Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities - Space Coast, FL
Overview
Brevard County, also known as the Space Coast, includes the municipalities of Titusville, Satellite Beach, Cocoa, Melbourne, and Palm Bay, as well as Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. Jewish settlement in the county began in the late 19th century and developed slowly for several decades. It was not until World War II and the Cold War that the area’s growing military and aerospace industry attracted a sufficient Jewish population to spur the creation of Jewish communal institutions. Since the aerospace boom of the 1950s and 1960s, the Brevard County has become home to several synagogues, a local federation, and an estimated Jewish population of 4,000 individuals.
Early Jewish Life
Newspaper announcement of Julius Kline's retirement and departure. Florida Star, January 7, 1910.
Present-day Brevard County sits on the East Coast of Florida, south of the Daytona Beach area and north of the Treasure Coast. Like much of Florida, the area did not attract permanent Euro-American settlements until the mid-19th century, due to its climate, the risk of disease, and effective resistance from Seminole Indians.
The first known Jews arrived in Brevard County shortly before the Florida East Coast Railroad reached the area in 1886. From 1893 to 1910, Julius and Bertha Kline ran a successful dry goods business in Titusville, at the northern end of the county. After acquiring enough property to live off real estate income, the Klines sold the store and returned to New York City. The local newspaper, The Florida Star, regretted the move, recalling that Kline had “battled his way from the ranks to be the head of Titusville’s Mercantile Life.”
The first known Jews arrived in Brevard County shortly before the Florida East Coast Railroad reached the area in 1886. From 1893 to 1910, Julius and Bertha Kline ran a successful dry goods business in Titusville, at the northern end of the county. After acquiring enough property to live off real estate income, the Klines sold the store and returned to New York City. The local newspaper, The Florida Star, regretted the move, recalling that Kline had “battled his way from the ranks to be the head of Titusville’s Mercantile Life.”
Brothers Morris, Isadore, and Ralph Rubin, 1967. Born in Romania, the Rubin Brothers were prominent merchants in Cocoa from the 1910s to the 1930s. State Archives of Florida.
Farther south, the Rubin family made a name for themselves in Cocoa beginning in the 1910s. Isadore and Ann (Holtsberg) Rubin and Ralph and Ida Rubin moved to the area in 1914 and opened the Rubin Brothers Department Store, located in the city’s original shopping district. According to family history, they had also considered settling in Fort Lauderdale but were advised that the city was not welcoming to Jews. Rubin Brothers, which also had a location in Fort Pierce, was the largest store in Brevard County in its day. In 1926, Isadore Rubin won election to the city council and served for eight years.
Isadore and Ann’s daughter Ruth recalled that the family closed the business on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and that Isadore used to don a talit and pray alone in his bedroom in observance of the holidays. The Rubin children received informal Jewish education from a northern Jewish woman who used to winter in nearby Rockledge, and Howard Rubin (son of Ann and Isadore) lived with his grandparents in Miami in order to study for his 1930 bar mitzvah. Despite the family’s initial success and acceptance, however, the Great Depression forced them to close their business; Isadore and Morris moved to Miami in 1934, while Ralph remained in Fort Pierce.
For the next twenty years the Jewish population in Brevard County remained too small to establish its own institutions, but a few new arrivals did establish long-lasting businesses. In the early 1930s, New York City clothier Samuel Fischer and his four sons became interested in Cocoa, then known as the “Salt Water Trout Capital of the World.” The elder Fischer loved to fish, and he purchased a fish market and pier on Cape Canaveral in 1936. Soon, his four sons worked at the business, renamed Fischer’s Harbor Seafood, which grew quickly. The family also opened a liquor store, which Bernard converted to a seafood restaurant, The Surf, in 1948. Eddie and Louis Fischer continued to focus on the supply and distribution side of the seafood business. Over the years, the brothers operated wholesale and retail seafood companies and related businesses, as well as dry goods stores. Louis’s son Rusty took over The Surf restaurant in 1965 after his uncle’s death, and renamed it Bernard’s Surf. The Surf became a local institution and remained so until Rusty sold the business in 2006.
Isadore and Ann’s daughter Ruth recalled that the family closed the business on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and that Isadore used to don a talit and pray alone in his bedroom in observance of the holidays. The Rubin children received informal Jewish education from a northern Jewish woman who used to winter in nearby Rockledge, and Howard Rubin (son of Ann and Isadore) lived with his grandparents in Miami in order to study for his 1930 bar mitzvah. Despite the family’s initial success and acceptance, however, the Great Depression forced them to close their business; Isadore and Morris moved to Miami in 1934, while Ralph remained in Fort Pierce.
