Founding of the Synagogue
Hakham Sassoon naming Shmuel Binyamin for Mount Dora's first Brit Milah
Five years ago, a newly ordained rabbi and his wife of 10 years decided to open a Traditional synagogue in central Florida, an area with very few Jewish families. Was that because historically, it had been a KKK center in the late 1800‘s? Or just because most Jewish families gravitated toward Miami? Was this plan meshugeneh? Nuts?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
This
story includes a horrific episode of anti-Semitism, and an overwhelming
community response. The congregation includes Orthodox families who
bought houses within walking distance from the synagogue, as well as
Jewish men and women who drive to shul.
Rabbi
Hayyim Solomon graduated from Florida State University with a PhD in nuclear
physics. His wife, Rabbanit Rachel
Solomon is a physician; an internist practicing in the tri-city area of Mt.
Dora, Eustis, and Tavares. They began their synagogue on their back
porch in Mt. Dora. Services were held outside, or in the Solomon’s
living-room. The first community Seder was in a congregant’s house on Heim.
Their son Benjamin was born at Waterman Hospital, and the Lakeside Inn was host
to the very first Brit Milah in Mount Dora.
Shul Setup at the Hampton Inn
Over time, the congregation expanded and they moved to a
conference room at the local Hampton Inn. Then to a room at the National
Academy for the Deaf, and finally they “pulled the trigger” and purchased the
old Link’s Stationary building on Donnelly Street in Mount Dora, FL and spent
nearly a year in renovation. The Synagogue Building of the Traditional Congregation of Mount Dora
was inaugurated on December 11, 2011.
Six
months before the inauguration, two weeks before renovation was to be complete,
in the early hours of Saturday, July 9th, the clean, white walls of the shul
were spray painted with what Rabbi Hayyim described as, ““multi-talented
bigotry.” The Heritage
News had to photo-shop the hateful images before they could print
them. Over one hundred members of the community began to arrive with
equipment: buckets, paint, and brushes to remove the desecration. Rabbi
Hayyim said:
“By
the time I arrived, not only were there police and sheriffs, but the Mayor, a
Councilman, the GC, and several of the local Christian clergy. The
cleanup effort had already been organized and was underway.
“We
moved to Mount Dora, we started a synagogue in Mount Dora, because we believe
Mount Dora was the right place for us. What occurred in the wee hours was
not Mount Dora. What occurred as the day went on, that was Mount Dora.”
ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) was proud to designate the City of Mount Dora as a Community of Respect™ on
December 18, 2011 in celebration and recognition of the strong sense of community
and solidarity that characterizes Mount Dora.
And
now, 18 months after the spray-painted hate on the new walls of the synagogue,
the shul continues to welcome new members, grow its religious school, weekly
events, and outreach. From Cordon Bleu pizza/movie nights to deep parsing
of the weekly parsha, to a Hannukah auction, TCOMD thrives.
What
is “Traditional”? Rabbi Hayyim says: TCOMD “provides a safe-space for
Jews of all kinds, from all backgrounds; we are supportive, encouraging, but
never judgmental. Lake County may seem like a Wilderness from a Jewish
perspective, but once you’ve walked into the tents of your brothers and sisters
here in the Tri-Cities, you’ll know that you’ve found in the Traditional
Congregation your Home for Genuine Judaism.”
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