FROM NOVEMBER UNTIL March or April — whenev-
JCC has learning opportunities and exercise classes. Th ere’s a
er Passover falls — you can fi nd Daniel Blumberg and his wife
Jewish fi lm festival in Phoenix, and the area off ers lots of great
Barbara taking courses at Florida Atlantic University’s lifelong
restaurants. He is involved in a social men’s group there, where
learning institute, attending tribute band concerts and going to
they play pickleball, golf and racquetball and participate in a book
independent movie theaters.

review club and movie review club.

Th ey do all this and more in Delray Beach, Fla., where they
“And the weather’s great during wintertime,” Kaufman added.

have spent their winters for the past fi ve years. Like many retirees
He hasn’t met too many any others from the Philadelphia area
who live in the Philadelphia area, they head to warmer weather
who choose to spend their winters in Scottsdale. Most of the
during the winter months in a longstanding tradition. Many of
snowbirds they’ve met there hail from the Midwest, especially
their friends do the same, and other friends live in that area per-
from Michigan and the Chicago area, as well as Canada.

manently. For them, southeast Florida off ers opportunities for
“We run into a lot of people who are snowbirding or even who
learning, socialization and a rich Jewish life, including a few good
have moved from the Midwest or New York or other parts of the
delicatessens. country, Connecticut,” Kaufman said. “Th at whole geographic
“[Delray is] heavily Jewish, and it’s a comfort zone of being in that
area [of Scottsdale] is just skyrocketed in the last 20 years in terms
area,” Blumberg said.

of the construction
“We have friends
and the building and
who live down there
the development.”
all year round, so
Th ere are several
that’s another reason
synagogues, includ-
that we picked that
ing one Friday night
particular area.”
Shabbat service spe-
For decades,
cifi cally for expats of
Philadelphians have
Minnesota, where the
taken fl ight to the
Kaufmans once lived.

southeastern coast
For years now, some
of Florida but, more
snowbirds have gone
recently, some have
on to eventually settle
BARRY KAUFMAN
chosen to winter in
in Florida. Kaufman
other places instead,
said he is seeing a sim-
as far west as Arizona
ilar trend in Arizona.

or California.

He’s heard of the same thing happening in California, too.

Retirees Barry and Tamie Kaufman are two such snowbirds.

“When we started going [to Scottsdale], it was much smaller
Th ey have chosen to winter in Scottsdale, Ariz., a city just east of
than what it is now,” Kaufman said. “A lot more people have moved
Phoenix. Tamie Kaufman has family there, so they had been going
there. It seemed like it was a great place to meet people because
to and from Arizona for decades. As they approached retirement,
there were a lot of people entering that area, and they are looking
the amount of time they spent there increased.

for social development of relationships also, friendships and peo-
“It’s an opportunity to see our family more frequently but also
ple to do things with and get involved in various activities with.”
a chance to spend more time in an area we’ve enjoyed,” Barry
Carol Kershbaum snowbirds in Florida but not in the tradition-
Kaufman said.

al southeastern part. She chooses instead to go to Tampa on the
Th ey recently moved to the Philadelphia area, where they also
western coast. Her daughter went to college there, and she never
have family, but before that, they lived in Michigan, and many of
liked cold weather, so she fi gured it was a place she could run away
their friends from the Midwest spend their winters in Arizona
to in the winter.

as well.

She had been to Tampa about 20 years before she started snow-
Now, they spend about nine months of the year in Philadelphia
birding, and she hated it then.

and three months in Scottsdale.

“If anyone had said, ‘You’re going to go to Tampa and love it,’
Scottsdale has a vibrant Jewish life, Kaufman said. Th e local
I would have said, ‘No way that’s going to happen,’” Kershbaum
“We run into a lot of people who are
snowbirding or even who have moved
from the Midwest or New York or other
parts of the country”
8



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Daniel and Barbara Blumberg snowbird
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said. “As it turns out, Tampa was growing
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Th ey had terrifi c mayors, et cetera, and
a great city council, who were basically
no-nonsense people.”
Tampa, she said, feels like a real city you
might encounter in the North, even as she
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Most people who snowbird from
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WINTER HOLIDAY MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 22, 2018
9