For the next twenty years the Jewish population in Brevard County remained too small to establish its own institutions, but a few new arrivals did establish long-lasting businesses. In the early 1930s, New York City clothier Samuel Fischer and his four sons became interested in Cocoa, then known as the “Salt Water Trout Capital of the World.” The elder Fischer loved to fish, and he purchased a fish market and pier on Cape Canaveral in 1936. Soon, his four sons worked at the business, renamed Fischer’s Harbor Seafood, which grew quickly. The family also opened a liquor store, which Bernard converted to a seafood restaurant, The Surf, in 1948. Eddie and Louis Fischer continued to focus on the supply and distribution side of the seafood business. Over the years, the brothers operated wholesale and retail seafood companies and related businesses, as well as dry goods stores. Louis’s son Rusty took over The Surf restaurant in 1965 after his uncle’s death, and renamed it Bernard’s Surf. The Surf became a local institution and remained so until Rusty sold the business in 2006.
Defense and Aerospace Growth
As in other parts of Florida, the Jewish community of Brevard developed in tandem with nearby military facilities. In 1940, the Navy purchased land on the barrier island near Cocoa, which became Patrick Air Force Base in 1950. At the same time, Cape Canaveral became a major missile testing site and later the home of the Kennedy Space Center. The arrival of the defense and aerospace industries initiated a major population boom, and Brevard County’s population swelled from approximately 24,000 people in 1950 to more than 111,000 by 1960—the fastest growth of any county in the country.
Many of the so-called “space migrants” worked as scientists or engineers, or in other white-collar jobs associated with the new industries. Among them were a number of Jewish men who worked at the Air Force base and on Cape Canaveral, and the Jewish community began to organize by the early 1950s. Sidney Fischer, of the seafood family, hosted the first meeting at his home. The group named itself the Brevard Jewish Brotherhood, and they elected Fischer as the first president. At first, they held services in private homes and at the Patrick Air Force Base chapel, which housed a rotating, three-sided alter that could accommodate Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish prayer services. By 1952, they had established a religious school with 50 students. In the late 1950s, High Holiday services at the base attracted families from as far north as Titusville and as far south as Melbourne. The group broke ground for a synagogue in Satellite Beach (on the cape south of the base) during Chanukah, 1958. In 1959 they began to call the new congregation Temple Beth Sholom, although they did not officially change the name until 1964.
The aerospace boom attracted businesspeople in addition to engineers, as the growing population provided new opportunities in retail, construction, and real estate. Among early leaders in the Brevard Jewish Brotherhood was Jack Saxon, who ran an appliance store in Cocoa during the early 1950s and later developed a shopping center. In 1958, Saxon joined other lay leaders to conduct Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services at the Air Force base chapel. Irwin Berger, a building contractor, spearheaded the construction of the synagogue.
It took over a year to construct Temple Beth Sholom’s first building. According to Leonard Arnowitz, congregants performed much of the work themselves on weekends, as they could not afford to hire professionals. Arnowitz, an electrical engineer on Project Vanguard, installed the building’s wiring himself. Other members contributed according to their abilities, painting or laying down sod. As Arnowitz recalls, “somehow we built a do-it-yourself synagogue.” When the building opened in 1960, they had just over 100 families.
Despite the area’s rapid population growth, Brevard County remained distant from the amenities of major Jewish centers. The Arnowitz family kept kosher, which required them to order frozen meats in large quantities from Miami. It traveled by Greyhound, packed on dry ice, and customers picked up their orders at the Cocoa bus station.
Many of the so-called “space migrants” worked as scientists or engineers, or in other white-collar jobs associated with the new industries. Among them were a number of Jewish men who worked at the Air Force base and on Cape Canaveral, and the Jewish community began to organize by the early 1950s. Sidney Fischer, of the seafood family, hosted the first meeting at his home. The group named itself the Brevard Jewish Brotherhood, and they elected Fischer as the first president. At first, they held services in private homes and at the Patrick Air Force Base chapel, which housed a rotating, three-sided alter that could accommodate Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish prayer services. By 1952, they had established a religious school with 50 students. In the late 1950s, High Holiday services at the base attracted families from as far north as Titusville and as far south as Melbourne. The group broke ground for a synagogue in Satellite Beach (on the cape south of the base) during Chanukah, 1958. In 1959 they began to call the new congregation Temple Beth Sholom, although they did not officially change the name until 1964.
The aerospace boom attracted businesspeople in addition to engineers, as the growing population provided new opportunities in retail, construction, and real estate. Among early leaders in the Brevard Jewish Brotherhood was Jack Saxon, who ran an appliance store in Cocoa during the early 1950s and later developed a shopping center. In 1958, Saxon joined other lay leaders to conduct Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services at the Air Force base chapel. Irwin Berger, a building contractor, spearheaded the construction of the synagogue.
