Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities - Sarasota, FL
Although the trip from Tampa to Sarasota now requires only a 55-mile drive to the south, present-day Sarasota and Manatee Counties developed decades later and did not attract permanent Jewish residents until the early 20th century. While Sarasota was founded in 1855, the only notable Jewish event in the area’s early history took place in 1865, when the prominent Jewish Confederate Judah P. Benjamin hid out in the area for several weeks. He then fled to England to avoid capture by United States troops after pro-Confederate locals helped him to avoid detection and secure transportation across the Atlantic.
Jewish organizational life did not begin in Sarasota until more than sixty years later. Though the Jewish population of Sarasota grew slowly through the 1940s, the second half of the 20th century brought increasing Jewish settlement, including a large contingent of retirees from northern cities. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Sarasota and Manatee County area was home to a well established Jewish community made up of more than 12,000 individuals and a full array of Jewish organizations.
Jewish organizational life did not begin in Sarasota until more than sixty years later. Though the Jewish population of Sarasota grew slowly through the 1940s, the second half of the 20th century brought increasing Jewish settlement, including a large contingent of retirees from northern cities. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Sarasota and Manatee County area was home to a well established Jewish community made up of more than 12,000 individuals and a full array of Jewish organizations.
Early Jewish Arrivals
Sarasota and nearby towns grew slowly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The 1910 census reported 840 residents of Sarasota and 1,868 people living in Bradenton. In fact, the first Jews known to live in the area settled 40 miles inland, in Arcadia, the seat of DeSoto County. Simon Rosin arrived there in 1905 and made a living as a peddler before opening a dry goods store. Simon and his wife, Rebecca, were married the following year and had a son, Aurel, in 1907. The Rosin family developed connections to the Sarasota Jewish community as it grew, and Aurel moved there with his own family as an adult.
Aurel Rosin in 1915. Aurel grew up in Arcadia and later lived in Sarasota. State Archives of Florida.
Within a decade of Simon Rosin’s move to Arcadia, Sarasota had developed a small Jewish population of its own. It is likely that a several Jews or people of Jewish origin owned businesses in town in the early 1910s, but the first known Jew to make a home in Sarasota was Phillip H. Levy. Levy was born in Lithuania and lived in Baltimore and New York City before making his way to Florida. His family owned a wholesale clothing business, and he started his own retail store in Sarasota. Not long after his arrival, he married Cecelia Tarapani of St. Petersburg. Phillip and Cecelia Levy both became active in local civic life, including the Chamber of Commerce. When Phillip died in 1936, Cecilia converted the family store to a ladies’ specialty shop, which she ran with her son and, after his passing, her daughter-in-law.
Outside of Sarasota a handful of Jewish families made their way to Palmetto, north of Bradenton on the other side of the Manatee river. By 1921 there were two Jewish owned vegetable businesses, and Frank Brameister opened a clothing shop that served the population of the surrounding agricultural area. Brameister, who had moved to Florida on the recommendation of a doctor, soon married and started a family in Palmetto. His daughter Marilyn grew up as the only Jewish child in her grade. He also helped his brother Max and sister-in-law Eva immigrate to the United States. They and their three children came first to Cuba and then joined their family in Palmetto, where Max and Eva ran a grocery store. Max also went into farming, and the family remained involved in Manatee County agriculture for two more generations. According to family history, the Brameisters were somewhat isolated in the rural, majority African-American county, although they did maintain social links to Jews from Lakeland and Wachula. Eventually, most of the family later relocated to Miami.
Outside of Sarasota a handful of Jewish families made their way to Palmetto, north of Bradenton on the other side of the Manatee river. By 1921 there were two Jewish owned vegetable businesses, and Frank Brameister opened a clothing shop that served the population of the surrounding agricultural area. Brameister, who had moved to Florida on the recommendation of a doctor, soon married and started a family in Palmetto. His daughter Marilyn grew up as the only Jewish child in her grade. He also helped his brother Max and sister-in-law Eva immigrate to the United States. They and their three children came first to Cuba and then joined their family in Palmetto, where Max and Eva ran a grocery store. Max also went into farming, and the family remained involved in Manatee County agriculture for two more generations. According to family history, the Brameisters were somewhat isolated in the rural, majority African-American county, although they did maintain social links to Jews from Lakeland and Wachula. Eventually, most of the family later relocated to Miami.
Organization and Growth
Jewish migrants continued to trickle into Sarasota and Bradenton during the 1920s, and they soon began to organize as a religious community. In 1925, a group of 20 men and women founded the Jewish Community Center in Sarasota. They originally held meetings at the Women’s Club and held their first religious services for Yom Kippur in 1926 on the second story of the Tyler building in downtown. The fledgling congregation originally held weekly shabbat services on Friday nights to accommodate the schedules of its members, who worked primarily as merchants. Attendance improved to 30 or more worshipers when they secured space at the local high school, and participants came from Bradenton and even Palmetto for services.
