A new chapter of Torah growth and community development is unfolding in Eden Gardens with the official establishment of the Eden Gardens Kollel and a vibrant celebration marking this milestone.

The newly founded Kollel, led by Rabbi Yisroel Meir Shalom, has brought with it six dedicated families—five Kollel families and the Rosh Kollel’s own—who have settled in Eden Gardens to learn, teach, and strengthen the growing community. These families have arrived from Yerushalayim, Bayswater (Far Rockaway), Flatbush, Lakewood, and Detroit, each bringing their own warmth and commitment to Torah life.

They are: the Bondi, Braun, Levovitz, Tucker, and Winegard families.

Rabbi Shalom, formerly of the Kollel at Yeshivas Bais Yehudah in Detroit, is a gifted young talmid chacham whose leadership and scholarship are already leaving a deep impression. The Kollel learns daily in a brand-new, beautifully refurbished Beis Medrash adjacent to the Eden Gardens Shul, complete with a full seforim library and three daily sedarim. A community Night Seder program offers full- and part-time residents the chance to learn with the Kollel through chavrusa study, shiurim, and special programming.

In addition to his role as leader of the Kollel, Rabbi Shalom will be guiding the community in halachic matters and will oversee the Eden Gardens Mikvah and Eden Gardens Eruv.

The Kollel’s establishment was made possible through the vision and support of Joseph Saka, Eli Steinhardt and family, and Rabbi Gedaliah Zlotowitz alongside a group of passionate Eden Gardens homeowners eager to see the neighborhood flourish as a true Makom Torah.

With the arrival of the Kollel and additional new families, Eden Gardens now boasts close to 20 full-time year-round families and a steady daily minyan, transforming the area into one of Orlando’s most promising centers of Jewish life.

The celebration event drew the entire Eden Gardens community, along with guests from neighboring Orlando communities and beyond. Distinguished rabbanim in attendance included Rabbi Yom Tov Goldberger (Rosh Kollel of the Orlando Community Kollel), Rabbi Menachem Zev Kramer (Rav of the Orlando Torah Center), and Rabbi Yisroel Meir Shalom, who each shared inspiring words about the exponential growth of Torah in the region.

Guests enjoyed a lavish fleishig buffet catered by Eatin’ Gardens—the neighborhood’s own food truck, operated by Shimon Shushan and family—followed by a spirited kumzitz led by Avraham Shmuel Weinschneider and Eliezer Kanner. The Roshei Yeshiva of Orlando Torah Academy—Rabbis Chaim Kazan, Yehuda Schepansky, and Avraham Wachsman—along with Rabbi Naftali Kassorla, Executive Director of the Orlando Community Kollel, also joined in the festivities.
Speakers highlighted how Eden Gardens is “seeding the ground with ruchniyus,” creating a foundation for Torah, family life, and spiritual growth in the heart of Florida.

What began as a dream is now taking root, a real Torah community in the heart of Orlando. With a kosher grocery on premises, and with plans underway for a dedicated 5,000-square-foot shul, men’s and women’s gyms, and a water park currently out for permitting, Eden Gardens continues to evolve as a premier destination for frum family life.

The soon-to-open Eden Gardens Mikvah, which will serve Eden Gardens, Encore, Reunion, Solterra, and the surrounding vacation communities, marks another milestone in this growth. With a strong pipeline of new families preparing to move in, the momentum toward Torah, community, and shared vision continues to build, accelerating the establishment of the Kollel and solidifying Eden Gardens as a thriving Makom Torah in Central Florida.