Florida’s Hidden Gems: Chabad of Dania Beach

When Rabbi Eli Eckstein first began knocking on doors in Dania Beach, he found a small Jewish population hidden beneath the surface—many with little connection to Yiddishkeit. With patience, warmth, and a willingness to see the neshama within every Jew, strangers became friends, skeptics became supporters, and forgotten sparks came back to life.

This week’s IllumiNations shares remarkable stories from Rabbi Eli and Mushka Eckstein’s shlichus: tefillin rescued after volunteers searched through hundreds of bags of airport garbage, an angry homeowner who now puts on tefillin daily, and the tefillin of a departed community member helping two Jews perform the mitzvah for the first time—with an extraordinary impact on one struggling young man.

Read Part I of “Florida’s Hidden Gems” and discover what can happen when a shliach refuses to overlook even one Jew.