is quite sizeable (Lakewood Ranch to North Port). Only a handful of people are frum. Not enough to have a school or kosher store, but there are a few frum Jews here. E.g. I've gone to mikvah and the Mikvah lady wasn't one of the shluchos in the county, just an older frum woman who moved with her husband here. And of course you have your frum-ish families. It's not much, but it's not completely barren. In general there are a lot of Jews here... sometimes people experiment with observance, too. Once we even had a kosher restaurant (for all of 5 minutes).

Let's put it this way, I've lived in areas of FL with MUCH less.