As Florida braces for Hurricane Milton, this rabbi is defying an evacuation order so he can help

(JTA) — By order of the government of Fort Myers, Florida, Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz should have left his home and joined the mass of cars crawling out of the state’s southwest in advance of Hurricane Milton, which is due to make landfall Wednesday afternoon.

Instead, Myers is staying put and planning to host Yom Kippur services on Friday night and Saturday. He is also offering his home, which doubles as a synagogue, as a shelter from the storm — estimated to be the most powerful to strike the region in recent history.

“Chabad is in Zone A, which is actually a mandatory evacuation,” Minkowicz told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Tuesday. “So if I was an individual, I probably would leave.”

He went on, “But since I’m a rabbi, and we have a synagogue, and we have people that need help, so there’s no way I can leave. So we’re going to stay here and help people, and God will help us.”

By remaining in place, Minkowicz was the exception to the rule — but he was far from the only local Jewish leader trying to negotiate the demands of Judaism’s holiest day with the danger posed by the oncoming storm, which is poised to do massive damage to the Tampa Bay area, including the cities of Tampa, Fort Myers, Sarasota and St. Petersburg. Many other Jewish institutions called off ceremonies to commemorate the first anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel so residents could evacuate in time, and scrapped or rejiggered services planned for Yom Kippur.

“Due to the circumstances surrounding Hurricane Milton, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our Yom Kippur services,” read a message posted on Facebook on Tuesday by Eitz Chaim Congregation Sarasota. Below the announcement, a Yom Kippur graphic was overlaid with a red notice reading, “Services canceled due to Hurricane Milton.”

“The safety of our community is our top priority during this time,” the synagogue said. “We encourage everyone to take necessary precautions and stay informed about the storm’s developments. Our prayers and attention are with all those affected by this powerful hurricane.”

The region is home to an estimated 50,000 Jews, according to the Jewish Press of Tampa, and is home to dozens of synagogues and Jewish institutions.

Congregation Beth Am of Tampa posted late on Tuesday that it still aimed to hold Yom Kippur services but had put in place multiple contingency plans.

“Our hope is to be able to gather in person, as usual. And, if it’s at all possible, that’s what we’ll do,” Rabbi Jason Rosenberg wrote on Facebook. “If it’s not possible to be in our building, our hope will be to conduct services fully online. While this is never ideal, our experience since the Covid pandemic began has shown us that we can create a meaningful sacred time this way.”

Rosenberg added that if Beth Am cannot hold services online, its members were invited to join a congregation in Charlotte, North Carolina, for its online services. He warned that it might not be possible to send email updates in the wake of the storm.

Many other rabbis and their congregants in Milton’s path did evacuate over the past days, as warnings about Milton’s potentially unprecedented danger mounted. Some plan to broadcast or join Yom Kippur services from wherever they are; others are headed to local synagogues as guests for the holiday.

Countless synagogues outside of the storm’s path offered shelter — and a seat in services — to evacuees looking for a new place to pray on Yom Kippur. Congregation Shaarei Kodesh in Boca Raton, in southeast Florida, was one of several congregations to advertise free seats on Yom Kippur for Jews fleeing the hurricane.

“The High Holy Days are a time for reflection, renewal, and coming together as a people,” the synagogue posted on Facebook, above a map of the hurricane’s path. “In this moment, we are called to build a Sukkat Shalom — a shelter of peace — for one another. Whether it’s through offering a place to pray, a seat at the table, or simply the comfort of community, we strengthen our bonds and provide safety and support in the face of the storm, we are here for you.”

The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, always overlaps with the Jewish High Holiday season, meaning that disruptions because of major storms have always been a possibility in the region. But climate change has lengthened and strengthened the season and caused hurricanes to grow more quickly and unpredictably — leading to more frequent and destructive storms.

Fort Myers still trying to recover

Fort Myers was battered by Hurricane Helene just two weeks ago, and the storm caused even more destruction inland in western North Carolina, where flooding has crippled the city of Asheville. A synagogue there, Congregation Beth Israel, announced on Monday that it would hold Yom Kippur services now that power had been restored to the building — but not on Kol Nidre because of a curfew that remains in place, and in an abbreviated fashion because there is still no running water in the building.

Portable toilets donated by Jewish Federations of North America, the synagogue wrote, “will enable more of you to feel comfortable coming to services on Yom Kippur and subsequent Shabbats until water is restored.”

In the days following Hurricane Helene, Jewish public officials have faced harassment and been the subject of antisemitic conspiracy theories that blamed them for the hurricane or for delays in the rollout of aid. Those theories were surging again on social media in advance of Milton — along with jokes noting that the hurricane’s name is often associated with old Jewish men.

There is nothing funny about the situation for those preparing for Milton’s arrival.

“It’s not unlikely that there’s going to be areas that are going to be submerged,” said Joseph Dahan, a cofounder of Hatzalah South Florida, a Jewish-led emergency services organization. “We hope that the high-water vehicles will be able to help in that situation. And then, if necessary, there may be a need to get into boats as well, depending on where that goes.”

Expecting shortages of power and fuel, the group has been mobilizing its equipment and, Dahan said, preparing for the possibility of rescuing people. It is sending crews to areas predicted to be hit by Hurricane Milton, including a team of 15 on two ambulances headed to Orlando, which is not under an evacuation order.

Rabbi Mendy Dubrowski of Chabad of South Tampa posted on Facebook that he was accepting requests for post-storm wellness checks and that he was in contact with emergency service providers staging outside the city. He said in a comment that his own family had left the area but remained nearby after a commenter wrote, “This time you should evacuate. South Tampa is not the place to be.”

For Minkowicz, staying at home during a hurricane is turning into something of a High Holiday tradition.

In 2022, he and other area religious Jews were not aware of an evacuation order ahead of Hurricane Ian because it was broadcast during Rosh Hashanah, when traditionally observant Jews do not use electronics or communications devices. By the time they learned about the evacuation notice, it was too late to leave the area before the hurricane hit. About half of the 149 deaths attributed to Hurricane Ian took place in Lee County.

In the wake of that hurricane, Minkowicz served a barbecue dinner to people who were facing blackouts and said at the time that he hoped to deliver hundreds of Shabbat dinners to local residents.

“Now it’s a matter of helping people get back on their feet, helping them fix up the houses, getting them food, getting them what to drink, getting them supplies,” Minkowicz said in 2022. “That’s our next big job.”

Now, over the past several days, his Chabad of Southwest Florida has been collecting propane, filling sandbags and organizing donations from people in other parts of Florida and beyond. He said that while much of Fort Myers was recently devastated by Hurricane Helene just two weeks ago, the Chabad house managed to withstand the previous storm. He is expecting about 30 to 40 people to shelter there who are unable to evacuate or need to be close to home.

“If you open the shul and the synagogue, so it gives them an opportunity to feel more safe, and they have someone to ride it out with and they can be with their whole family and be with spiritual support,” Minkowicz said.