It took over a year to construct Temple Beth Sholom’s first building. According to Leonard Arnowitz, congregants performed much of the work themselves on weekends, as they could not afford to hire professionals. Arnowitz, an electrical engineer on Project Vanguard, installed the building’s wiring himself. Other members contributed according to their abilities, painting or laying down sod. As Arnowitz recalls, “somehow we built a do-it-yourself synagogue.” When the building opened in 1960, they had just over 100 families.
Despite the area’s rapid population growth, Brevard County remained distant from the amenities of major Jewish centers. The Arnowitz family kept kosher, which required them to order frozen meats in large quantities from Miami. It traveled by Greyhound, packed on dry ice, and customers picked up their orders at the Cocoa bus station.
New Congregations
In its earliest years, Temple Beth Sholom attempted to provide both Reform and Conservative services on a rotating basis, and their first rabbi, Dr. Joseph Libereles held a Reform ordination. Rabbi Libereles only stayed for a few years, however, and he was followed by a series of Conservative rabbis, none of whom served long terms. After the departure of Rabbi Libereles and the congregation’s move toward Conservative practice and affiliation, a group of Reform families left Temple Beth Sholom. They formed a new congregation, Temple Israel, in 1965. In approximately 1980, Temple Beth Sholom spawned another spin-off, Temple Ner Tamid, which lasted for about five years.
From the mid-1960s until 1979, Temple Israel held Reform services and religious school classes in a variety of locations, including local churches. In 1968, with just 35 member families, they purchased land on Merritt Island, between the cape and the mainland. They also hired Rabbi David Eichhorn, who served the congregation on a part-time basis until 1982. Rabbi Eichhorn had a background in military chaplaincy and is known for his conducting the first Jewish prayer services at Dachau following the camp’s liberation in 1945. Although Temple Israel bought property in the 1960s, they did not begin construction for another decade. The congregation completed the synagogue in 1979 and hired their first full-time rabbi three years later—Rabbi Andrew Hillman, who had previously served as an assistant rabbi in Orlando.
Around the time that Temple Israel constructed its building, a third congregation had developed: Congregation Beth El of Palm Bay. The new group grew out of a 1973 Chanukah party held at the Malabar Yacht Club, and it offered less expensive memberships that appealed to local retirees. Congregation Beth El has always held services in rented spaces, including High Holiday services at local hotels and, in the 1980s, weekly services at the Melbourne Arts Center. By 1989, they had attracted more than 60 member households.
While Jewish congregations in Brevard County experienced several splits over the decades, local Jews also cooperated to form the Brevard Jewish Community Council in 1974. The Community Council, a forerunner to Jewish Federation of Brevard, initially formed with the goals of centralizing and coordinating Jewish communal fundraising, gathering information about Brevard County’s Jewish population, developing a variety of programs and services for local Jews, and serving as a representative organization and mouthpiece for the community. Organizational histories credit Rabbi Eichhorn of Temple Israel and Sheldon “Shelly” Smith as early leaders. An estimated 250 Jewish families lived in the area as of the Community Council’s founding in the mid-1970s.
From the mid-1960s until 1979, Temple Israel held Reform services and religious school classes in a variety of locations, including local churches. In 1968, with just 35 member families, they purchased land on Merritt Island, between the cape and the mainland. They also hired Rabbi David Eichhorn, who served the congregation on a part-time basis until 1982. Rabbi Eichhorn had a background in military chaplaincy and is known for his conducting the first Jewish prayer services at Dachau following the camp’s liberation in 1945. Although Temple Israel bought property in the 1960s, they did not begin construction for another decade. The congregation completed the synagogue in 1979 and hired their first full-time rabbi three years later—Rabbi Andrew Hillman, who had previously served as an assistant rabbi in Orlando.
Around the time that Temple Israel constructed its building, a third congregation had developed: Congregation Beth El of Palm Bay. The new group grew out of a 1973 Chanukah party held at the Malabar Yacht Club, and it offered less expensive memberships that appealed to local retirees. Congregation Beth El has always held services in rented spaces, including High Holiday services at local hotels and, in the 1980s, weekly services at the Melbourne Arts Center. By 1989, they had attracted more than 60 member households.
While Jewish congregations in Brevard County experienced several splits over the decades, local Jews also cooperated to form the Brevard Jewish Community Council in 1974. The Community Council, a forerunner to Jewish Federation of Brevard, initially formed with the goals of centralizing and coordinating Jewish communal fundraising, gathering information about Brevard County’s Jewish population, developing a variety of programs and services for local Jews, and serving as a representative organization and mouthpiece for the community. Organizational histories credit Rabbi Eichhorn of Temple Israel and Sheldon “Shelly” Smith as early leaders. An estimated 250 Jewish families lived in the area as of the Community Council’s founding in the mid-1970s.
