Miami Jewish Communities

Anyone not familiar with Miami's Jewish communities may not be aware of how many distinct and differnt communities there are in the Miami area. There's the City of Miami, Miami Beach, North Miami Beach, South Beach, Fisher Island, Surfside, Bal Harbour, Sunny Isles Beach, and Aventura all in close proximity to one another. There are an estimated 123,000 Jews living the Miami area, with 15,000 in Miami Beach. Whch is why BocaShuk search has a community called the "Miami Area" which encoumpases them all. Compare that with 234,000 Jews in Broward County, and 94,000 Jews in Palm Beach County.

If one of the communities in Miami is on your radar, be aware that in 2022 Miami was ranked the second most expensive area to live in the USA based on income. The market in 2023 doesn't seem to be letting up, which might explain the expansion into neighboring Broward county communities all the way up to West Palm Beach.

In Miami nearly every community has at least one kosher market, which explains the twenty or so kosher markets in the Miami area. Kosher food is abundent in Miami, with over 100 kosher restaurants, pizza shops, and dessert shops, you can pretty much go two years without eating at the same place. There are plenty of bakeries, chocolate shoppes, and dessert shops too. There's even a kosher Subway restaurant. Takeout and prepared foods are available throughout Miami. After all Miami is a Jewish travel destination. There are local dedicated delivery services, delivering kosher meals and takeout to hotels and large condo. The two most popular kosher certificatons in South Florida are Kosher Miami and ORB, both on the CRC list. Be aware there are other reliable certifications serving the South Florida area.

As for synagogues and mikvahs, there are multiple Sephardic, Chabad, Chassidic, Modern Orthodox, Orthodox, Ultra Orthodox synagogues and other denominations. In some communities, nearly everywhere you look, there is a synagogue. People don't like to walk, which explains why there are services at some of the high rise buldings, and in some cases along with kosher dining. The temperatue in South Florida from April to September is above 80 degrees, which makes walking a mile or more on Shabbos inconvenient for many.

With a dozen Jewish schools in the Miami area, you certainly have a choice. Adding to that is all of the recent growth in neighboring cities and the number of new Jewish schools and day schools, and it begins to look like the communities up North. For homeschooling there's the International Torah Academy. Yeshiva Torahs Chaim Toras Emes in Miami has a preschool, elementary (boys and girls), middle school (boys), high school (boys) and after high school Bais Medrash for men. The boys only high schools, Yeshiva of Miami, and Mesifata Yeshiva and the girls only the Mesifta Yeshiva for Girls or Binas Halev Girls High School. Yeshiva Elementary School has separate boys and girls schools. Hebrew Academy for boys and girls (classes are separate), is by Chabad, the Chabad Lubavitch Eductational Center which comprises of seperate boys and girls middle school/high school, and an after high school learning program for men, the Jewish Culture High School (separate boys and girls classes), Scheck Hillel Community School, David Posnack Jewish Day School, and the new Miami Jewish Academy.

Miami is a major city, so there are many ways to get in and out of Miami, including Miami International Airport (many people fly into Hollywood International Airport just to the North). There is now high speed rail service to Orlando (service to reach Tampa around 2024/2025), commuter rail service to cities just north of West Palm Beach, and Amtrak rail service anywhere in the US and Canada. Greyhound bus is also available in Miami as well. For local commuters, Miami also has above the ground rail and bus service throughout the city, though people prefer to drive.

Besides the activities of boating, snorkling, and beaches, Miami has the Zoo Miami, Parrot Island, The Miami Seaquerium, The Holocaust Museum, Museum of Science, Miami Children's Museum, South Beach (beach during the day/shopping at night), and the Everglades National Park. Miami sports teams have kosher available. Local sports teams include the Miami Dolphins (kosher is available), Miami Heat (kosher is available), Miami Marlins (kosher is available), and in nearby Sunrise, the Florida Panthers. If you enjoy gambling, there's Casino's in Hollywood at the Hard Rock and the Racetrack/Casino in Pompano Beach, or the many "cruises to nowhere" leaving the port of Miami and Port of Fort Lauderdale.