Living in a rural area, how do I follow the 613 laws?

[White Israelite]

I live in a rural part of Florida, most people seem to think Florida is all beaches and tourists and that there are a lot of Jewish people there. This is true in Southern Florida but Florida is a very big state. I live in the Northwestern part of the state in a county that is literally part of both Florida and Alabama.



There is no Jewish community here, no kosher restaurants, no selection of kosher food at the supermarket other than kosher salt and a few ingredients.

Moving is not an option, and just to give you an idea of the average neighborhood around here





yes it's literally this rural, my parents live by the beach but theres maybe 1000 people in this area.

Any ideas?

[muman613]

Shalom WI & Shana Tova!

My recommendation to you is to locate the nearest Chabad center and ask the Rabbi for what Kosher facilities are available to you.

http://lubavitch.com/centers/state.html?rid=1&cid=840&id=12

Here is a list of the cities which have Chabad centers in FL:

    *  Chabad-Lubavitch of Aventura (3)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Boca Raton (6)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Bonita Springs (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Boynton (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Boynton Beach (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Bradenton (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Cape Coral (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Coconut Creek (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Cooper City (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Coral Gables (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Coral Springs (5)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Cutler Bay (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Davie (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Deerfield Beach (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Delray Beach (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Doral (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Fort Lauderdale (5)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Fort Myers (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Ft. Lauderdale (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Gainesville (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Golden Beach (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Greenacres (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Hallandale (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Hillsboro (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Hollywood (5)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Jacksonville (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Jupiter (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Key Biscayne (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Key West (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Lake Mary (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Lake Worth (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Lantana (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Lauderdale By The Sea (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Lauderhill (4)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Maitland (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Margate (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Miami (7)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Miami Beach (17)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Miami Lakes (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Naples (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of North Bay Village (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of North Miami (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of North Miami Beach (6)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of North Palm Beach (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Ocala (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Orlando (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Ormond Beach (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Oviedo (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Palm Beach Gardens (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Palm City (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Palm Harbor (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Palmetto Bay (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Parkland (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Pembroke Pines (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Plantation (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Pompano Beach (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Ponte Vedra Beach (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Punta Gorda (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Sarasota (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Satellite Beach (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of St. Augustine (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of St. Petersburg (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of sunny isles (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Sunny Isles Beach (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Sunrise (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Surfside (3)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Tallahassee (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Tamarac (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Tampa (3)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Trinity (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Valrico (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Venice (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Wellington (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Wesley Chapel (1)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of West Palm Beach (2)
    * Chabad-Lubavitch of Weston (1)

For most preprocessed foods you can look in your supermarket for the Kosher Hechsher... Most products in stores today have the very popular OU hechsher.

It is best to try to do the mitzvot as best you can. As you do more of Hashems will you will want to do more. Kashrut is difficult for me also because here in northern CA we don't have many kosher places. I must drive almost 40 minutes in order to get Kosher meats.s But for most foods {as I said} the OU label is on most foods I buy in the supermarket.

http://www.ou.org

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

You'd be surprised how many products at the grocery store have kosher symbols on them.   Do you have any major stores near you, like Shoprite, walmart, etc?

There are a ton of products that are actually kosher certified.  Look for the OU symbol (a "U" with a circle, or O, around it), the chaf K - K inside a Hebrew letter chaf, K with circle around it, K with star around it, etc.

[muman613]

I found a site which has a chart of many of the Kosher hechshers:

http://www.jewishcooking.org/kosher-symbols.html

This is the OU symbol:

http://www.ou.org

The Circle K :

The Kof-K :

Miscellaneous Hechsers:

[White Israelite]

The only grocery store near me is Publix

[MassuhDGoodName]

Re:  "Living in a rural area, how do I follow the 613 laws? "

Some of them you get an automatic pass on, because they only apply when the Third Temple comes into being in Jerusalem.

Attempting to observe the rest of the laws presents the dilemma which has followed every Jew since the Exile.

Without a land to call home, the Jew must forever wander.

But to wander away from a Jewish community in Exile, even to escape from persecution or in search of better opportunities, presents tremendous difficulties in keeping the Law, for with each passing generation a little more of Jewish life and Judaism is lost and forgotten.

This same pattern has been repeating itself for two thousand years in every nation in which the Jews have set up communities.

The only sensible answer I can provide to you regarding this problem is as follows:

Now that you are made aware of how removed you are from traditional Jewish life, begin your road back by selecting just one mitzvah which you feel you can best keep within the life and area where you now live.

Then perhaps move on from there to adding another to your observances, and then another.

Better to observe one of the commandments consistently and with meaning than to become vexed at the difficulties presented by all of them at once.

And join the club!

You're in good company!

Most American Jews in major metropolitan areas are oblivious to the realities of being a third generation American Jew born and raised in an area where there is only one Jewish family, with the nearest conservative or reform synagogue being a day's drive away by car.

I personally know of several situations exactly like this.

Even in moderately sized American cities most of the Jewish communities living there today, even the "Orthodox", are to some degree assimilated and are disappearing.

It all makes a good case for an "ideologically based aliyah" to a Jewish State governed with Kahanist principles.

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

BTW, if they have fresh produce, fruits and vegetables, I'm sure you can get those at whatever store that is that you mentioned.

Do they also have packaged foods there?