Jewish Young Professionals celebrate together

By Cayla Schreier, JYP Coordinator

October came and went quite quickly. Jewish Young Professionals Naples members were excited to celebrate the High Holy Days locally and across the country with their friends and family. Unfortunately, Hurricane Milton derailed some of our plans, but one of our members, Ruth, was able to host a great Pre-Yom Kippur Fast Shabbat Meal on Friday, Oct. 10. Those who were able to attend enjoyed a nice challah, salad course, salmon dinner and delicious dessert. All attendees were able to charge up before the Yom Kippur fast.

Additionally, some of our JYP members helped me celebrate my 25th birthday, which took place on Friday, Oct. 25. Thank you all for the warm welcome into this fun position of JYP Naples coordinator. Members also helped celebrate two of our other members' birthdays, Mak and Ben, on Saturday, Oct. 26 at a sports bar to support our members’ alma mater college football teams.

Some JYP Naples members will attend Jewish Federation of Greater Naples’ Third Annual Matzah Ball on Saturday, Dec. 7. We are excited to mix and mingle with the local Jewish community. Seven JYP Naples members will go on a 4-day/3-night Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas along with Moishe House Dec. 6-10. We are excited to meet new young Jewish professionals from across the United States on this cruise.

JYP Naples will launch its first-ever mentorship program with the help of Jewish Federation of Greater Naples. JYP Naples members have submitted forms to become mentees and be paired up with potential mentors at our kickoff event on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 6:30 p.m. at the Federation.

Details about upcoming events will be distributed via email and the Facebook group chat. Please reach out to Reneé (rbialek@jewishnaples.org) if you are a 20 to 40 year-old professional and you would like to be added to this group. We also have a Google form for members to fill out to receive members’ feedback and ideas on what type of JYP events they would like to see in the future. I look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Jewish Young Professionals of Naples wishes everyone a happy Hanukkah and a happy New Year. Best wishes for 2025!