Civic Engagement
As Jews came together to form Jewish organizations, they also made their marks as civic leaders. Sidney Fischer, of the seafood and restaurant family, served as mayor of Cocoa Beach from 1956 to 1960. The city named a large ocean-front park after him. Nathan Friedland, a native of Maitland, served on the Melbourne City Council beginning in 1962 and as mayor from 1965 to 1968. Friedland also served as president of Temple Beth Sholom, as did his wife, Charlotte, and his son Roger. In the tiny municipality of Palm Shores, Anne Bernstein was a longstanding member of the Town Council and held the position of mayor from 1989 to 1995. Bernstein’s daughter Judy followed in her footsteps as the town’s vice mayor in the mid-1990s. Jewish participation in Brevard County political life continues in the twenty-first century. As of 2018, Randy Fine represented southern Brevard County as the only Jewish Republican in the Florida legislature.
The late 20th and Early 21st Centuries
Although the aerospace and defense industries fueled the growth of Brevard County’s Jewish population in the 1950s and 1960s, tourism and (later) healthcare became equally important industries in subsequent decades. As the local Jewish population shifted away from Cape Canaveral and Patrick Air Force Base, congregations followed suit. Temple Beth Sholom relocated from Satellite Island to Suntree in 1994, and Temple Israel moved from Merritt Island to Viera in 1997. (Suntree is an unincorporated community just north of Melbourne, and Viera is a master planned community to the northwest.)
South of Melbourne, a small group of Jews founded Mateh Chaim in Palm Bay around 1990. The Reform congregation met in store fronts and rented church spaces for more than two decades, reaching a peak of approximately 50 members. Following a decline in participation, they held their last High Holiday services in 2015. The 1990s also saw the establishment of a local Chabad center, which served 70 families as of 2000 and operates out of a Satellite Beach location. As of 2019, the Space Coast Chabad is involved in a fundraising campaign toward an expansion of their facilities and the construction of a mikvah.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the Jewish Federation of Brevard hosted an annual film festival, a weekly radio program, and retreats for the local Jewish community. As of 2019, the Federation is based out of a Melbourne office. Temple Beth Sholom, the oldest synagogue in the area, hired Rabbi Craig Mayers in 2018. Mayers had served the congregation in several capacities since joining in 2004, and he took the position while pursuing an online rabbinical ordination and receiving guidance from a mentor in South Florida. Congregation Beth El, now affiliated with the Conservative movement, holds weekly services at a Unitarian Universalist church, although its membership has declined to around 20 households. Temple Israel, on the other hand, claims approximately 225 member families, and the American Jewish Year Book estimates the county’s Jewish population at approximately 4,000 individuals. Meanwhile, the 1920s Rubin Bros. building still stands at the corner of Harrison and Delanoy Streets in Cocoa Village, a testament to more than a century of Jewish presence in the area.
South of Melbourne, a small group of Jews founded Mateh Chaim in Palm Bay around 1990. The Reform congregation met in store fronts and rented church spaces for more than two decades, reaching a peak of approximately 50 members. Following a decline in participation, they held their last High Holiday services in 2015. The 1990s also saw the establishment of a local Chabad center, which served 70 families as of 2000 and operates out of a Satellite Beach location. As of 2019, the Space Coast Chabad is involved in a fundraising campaign toward an expansion of their facilities and the construction of a mikvah.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the Jewish Federation of Brevard hosted an annual film festival, a weekly radio program, and retreats for the local Jewish community. As of 2019, the Federation is based out of a Melbourne office. Temple Beth Sholom, the oldest synagogue in the area, hired Rabbi Craig Mayers in 2018. Mayers had served the congregation in several capacities since joining in 2004, and he took the position while pursuing an online rabbinical ordination and receiving guidance from a mentor in South Florida. Congregation Beth El, now affiliated with the Conservative movement, holds weekly services at a Unitarian Universalist church, although its membership has declined to around 20 households. Temple Israel, on the other hand, claims approximately 225 member families, and the American Jewish Year Book estimates the county’s Jewish population at approximately 4,000 individuals. Meanwhile, the 1920s Rubin Bros. building still stands at the corner of Harrison and Delanoy Streets in Cocoa Village, a testament to more than a century of Jewish presence in the area.
Selected Bibliography
Brevard County Files and Cocoa Beach Files, Jewish Museum of Florida.
Sallie Middleton, “Space Rush: Local Impact of Federal Aerospace Programs on Brevard and Surrounding Counties,” The Florida Historical Quarterly (Fall 2008).
Brevard County Files and Cocoa Beach Files, Jewish Museum of Florida.
Sallie Middleton, “Space Rush: Local Impact of Federal Aerospace Programs on Brevard and Surrounding Counties,” The Florida Historical Quarterly (Fall 2008).