As Hurricane Milton Looms, These Rabbis Are Staying Put

Over the past week, Rabbi Fishel Zaklos has been stocking up on food and drinks, as well as connecting with the many members of his Naples Jewish community in northern Florida. Technically, this is what he does every year in preparation for Yom Kippur at Chabad-Lubavitch of Naples, the Jewish center he runs together with his wife, Ettie. But this year is anything but typical.

Zaklos and his community are preparing for Hurricane Milton, which is barrelling across the Gulf of Mexico ahead of its expected landfall on the coast of Florida on Wednesday evening. As of early Wednesday afternoon, the hurricane was still a Category 4 with wind speeds of 145 mph. Though it is expected to weaken slightly before it slams the coastline, experts believe it will be too late to spare the region catastrophic devastation. Storm surges are expected to reach over 9 feet in certain areas, and government officials and agencies have ordered residents to evacuate from many towns and cities throughout Florida’s north.

A chaplain with the local police department, Rabbi Zaklos has been coordinating teams of volunteers to collect information on all the people staying so that they can be accounted for once the storm passes. They’ve been going house by house to put up storm shutters and hand out sandbags to protect against flooding. His team have already distributed food, water and emergency supplies, and have generators and more aid ready to go as soon as it’s needed.

Zaklos and many of his fellow Chabad emissaries serve as de facto first-responders for their vulnerable communities. With Milton heading towards them, they have been doing everything in their power to evacuate people, get them to higher ground and prepare for the worst—while praying for the best.

People whose houses were impacted shelter at Chabad.

Storm After Storm

About an hour north of Naples, Rabbi Simon and Sheina Jacobson serve as Chabad emissaries in the Charlotte County town of Punta Gorda. They have seen a lot since they arrived to lead the Jewish community in 2004. They were in the eye of Hurricane Ian, a massive category 5 hurricane that devastated the region a day after Rosh Hashanah of 2022, forcing them to evacuate hours after the festival was over.

Ian ravaged their majority-elderly community, which only recently finished repairing the damage before being slammed by Hurricane Helene days before Rosh Hashanah this year.

Hurricane Helene tore through Punta Gorda and caused most of the town to flood with over two feet of water and incurred significant damage. Both the Chabad center and the Jacobson’s home were badly flooded, and a fire in the house caused by lithium batteries that had gotten wet only complicated things more for the resilient Chabad emissaries. It’s estimated that it will cost more than $200,000 to repair what’s already been damaged.

“Thank G‑d, we were able to tear out the rotting carpet and clear out a quarter of the Chabad House to host services,” Rabbi Jacobson told Chabad.org. “It was dusty and very different to what we’re used to, but it was very meaningful, as over 80 people came together as a community to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the time of renewal and new beginnings.”

For weeks they hopped between Airbnbs as they continued to assist their devastated community. Houses in Punta Gorda are battered and broken; the contents that tell the story of those that live there lay dumped on the side of the street, waiting to be picked up by a garbage disposal service.

Now, with Hurricane Milton looming, the Jacobsons remain active on the ground. They’ve helped people move to safer areas and built a growing database with information on all those staying, liaising with local authorities and first responders to ensure everyone is accounted for and in the safest environment possible before the storm.

Thankfully, most of their beleaguered community have left ahead of Yom Kippur, a significant number have stayed, either due to evacuation fatigue or the sheer inability to get out.

The Jacobsons themselves have set up shop in the neighboring town of Babcock Ranch, which is on higher and safer ground, and where their son and daughter-in-law, Rabbi Mendel and Malky Jacobson recently established a new Chabad center. Outside of the immediate flood zone, the Jacobsons continue their efforts for their flock. Depending on conditions, they hope to be back in Punta Gorda before Yom Kippur, leading their community during this time when it’s needed most.

The Torah scroll is taken to safety.

‘We’re a Family’

The Zaklos family had been in Naples for less than a year when Hurricane Wilma devastated the area in 2005 and left them without power for three weeks. In the 21 years since their arrival, they’ve dealt with their fair share of hurricanes and natural disasters, but the tone and tenor surrounding the impending Hurricane Milton is something they’ve never seen before.

Aside from his work as a chaplain, Rabbi Zaklos’s main goal at the moment is comforting his community, working to ensure each member is safe.

He’s received dozens of texts from friends, neighbors and Jewish community members detailing their fear and anxiety as the storm approaches. In one particularly heart-rending message, an elderly Jewish woman who has been unable to evacuate tells the rabbi she doesn’t know how to swim, and is terrified of drowning with her beloved pets.

The rabbi has been responding by working with his growing emergency aid network to urgently move her and others to safer areas. He has fielded calls and made countless house calls to encourage his anxious community, praying with them and ensuring they have everything they need to ride out the hurricane.

“This is why we’re staying,” said Rabbi Zaklos. “We always say Chabad of Naples is a family, and this is what people do for their family.”

Rabbi Zaklos adds that Yom Kippur at Chabad of Naples will go ahead, regardless of what the next 24 hours hold in store.

“Whether we’re in a rented space or a makeshift tent, Yom Kippur will be as meaningful as it’s always been,” he says. “From the beautiful before- and after-fast meals to the inspiring prayers that are born of all of us being together, a storm can’t knock us down. We are charging full steam ahead, particularly now.”

Rabbi Zaklos and his team have already distributed food, water and emergency supplies to those affected.

Eye of the Storm

One summer many years ago, Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz and his Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida in Fort Myers team had to evacuate with their entire girls’ overnight camp when a hurricane struck. A few years later, a hurricane on Sukkot forced them to evacuate as far as Georgia in the middle of the week-long holiday.

With Hurricane Milton approaching, Rabbi Minkowicz says he must remain in Fort Myers for Yom Kippur.

“Our community has been through a lot in recent years,” he says. “Many of us are only just now recovering from Hurricane Ian two years ago, while others lost their entire homes two weeks ago in Hurricane Helene. We were already reeling, and that was before our area was designated a Zone A mandatory evacuation area, expected to be heavily impacted by Hurricane Milton,” he said.

This, the rabbi says, is precisely when Chabad steps up. His team is assisting those remaining and collecting names to prepare for welfare visits, stocking up on gas, generators, food and emergency supplies to share with others as soon as it is needed. But he sees his chief role primarily as simply being there during this time, comforting and providing spiritual and emotional support for his shaken community.

“We don’t run away and leave our community behind. We have to stay to be there for the people that can’t leave—the elderly, the families, and the first responders—that rely on us to be there for them,” Minkowicz states. “When you flee an emergency situation, you can’t relate to those that are forced to experience it. We need to be here for our community when we’re needed most.”

Although located in the evacuation area, the Chabad of Fort Myers building offers more protection and safety than the average home, and dozens are moving in and sheltering there for at least 24 hours as the hurricane hits, and possibly longer. With Yom Kippur only days away, Rabbi Minkowicz says that these difficult times only strengthen the community’s deep bonds.

“On Yom Kippur, we connect with G‑d and each other on a deeper and higher level,” he says. “So that’s what we are doing here. We are here to help people, and in that merit we pray that G‑d will help all of us.”