With sifrei Torah, crockpots, and puddle-jumpers, they pave the way for your Orlando stay
Photos: Dovid Chait, Personal archives
The men who run Orlando Torah Academy have made it their mission to service the frum population — both the year-round residents and the snowbirds from New York. Together, the OTA staff founded Kosher Orlando, a frum “concierge service,” to ensure vacationers have minyanim, seforim, kosher utensils, matzah, Shabbos-friendly games for the kids, and even learning programs. And if your yarmulke flies off while riding Space Mountain at Orlando’s Disney World, these rabbis have got you covered
When we came here, Orlando was a rather remote destination for Pesach. The first few families who visited struggled to put together a minyan in the different areas. As more families started coming, we began helping them out.
One year, Mr. Ira Zlotowitz, a prominent businessman from Lakewood and a dear friend and supporter of the school, came to Orlando. We told him about our financial struggles, and he pointed out that we had a major source of revenue available — namely, frum tourists — that we weren’t tapping into enough. We needed to go all in.
Our initial inventory consisted of some basics people would need in their rental homes: urns, crockpots, hot plates. We borrowed an extra sefer Torah, bought a safe to house it, set up a website, and Kosher Orlando was born.
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