Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on December 6, 2014

Gangsters, Immigrants and Geezers, Oh My!

Great Schlep of 2008: Comedian Sarah Silverman called on young voters to go to Florida to see their grandparents (and vote for Obama).

1. At over 850,000 Jews, Florida is home to 16% of the American Jewish community.

2. Miami has the third largest Jewish Metro area in North America right behind New York and Los Angeles.

3. Miamis southern counties have the second largest concentration of Jewish inhabitants after Israel (15%).

4. The city of Fort Myers was named for Colonel Abraham C. Myers in 1850. Colonel Myers, who descended from a London Rabbi, later served as the Quartermaster General of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

5. The first reported Jews to settle in Florida were Joseph D. Palacios, Alexander Solomons and Samuel Israel, who moved from New Orleans to Pensacola in 1763 when England acquired Florida in the Treaty of Paris.

6. David Levy Yulee was the first U.S. Senator from Florida when it became the 27th state in 1845, and the first person of Jewish heritage elected to serve in the United States Senate. The son of Moses Levy, who developed large parts of Florida in the hope of creating a New Jerusalem for Jewish settlers, he served two terms (1845-1851 and 1855-1861) and helped write Floridas Constitution.

7. Actress and comedian Maya Rudolph was born in Gainesville, Florida. Her father is the composer and producer, Richard Rudolph.

8. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who currently serves as the U.S. Representative for Floridas 23rd congressional district, was the first Jewish congresswoman elected from Florida. Together with Senator Arlen Specter and the Jewish Museum of Florida, she was the driving force behind the resolution that President Bush signed in 2006 declaring May Jewish American Heritage Month. 9. Palm Beach County in South East Florida, boasts the oldest median Jewish age in the country at 70.

See the article here:
Of Yidstock, Sarah Silverman and 16 Other Things About Jewish Florida

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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