Boca Raton Jewish Community

Boca Raton Florida is located just north of Fort Lauderdale, in Palm Beach County. Boca Raton's Jewish community has grown in the last 30 years. Today Boca Raton has one of the fastest-growing Jewish communities in Florida, and perhaps in the USA as well. Jews make up approximately 40% of the population in Boca Raton.

B'nai Torah Congregation in located in South Boca Raton on SW 18th Street and boasts the largest membership in the Boca Raton area. While B'nai Torah is a conservative synagogue some of its congregants live nearby to be able to walk and attend daily services. The Synangogue boasts daily minyanim, and large turnouts. There is also an excellent pre-school located on the property as well. The Reform Temple B'nai Israel has two synagogues in Boca, having outgrown it's original location. B'nai Israel features a Jewish Sunday school, and large catering hall (with optional Kosher). The second location is West of the Florida Turnpike and has a large campus.

The largest Orthodox Synagogue is the Boca Raton Synagogue with over one thousand members. BRS is located on Montoya Circle just east of the Florida Turnpike. The community is surrounded by the Turnpike, a canal, and two high-traffic streets, Palmetto Park Road and Powerline Road. Members span from the non-religious to the mostly Orthodox and growing “Yeshiva" crowd. The community referred to as "the circle" is nearly all Jewish, mostly orthodox households. There is only one synagogue in the community, with Friday night services held is some communities homes. West Boca is mostly made up of developments with Homeowner Associations and Condominiums, which usually don't allow for the "house-shul", something that has begun to change (See "Recent Additions" below). Most of the communities children attend Hillel, followed by Torah Academy, Hebrew Academy of Margate, and Donna Klein. There are a number of rental communities near BRS, most renters are non-Jewish.

North of Palmetto Park Road is the Young Israel of Boca Raton, it is in the process of enlarging its building to accommodate a larger community, with the recently completed Yeshiva Tiferes Torah of Boca Raton on the same property. Most of the children in the community attend Torah Academy as well as the Tiferes Torah and Hadar. The North side of Palmetto Park Road is mostly non-Jewish, and features one of the states best public schools. The Jewish community continues to grow with people now moving in on the East side of Powerline Road, with mostly condo communities.

Boca Jewish Center is the newest synagogue in the immediate area and is located just north of BRS and Young Israel, all three communities are within 2.1 miles of each other. The shul is located in a shopping mall but the entrance is in the back where these is little to no traffic. Boca Jewish Center just announce that is is expanding in the same area, takeing over the second floor in the same mall to allow for continued growth. Made up mostly of a modern orthodox crowd, the membership like BRS spans the gamut. Close enough to the The Young Israel, some members attend both synagogues. The housing in this area while not much more expspensive is mostly made up of country clubs, which can have annual memberships.

There are Three Chabad synagogues in Boca Raton, Chabad Central, located near the Polo Shops, Broken Sound Country Club, and Bocaire Country Club. Country clubs typically cost less, but have annual membership fees. The shul has a mikvah, pre-school and has affordable housing and rentals nearby. Most of the shul members do not live within walking distance of the shul. Many of the neighborhood children attend Chabad in Fort Lauderdale.

The recently completed Chabad synagogue in West Boca, having moved to its permanent location on 441 is surrounded by gated communities. Note this is the closest synagogue to Century Village retirement community (there is one in Deerfield as well just South of Boca Raton) which has its own Conservative and Orthodox services on the retirement community property.

Chabad East is the smallest Chabad congregation in Boca, however, it is near the water, and in the process of getting permits to expand so it can accommodate more attendees.

BRS West located located on the Federation of Boca Raton’s property, in the Katz Yeshiva Highschool has affordable housing nearby, with a recently constructed rental community/shopping center and lots of shopping just around the corner as well as Aroma Kosher Market nearby. This community boasts having a growing community, but has limited housing, however there are condos in nearby communities with cut throughs for Shabbat. Its location makes it convenient for children attending the schools on the Federation campus.

East of I-95 and north of FAU, is the community forming around Torah Academy schools. This community is growing and is a mostly orthodox yeshiva crowd. On Shabbat and Yom Tov, the school is used for services. Torah Academy (K-8), has two campuses (a new additional campus is in the works), one for boys, the other for girls. In recent years the school has seen increased attendance and is a feeder to the Hadar and Tiferes schools.

Recent additions to the Boca Raton Community include the BRS Minyan on Camino Real. Services are held currently in the Roadhouse restaurant area on Shabbat and Holidays. Most of the attendees are from the neighboring homes on Montoya Circle and Boca Pointe. Boca Pointe also now has a Chabad (no Minyan at this time) and one of the homes in Boca Pointe has converted part of the home to accomodate regular weekly and holiday services. Within Montoya Circle there is now a seperate minyan in the Captiva development, service are held Shabbos and Yom Tov (See BRS). Announced over the Passover 2022 holiday is the new Boca Kollel, moving from BRS and into the former Kabalah Center. The Kollel will offer "College level classes" as well as learning opportunities for those wishing to take advantage. There will also be a synagogue in the new Kollel which opens up the area West of the Turnpike on Palmetto Park Road. Currently there is a Sephardic Minyan in one of the homes on Lyons Road, just around the corner.

The Katz Yeshiva high school is a boys and girls high school catering to the Orthodox community. Katz Hillel Day School, which is co-ed is also located on the Federation property. In addition to the orthodox schools located on the Federation property there is the Donna Klein Jewish Academy Elementary and High Schools; catering mostly to Conservative Jewish families, in recent years Orthodox children have been attending as well. The school cafeteria is certified kosher by the ORB. The Federation has a pre-school as well which caters to the Reform and Conservative communities.

Yeshiva Tiferes Torah of Boca Raton, is an all-boys Orthodox high school and is located on the same property as the Young Israel. The all girls high school, Hadar is located temporarily on the Boca Raton Synagogue campus.

Boca Raton has some of the top public schools in Florida and many children attend the elementary as well as middle and high schools.

Boca has two kosher markets, Aroma Kosher Market and The Grove, plus a Winn Dixie supermarket with a kosher bakery and deli, as well as numerous kosher restaurants. Local shopping is one of the reasons Boca grew so quickly. There are numerous Walmart's and Target's as well as Publix and Winn Dixie supermarkets. You may have heard of Town Center Mall, but that is just one of many malls in the area.

Boca Raton has the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Everglades National Park to the West, with Deerfield Beach to the South, and Delray Beach to the North, both large Jewish retirement communities. Boca Raton has easy access to travel, with the Fort Lauderdale International Airport and West Palm Beach International Airport, as well as the Boca Raton Airport for private charters. There is commuter rail service to Miami and Brightline high-speed rail which goes to Miami and Orlando, and eventually to Tampa. There are exists on both I-95 and the Florida Turnpike for Boca Raton, and it is located near the Sawgrass Expressway.