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Another sign of the changing face of West Kendall was
reflected by the recent announcement that the long-time Jewish
congregation of Temple Samuel or Olom has sold its property in the
Hammocks area to a Latin religious group and would seek a new temple
location to the East.
The Jewish synagogue, a 25-year fixture in the Western
Hammocks at 9353 SW 152 Avenue, was bought for $3 million by the
predominantly Hispanic congregation of Templo El Rey Jesus, a
fundamentalist Christian group headed up by Pastor Guilliermo
Maldonado.
"We needed to re-locate farther East because of
community demographics," explained Donald Horton, executive
director of Temple Samuel or Olom. "The center of the Jewish
population of Kendall is moving farther toward the East and we're
moving with it.
"People of the Jewish faith are not so much
moving out of the West Kendall area," he continued. "They're
just not moving in. Many of the people who would attend our temple are
tending to locate East of where we are and we're moving to fit the
demographic shift. It's not an anti-anybody, it's kind of a positive
thing actually."
Horton said his 400-family congregation, headed by
Rabbi Nathan Rose, did not yet have a location for its new synagogue,
nor did it have a site-specific where a one would be built.
"We haven't decided where we'll move yet, but we're looking East
of 117 Avenue, somewhere between 117 and 87 Avenue, between Kendall
Drive and 112 or 120 Street," he said.
That quadrant already is home to several Jewish groups
and in fact Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish congregation, recently
re-located from a site near Miami-Dade Community College's West Dade
campus to a new facility in the area at 87 Avenue and Killian Drive.
The deal between the Temple Samuel or Olom and Templo
El Rey Jesus reportedly took two-and-a-half years to put together.
"There were all kinds of things to work
out," said Nationwide Realtor Donald Charnin, who brokered the
sale. "They have a temporary sharing arrangement, so it was very
complex, bringing one congregation in on top of the other."
Charnin said that according to the terms of the sale
the Jewish congregation will now lease space in its old synagogue
under an agreement with Templo El Rey Jesus and has five years to
re-locate, plus two additional years if necessary.
Horton said he expected that the Temple Samuel or Olom
congregation would re-locate within five years or less.
"We would like to do it sooner, of course,"
he said, "because it would be in everybody's best interests to do
so. But, they've been very accommodating about the fact that it can
take some time to shift locations, what with finding land and building
and all that goes into that."
Meantime, Pastor Maldonado has already begun holding
services in his new facility and his congregation reportedly is
delighted with the new church/temple.
"The pastor had one heck of a turnout for his
first service in the new church," said Realtor Charnin.
"Both of his services on the first Sunday were sell-outs."
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