The community began plans to build a synagogue in 1927 and opened their new facility in time for Rosh Hashanah services in 1928. The city donated land for the building, and non-Jewish Sarasotans contributed money to the cause. Reportedly, the largest single donation came from circus owner John Ringling, who had moved the Ringling Brothers’ winter headquarters to Sarasota in 1927. As the lay-led congregation established their own home, they also adopted a new name: Temple Beth Sholom.
The community began plans to build a synagogue in 1927 and opened their new facility in time for Rosh Hashanah services in 1928. The city donated land for the building, and non-Jewish Sarasotans contributed money to the cause. Reportedly, the largest single donation came from circus owner John Ringling, who had moved the Ringling Brothers’ winter headquarters to Sarasota in 1927. As the lay-led congregation established their own home, they also adopted a new name: Temple Beth Sholom.
Albert White was one of several Jewish performers with the Ringling Bros. Circus. In the 1970s, he persuaded the circus to engage local rabbi Barry Konovich as the circus chaplain. State Archives of Florida.
Like Jewish residents of small towns across the South and the United States, the majority of early Sarasota-area Jews made their livings in retail, with some moving into real estate and agriculture as well. A handful of local Jews engaged in less typical professions, however, as employees of the Ringling Brothers Circus. Richard Fuchs, who worked for John Ringling and later helped found the Ringling Museum, was an occasional attendee at Temple Beth Sholom. Jack Earle (born Jacob Ehrlich in El Paso, Texas) spent time in Sarasota during his stint as a circus performer. Earle stood at eight feet, six inches and, in addition to performing as a giant for the Ringling Bros. Circus, played on the Sarasota Junior College basketball team during the 1932-1933 season. Another Jewish circus worker, Milton Bartok became well known as a patent medicine marketer, minstrel show producer, and, later, circus owner. His family spent the winter season in Sarasota beginning in the 1940s. The Sarasota Yacht Club, which usually excluded Jews, invited Bartok to join, despite public knowledge of his religion. Other Jews in the circus business managed troupes of little people and performed as clowns or acrobats.
Religious Practice and Denominational Affiliation
From the inception of Temple Beth Sholom until World War II, the congregation relied on lay leaders such as Meyer Meltz, Joseph and Sam Idelson, and William Gold to conduct religious services and provide instruction to bar mitzvah students. As late as 1938, a Works Progress Administration survey of Sarasota religious congregations reported a local Jewish population of only ten families—just enough to form a traditional, all-male minyan. For some lifecycle events, Rabbi David Zielonka made the trip from Tampa to officiate. In 1943, a Jewish chaplain from the nearby Army airfield officiated a bar mitzvah and led a community seder. According to community history, the experience led the congregation to seek out trained religious leadership, and they began to bring in student rabbis not long after.
Temple Beth Sholom used a Conservative prayer book in the 1940s but made efforts to accommodate Reform and Orthodox members. Men were given the choice of whether to wear yarmulkes and tallitot (prayer shawls), and Shabbat morning services may have resembled Orthodox practice. Beginning in 1948, they hired a series of rabbis from both Conservative and Reform backgrounds, but none stayed more than a few years. The congregation also remained independent, not affiliating with the Conservative movement until 1960. Despite efforts to meet the needs of a religiously diverse membership, however, the congregation encountered its first splits in the 1950s. One group developed in the home of Ben Zarchin, a strictly observant newcomer who pushed the congregation to adopt more Orthodox practices. When he failed to do so, he organized an Orthodox minyan in his own home. The group acquired its own Torah scroll at one point but did not form a lasting congregation.
A more liberal faction of Temple Beth Sholom congregants left to establish a Reform congregation in 1956. They had been supporters of Rabbi Joseph Asher, a proponent of Reform Judaism, and when Asher took another job in 1956, they decided to strike out on their own. The new congregation, Temple Emanu-El, provided a more contemporary style of service, led mostly in English. They received a charter from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1957 and made use of borrowed and rented spaces until they opened their own synagogue in 1961.
Temple Beth Sholom used a Conservative prayer book in the 1940s but made efforts to accommodate Reform and Orthodox members. Men were given the choice of whether to wear yarmulkes and tallitot (prayer shawls), and Shabbat morning services may have resembled Orthodox practice. Beginning in 1948, they hired a series of rabbis from both Conservative and Reform backgrounds, but none stayed more than a few years. The congregation also remained independent, not affiliating with the Conservative movement until 1960. Despite efforts to meet the needs of a religiously diverse membership, however, the congregation encountered its first splits in the 1950s. One group developed in the home of Ben Zarchin, a strictly observant newcomer who pushed the congregation to adopt more Orthodox practices. When he failed to do so, he organized an Orthodox minyan in his own home. The group acquired its own Torah scroll at one point but did not form a lasting congregation.
