Israelis Find a Home in Fort Myers

For years, Amit Assulin would make a two hour drive to Miami every Friday just to spend Shabbat with other Israelis. Residing in Fort Myers, Florida — right between the booming communities of Tampa and Miami — left Israelis like Amit feeling caught in the middle, with no Chabad presence dedicated to the city’s Israeli population. Especially while Israel is at war thousands of miles away, the absence of a supportive community can be alienating.

That’s changed this summer with the opening of a Chabad for Israelis in Fort Myers. Rabbi Shalom and Devorie Katz arrived this past June and launched a host of Chabad events and programming. Torah classes, grand Shabbat dinners every week and a Shabbat Kiddush with Israeli favorites like jachnun and bourekas gives the community a taste and feel of home. “Shabbat here is the highlight of my week,” said Assulin. “Devorie really puts her heart into the meals.”

The Sephardic custom in the month of Elul is to recite the Selichot prayer late each night — until Rosh Hashana. “Every night, we gather at a different community member’s house to pray,” said Rabbi Katz. “We usually have around forty people — there’s food, drink, and an amazing atmosphere.”

“It’s become a wonderful way to build community,” said Assulin about the Selichot gatherings. “Every evening the host opens their home for everyone. In just a month or two, it’s created real connections from scratch. Now we’re a group of people who know each other, support each other, and even do business together because of it.”

For the upcoming holiday of Yom Kippur, they will be renting a hotel exclusively for Israeli prayer services, complete with a cantor flown in from Israel to lead the prayers.

With all these new opportunities, Israelis in Fort Myers are finding more ways to connect with their heritage than ever before. “I see people wearing a kippah and putting on tefillin who would never have considered doing so before,” Rabbi Katz said. “Many are embracing mitzvot like modesty, family purity, and kosher.”

Amit couldn’t be happier. “Now I can keep Shabbat right here in Fort Myers,” he said.