Start the new month with a new SWFL Jewish Pioneers film

We are concluding our more-than-a-month-long Florida Jewish history month festivities with a picture that’s worth a thousand words (even if I only get max of 600 in this column!) During the Hanukkah Mercato celebration on Dec. 21, our versatile volunteer leader, Shellie Specter, pitched in to help the adjacent table, JNF, no less, and befriended Josh. They had to strike a pose to show off their Hanukkah wear — sweater, socks, earrings. That’s the way to do it!

We thank our volunteers — Bob Davidson, who took the lovely photo, Leslie Lilien and a recent newcomer, Elena Novik, for helping out at this and other events this season.

We sometimes get too serious and miss out on the funny nuances of life. A case in point is our Sunday, Feb. 5 event at Chabad of Naples. Few people recall that it is located in a former church and even fewer that it is the very first Jewish house of worship located within the city of Naples boundaries.

Mitch Spaiser’s story is covered in mystery. Although no records survived, Mitch was, most likely, the very first Jewish student at Edison College (now Southwestern) Naples campus. The Spaiser family discovered and experienced Naples in the 1960s and 1970s during the presynagogues and pre-Jewish Federation era. It was a challenging time for the few Jewish people here, especially those used to larger, long-established Jewish communities, like New York, where the Spaisers were from. Naples then generally favored Midwesterners and did not welcome those from the East Coast of USA, its Jewish representatives, particularly. Many residential and social restrictive rules, practices and ordinary inconveniences were put in place and enforced. Lucky for Mitch, he had little or no idea about that, so he stayed in Naples to attend college and, since there were no other options, Edison College was it.

There were very few students and faculty then. Jewish residents who were not afraid to acknowledge their tribe openly were also few. It was, in a way, an era of Naples’ innocence. But a part of that innocence was ignorance and intolerance, as we have heard from other eyewitnesses, both Jewish and non-Jewish. The Spaiser family, though never settling in Naples full time, remained its devoted snowbirds and ultimately influenced generations of local Jews through their startup contribution to find Chabad Naples its permanent home.

Shellie Specter and JNF representative, Josh, show their Hanukkah wear.

Photo by Robert Davidson

Early Jewish experiences of families like that are at the core of our work. I thought of the many who lived here in the darkness as “hidden yidden” the night Chabad Naples’ Rabbi Fishel lit the Hanukkah at Cambier Park. We live in the light because people like Mitch Spaiser and his family slowly and steadily became an integral part of the Southwest Florida community, becoming our very own SWFL Jewish Pioneers without ever knowing that was their role.

Please help us honor the Spaiser family at Chabad of Naples on Sunday, Feb. 6 at 11 a.m. when we will premiere film No. 18, and help us make more educational documentary films about our local Jewish heroes and continue other work of our mission. Your gracious support is very much appreciated.

You may now purchase Jewish Historical Society of SWFL memberships online or mail us a check. Family membership is $54; individual membership is $36; student membership is $18; and corporate sponsorship is $300. If mailing a check, please send to The Jewish Historical Society of Southwest Florida, 8805 Tamiami Trail North, Suite #255, Naples, FL 34108.

We can be reached at 833-547-7935 (833-JHS-SWFL), www.jhsswf.org or office@jhsswf.org. The Virtual Museum of SWFL Jewish History is located online at http://jewishhistorysouthwestflorida.org/.

The Jewish Historical Society of Southwest Florida is a section 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Contributions are deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.