A more liberal faction of Temple Beth Sholom congregants left to establish a Reform congregation in 1956. They had been supporters of Rabbi Joseph Asher, a proponent of Reform Judaism, and when Asher took another job in 1956, they decided to strike out on their own. The new congregation, Temple Emanu-El, provided a more contemporary style of service, led mostly in English. They received a charter from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1957 and made use of borrowed and rented spaces until they opened their own synagogue in 1961.
An Expanding and Maturing Jewish Community
The development of separate Conservative and Reform congregations in the 1960s was possible because of two decades of Jewish growth in and around Sarasota. By that time, the area was home to between 1,200 and 2,100 Jewish individuals. Like other Florida Jewish communities, Sarasota attracted Jewish veterans who had been stationed there during World War II. Indiana native Sy Tobian, for example, married local woman Edith Idelson in 1945 and went into her family’s shoe business. South of Sarasota, Venice began attracting Jewish residents in the 1940s. At the time, Venice was known as an exclusive town with only 500 residents. Betty and Lewis Jacobs moved there in 1945 and worked in real estate. Despite Venice’s reputation, Betty Jacobs became a leader in local civic organizations, and non-Jewish neighbors came to respect her religious practices, including a kosher diet and Shabbat observance. When Dr. Samuel and Sarah Kaplan moved to Venice a few years later, he was thought to be the only Jewish medical practitioner between Tampa and Miami. He became a well respected leader in the local medical community.
Lou Ann (Rosengarten) Palmer as a high school student. Palmer moved with her family to Sarasota in 1948 and graduated from Sarasota High School. She later served two terms as the mayor of Sarasota. State Archives of Florida.
As the Jewish population grew, Jews took on prominent roles in the civic and cultural life of the area, continuing the precedent set by early families such as the Levys and Idelsons. David Cohen, who moved to Sarasota from Michigan in the 1940s, owned Smith Specialty Company and became a popular local figure. He had a strong musical background and was heavily involved with the development of the Florida West Coast Symphony (now the Sarasota Orchestra). As a member of the city commission in the 1960s, Cohen championed a pair of important bond proposals that led to a number of improvements to the city. From 1964 to 1966, he served as Sarasota’s first Jewish mayor. By the time that Lou Ann Palmer served her second stint as Sarasota mayor in the late 1980s, Longboat Key also had a Jewish mayor, Hart Wurtzburg. The West Coast Symphony continued to benefit from Jewish involvement over the decades, including musicians, conductors, board members, and funders. As more Jewish retirees moved to the area, they dedicated time and money to an array of non-Jewish groups and causes, including adult education programs for seniors, mental health and social work organizations, and the American Civil Liberties Union. A number of medical, cultural, and educational facilities in the area also bear the names of Jewish benefactors, including the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and the Mildred Sainer Fine Arts Complex at New College.
The arrival of new Jews to the area also spurred the creation of new congregations. By the early 1970s, the Sarasota area’s Jewish population had begun to spread northward into Bradenton, and more than fifty members founded Temple Beth El there in 1974. The new congregation affiliated with the Conservative movement and dedicated its own synagogue building in 1978. Rabbi Albert Shulman, who had retired to the area from South Bend, Indiana, served as Temple Beth El’s first part-time spiritual leader. The congregation included many young families, so Jewish education was an early priority for them. By the late 1980s, membership had reached 150 families, and 45 students were enrolled in religious school.
At the southern end of Sarasota County, Jews in and around Port Charlotte established a Conservative congregation, now known as Temple Beth El, in 1976. The group began as a weekly minyan, largely made up of northern “snowbirds” who did not want to make the drive to Sarasota each week and preferred a more traditional service than was available in nearby Port Charlotte [link to Lee and Charlotte Counties entry]. On Longboat Key, a group made up mostly of retirees founded Temple Beth El in 1979. The Reform congregation tries to appeal to worshippers from a range of backgrounds and has remained an adult congregation throughout its existence. The Jewish Community of Venice emerged at about the same time and grew quickly, reaching 350 members by 1986. The 1980s also brought about the first presence of Chabad Lubavitch in the area, as well as a handful of short lived congregations that split from more established synagogues.
In addition to the development of new congregations, the Jewish organizational infrastructure of Sarasota and Manatee Counties matured in the 1970s and 1980s. Hadassah and other Zionist organizations had been active in the area since the 1940s, although they became more prominent in the 1970s, and the local B’nai Brith received its charter in 1954. Local Jews organized the Sarasota Jewish Community Council in 1959, primarily to organize the annual United Jewish Appeal campaign. Although the Community Council struggled during the late 1960s, it was reconstituted in 1970 and soon took on a wider range of activities. By the end of the decade, the organization supported Jewish education, a summer day camp for children, a Welcome Committee that oriented newly arrived Jewish residents, and other programs. The Sarasota Jewish Council changed its name to Sarasota Jewish Federation in 1980 and then to the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Federation in 1982. Now known as the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, the organization has developed a full range of services, including resources for new families and aging retirees. The Federation also operated a Jewish Community Center from 1989 to 2006.
