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The Jewish Home | JULY 21, 2022
Tampa's new school
Welcome to the New Tampa Avi Waldman
By Avi WAldmAn
N
ew York has a lot of amenities for the frum family: Minyanim are every 15 minutes, kosher food delivery to your dining room table is a touch away, and there are an overwhelming amount of kosher products. What would motivate eight young, dynamic kollel families to leave it all behind to go to…Tampa? There are many reasons that have led to an unprecedented surge of Jews to South Florida such as tuition vouchers, low taxes, and a more conservative government. But why Tampa? The city of Tampa was founded in 1887, but in the last five years has seen an unprecedented population growth like South Florida. With a population of 3.1 million, it is the second largest city in Florida – second only to the city of Miami, that boasts 4 million people. It is an economic hub, with the Tampa port being one of the busiest in North America. It has also found itself as a destination for corporate headquarters, with over 20 located in Tampa. Tampa has also attracted many startups as well. According to a recent Tampa
Bay Times article, it is one of the biggest entrepreneur destinations outside of Silicon Valley with three recent tech unicorn startups in Tampa valued at over 3 billion. In fact, the Jewish federation of Tampa has partnered with the State of Israel to form an organization called FIBA (Florida Israel Business Accelerator) which is designed to establish and grow successful, high-growth Israeli tech ventures in the Tampa Bay area. One of their success stories is Stemrad, which is an Israeli-American company that designed a radiation-proof vest that was used on Space X. The vest in space featured an American flag, an Israeli flag, and the local Tampa Bay lightning sports team logo. Overall, Tampa is an excellent place to find a job. According to the real estate website Motovo, it is the number one place for employment in the state of Florida. South Florida is known for its beautiful “winters” and sunshine that allows children to enjoy the outdoors the entire year. Tampa is no different. Tam-
pa enjoys having one of the top beaches in the entire country. Located just off the Gulf of Mexico, nearby Clearwater and St Petersburg have picturesque white sandy beaches that attract nearly 6.5 million overnight visitors yearly. Tampa itself is a beautiful city filled with greenery and lakes at every turn. There are many parks and hiking trails for adults and children to enjoy. Tampa is also home to the world-famous amusement park Busch Gardens, and it’s also between an hour-and-a-half to a 2-hour drive to the theme parks in Orlando. Although Tampa is a beautiful city with a plethora of economic amenities, Tampa hasn’t seen an influx of Jews moving to town. There are many businessmen from New York, some from the Five Towns, that have either nursing homes, real estate, insurance, or other types of businesses in Tampa, but in general, Tampa has never really seen growth as a community. The chassidish community 40 minutes south is still in its early years of growth and growing its infrastructure.
