Boca Raton FL…Rabbi Efrem Goldberg, the senior rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue (BRS), in a recent article, pleaded with the throngs of vacationers who are expected in his community and in South Florida in general to display patience and good behavior in what has become known as “Yeshiva Week.” Although it extends into early February, Yeshiva Week puts enormous pressure on kosher restaurants and other kosher establishments in South Florida. Wrote Rabbi Goldberg: “For some visitors and local residents, yeshiva week can be challenging and frustrating when waiting on lines, looking for parking or struggling to get a table.” Rabbi Goldberg continued: “We are grateful you have chosen to visit our community and to support our local restaurants. Our restaurants don’t expand based on the pilgrimage of Jews. Our proprietors and their staffs are doing the best they can. Please be patient, understanding and courteous, and please be generous with your tips, since the waiters are doing the best they can during an overwhelming time. Please note and be sensitive to the fact that while you enjoy our many kosher dining options and kosher supermarkets, it is the local residents who support them all year long and enable them to be available to you when you visit.”
Rabbi Goldberg presides over a rapidly-growing congregation of over 850 families and over 1,000 children in Boca Raton. The Yeshiva Week rush will especially be felt in Miami Beach where tens of thousands of vacationers will gather in what has become an annual ritual. In the Bahamas, a new Glatt Kosher restaurant will be opening at the world-famous luxurious Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, according to COLlive.com. The Atlantis is a favorite destination for many families, being an all-inclusive resort, a three-hour flight from New York with water parks and other family-friendly attractions and activities. Throughout the year, Chabad of the Bahamas directors Rabbi Sholom and Sheera Bluming service the Jewish visitors with open arms. An especially busy time is “Yeshiva Week,” when many yeshivas have winter vacation, and a popular time when many families travel to the Bahamas. This year, for the first time, the Atlantis resort has opened a full pop-up Kosher restaurant allowing the guests to have a fresh kosher food option while enjoying winter break. Under the strict supervision of OK Kosher and its Director of Restaurant Services Rabbi Kalman Weinfeld, the pop-up restaurant is offering a variety of fresh kosher meal options for breakfast, lunch and dinner to the delight of guests. “Bringing kosher dining to Atlantis has been on our minds for the last two years,” Bryan O’Shields, Senior Vice President of Food & Beverage at Atlantis, Paradise Island, told COLlive.com. Following the success of the pop-up restaurant, the Atlantis resort announced its plan to open a full-fledged Kosher restaurant in May of 2020 at the resort. O’Shields said the new TLV Restaurant will be a Mediterranean style eatery, serving Israeli cuisine under the direction of chefs who will be coming from Tel Aviv.