Since the 1970s, the Federation has emphasized programs and services for older residents, as the local retirement boom attracted a large number of Jewish newcomers. By the early 1980s, more than 45 percent of the Jewish population was 65 or older, about three times the national average, and the overall population doubled from 4,200 in 1975 to 8,400 in 1987. The new arrivals tended to be early in their retirement years and relatively affluent, and the organizational, social, and religious life of the Jewish community reflected the status of these older members.
The arrival of new Jews to the area also spurred the creation of new congregations. By the early 1970s, the Sarasota area’s Jewish population had begun to spread northward into Bradenton, and more than fifty members founded Temple Beth El there in 1974. The new congregation affiliated with the Conservative movement and dedicated its own synagogue building in 1978. Rabbi Albert Shulman, who had retired to the area from South Bend, Indiana, served as Temple Beth El’s first part-time spiritual leader. The congregation included many young families, so Jewish education was an early priority for them. By the late 1980s, membership had reached 150 families, and 45 students were enrolled in religious school.
At the southern end of Sarasota County, Jews in and around Port Charlotte established a Conservative congregation, now known as Temple Beth El, in 1976. The group began as a weekly minyan, largely made up of northern “snowbirds” who did not want to make the drive to Sarasota each week and preferred a more traditional service than was available in nearby Port Charlotte [link to Lee and Charlotte Counties entry]. On Longboat Key, a group made up mostly of retirees founded Temple Beth El in 1979. The Reform congregation tries to appeal to worshippers from a range of backgrounds and has remained an adult congregation throughout its existence. The Jewish Community of Venice emerged at about the same time and grew quickly, reaching 350 members by 1986. The 1980s also brought about the first presence of Chabad Lubavitch in the area, as well as a handful of short lived congregations that split from more established synagogues.
In addition to the development of new congregations, the Jewish organizational infrastructure of Sarasota and Manatee Counties matured in the 1970s and 1980s. Hadassah and other Zionist organizations had been active in the area since the 1940s, although they became more prominent in the 1970s, and the local B’nai Brith received its charter in 1954. Local Jews organized the Sarasota Jewish Community Council in 1959, primarily to organize the annual United Jewish Appeal campaign. Although the Community Council struggled during the late 1960s, it was reconstituted in 1970 and soon took on a wider range of activities. By the end of the decade, the organization supported Jewish education, a summer day camp for children, a Welcome Committee that oriented newly arrived Jewish residents, and other programs. The Sarasota Jewish Council changed its name to Sarasota Jewish Federation in 1980 and then to the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Federation in 1982. Now known as the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, the organization has developed a full range of services, including resources for new families and aging retirees. The Federation also operated a Jewish Community Center from 1989 to 2006.
Since the 1970s, the Federation has emphasized programs and services for older residents, as the local retirement boom attracted a large number of Jewish newcomers. By the early 1980s, more than 45 percent of the Jewish population was 65 or older, about three times the national average, and the overall population doubled from 4,200 in 1975 to 8,400 in 1987. The new arrivals tended to be early in their retirement years and relatively affluent, and the organizational, social, and religious life of the Jewish community reflected the status of these older members.
Jewish Life in Sarasota and Manatee Counties in the 21st Century
Jewish growth maintained its brisk pace through the 1990s and into the new century, with the Jewish population reaching 12,200 year-round residents and 3,300 part-timers by 2001. The majority of area Jews lived in the Sarasota area, with the rest concentrated in and around Longboat Key, Bradenton, and Venice. Longboat Key boasted the most snowbirds, with 1,500 seasonal resident.
As of 2019, the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee lists thirteen congregations in its community directory, ranging from the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism to three Chabad centers. The Federation even supports a small Jewish day school, which promotes itself as a “progressive, pluralistic” school that draws a diverse student body from inside and outside the local Jewish population. As Sarasota-Manatee Jews approach the 100th anniversary of organized community life, the area’s continued Jewish growth reflects dramatic transformations that have reshaped southwest Florida since the mid-20th century.
As of 2019, the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee lists thirteen congregations in its community directory, ranging from the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism to three Chabad centers. The Federation even supports a small Jewish day school, which promotes itself as a “progressive, pluralistic” school that draws a diverse student body from inside and outside the local Jewish population. As Sarasota-Manatee Jews approach the 100th anniversary of organized community life, the area’s continued Jewish growth reflects dramatic transformations that have reshaped southwest Florida since the mid-20th century.