Caretakers agencies and organizations introduction

Throughout Jewish history, the kehillah was charged with taking care of their own as well as others in need. The decades following WWII were a time for Jewish vision and building community. The decimation of Jewish communities throughout Europe created a new energy within the American Jewish community to preserve their heritage and traditions and to ensure Jewish continuity. In 1947, the Central Florida Jewish Community Council was formed. (In 1978, its name was changed to the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando.) Its mission to sustain and grow a vibrant community here and connect Orlando to the national and international Jewish world continues to this day. From the beginning, the Council was a partner in helping establish a safe haven for Jews in the newly declared State of Israel.

With planning and fundraising, the Council (Federation) created other agencies to meet specific communal needs. Kinneret, a HUD senior housing complex, opened in 1968, becoming the first agency. Others followed: the Jewish Community Center in 1973 (now Roth Family JCC), Hebrew Day School in 1976 (now Jewish Academy of Orlando), Jewish Family Services in 1978, Tampa-Orlando- Pinellas Jewish Community Foundation (TOP) in 1980, Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center (HMREC) in 1983, JCC South in 1994 (now Jack and Lee Rosen JCC), Hillel at UCF in 2000 and Jewish Pavilion in 2001.

In addition, local chapters of national organizations have been founded in Central Florida over the past 100 years.