H eadlines
Jewish Crystal River
WHILE FLORIDA’S NATURE COAST and
Citrus County are not hotbeds of Judaic life, there
is still some Jewish presence in the region. There are
some clusters of Jews in the Villages, Leesburg and
Beverly Hills and larger concentrations of Jewish
life in Tampa and Orlando.

Citrus County developed slowly after the Civil
War. Early Jewish settlers included Philip Rubin
and his family, who moved to Crystal River from
Daytona Beach in 1929. Rubin owned a furni-
ture store and served three terms as the mayor
of Crystal River. The county did not experience
significant growth until the 1960s and had few Jews
in residence. However, when development finally
hit the county, it was largely catalyzed by a Jewish
businessman from New York, Sam Kellner.

Kellner bought 3,500 acres in interior Citrus
County in 1960, developed the cattle land, named
it Beverly Hills and built and sold homes to retirees
from the urban North, especially New York and
Detroit. It was a pioneer retirement-oriented planned
community in Central Florida. By 1968, a small
number of Jews lived there and founded the Beverly
Hills Jewish Center. By the 1970s, they began to call
themselves Congregation Beth Sholom and affiliated
with the Conservative movement.

Congregation Beth Sholom continued its activi-
ties into the 21st century, with regular services and
lifecycle events. The religious school operated until
at least 2002, and Rabbi Zvi Ettinger served the
congregation until approximately 2006. Another
small Jewish group, Chavurah Shabbat, also met in
the early 2000s, holding monthly Shabbat services
at members’ homes in Crystal River. Beth Sholom
is the only Jewish congregation in Citrus County at
present time.

Other synagogues include a Chabad Lubavitch
Jewish Center approximately 31 miles from Crystal
River in Ocala and Congregation B’nai Israel in
Gainesville, 54 miles away. There is no kosher food
available locally around Crystal River. l
— Jeff and Virginia Orenstein
Happy Chanukah!
Kings Bay is a popular place for boaters and water sports enthusiasts.

The busy docks at the Plantation Adventure Center are a popular
embarkation point along the Crystal River for fishing, scalloping and
manatee excursions.

from th e
www.jewishexponent.com The Tiki Bar at the Plantation on Crystal River is a place along the
Crystal River where hotel guests and boaters congregate.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM JEWISH EXPONENT
NOVEMBER 25, 2021
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