Kosher food has taken to the road in rural Florida, where observant Jews formerly had to drive several hundred miles to stock up on kosher food in urban communities on the state's east coast.
Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Fishel Zaklos, from Naples, Florida, says that his Kosher on Wheels service has prompted a resurgence of families observing Jewish dietary laws. "This has added a real beauty to the community,” says Rabbi Zaklos, who teaches classes on keeping a kosher home. It brings people together for the sole purpose of celebrating kosher food and their Judaism."
It brings people together for the sole purpose of celebrating kosher food and their Judaism.
The Kosher on Wheels' 28-foot long refrigerated trailer makes a series of bi-weekly stops at 18 Chabad-Lubavtich centers with everything from meat and dairy products to baked and canned goods.
"I’ve only missed it one time since it started coming to Naples," says Adi Indianer of Naples." I’m so thankful for it. To drive all the way to Miami was too much."
Shalom Dadon, a native Israeli who has resided in the east coast town of Ormond Beach for the past 17 years, began the service this spring after consulting with Rabbi Pinchas Ezagui, co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Greater Daytona.
"I jumped from my chair when he came to me with the idea,” said Ezagui. "I told him, 'It’s going to hit! They’re all desperate for kosher products."
Rural observant Jews sometimes used to join together to order air freight shipments of kosher food from New York before Kosher on Wheels hit the road.