Family and tradition are an important part of Jewish life for Jonathan Plutzik and Lesley Goldwasser. The co-owners of The Betsy South Beach—a boutique Miami Beach hotel known for its commitment to philanthropy and promoting the arts—are both Jewish, but their backgrounds couldn’t be more different.
Born and raised in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Goldwasser says Hanukkah was not celebrated in as grand a manner as the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. She remembers lighting the menorah candles, but she did not receive gifts during the eight-day “Festival of Lights.” When she moved to the United States in 1983, her experience shifted.
“I was surprised to learn that Hanukkah was so big in the U.S.,” says Goldwasser. “We were family-oriented, but we always had Christmas envy. Coming from diaspora, where Jews built their lives from scratch, I felt wonderful and welcomed when I moved to New York because holiday celebrations were so different.”
Plutzik—the son of poet Hyam Plutzik, a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize—grew up in Rochester, New York. His family’s observance of Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays were of serious importance, he says, to include generations of relatives gathering together to celebrate.
“Holidays were important in our home,” says Plutzik. “As a child, I remember lighting the candles, exchanging gifts, and enjoying Hanukkah food like potato latkes with sour cream and, of course, brisket. Our family always got together for Hanukkah.”
Today, Plutzik, who retired in 2003 as a vice chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston, is chairman and co-president with his wife of the Plutzik Goldwasser Family Foundation, which supports education, children’s services, literature, and Jewish communal activities. He is also active in charitable engagement via a variety of boards, including Planet World—a Washington, D.C.–based museum dedicated to language arts—and he received a leadership award from the Academy of American Poets for his exemplary service to poetry.
Locally, Plutzik was named the 2016 Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year. In 2017, the mayor gave him the key to the city in recognition of his civic contributions. He currently serves as chairman of the Ocean Drive Association, Miami Beach’s business engine.
Goldwasser is one of four managing partners of GreensLedge investment bank in New York, primarily working remotely from Miami Beach. She met Plutzik during her own tenure at Credit Suisse, where she worked on the floor as a bond trader. He was a banker.
“I was 21 and really liked Jonathan,” Goldwasser recalls. “I called him during a work project, which became the beginning of our dating life. It was a ‘dinner’ dinner. We were married in 1986.” (They have two children, Rachael and Zachary, and a new granddaughter, Francena Luna.)
Although the couple bought South Beach’s Betsy Ross hotel out of bankruptcy in 2004—adding the old Carlton hotel in 2017 to create a second wing—they didn’t move to Miami Beach from the New York area until 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paying homage to his poet father, Plutzik, along with Goldwasser, turned the hotel—now known as The Betsy—into an enchanting, pet-friendly arts and culture hotel. It offers a canine concierge, daily jazz performances, a classical music pop-up experience, major art exhibitions, poetry readings, and an artist residency program that has hosted more than 1,000 writers and creatives.
Both Goldwasser and Plutzik enjoy living in Miami Beach and hosting dinners in their art-filled home, which has a clear view of the hotel from their expansive balcony. “We love having large holiday parties like we used to do in New York,” Plutzik says. “We both feel food is the most elevated expression of love. We like to entertain informally where people feel comfortable and can interact, often responding to environmental needs and Jewish themes. We like people with strong opinions.”
For this year’s Hanukkah dinner, the couple opened their large, open-concept living/dining space overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Ocean Drive to more than a dozen of Miami’s cultural and community leaders. As guests mingled through the chic space (designed by Diamante Pedersoli and Carmelina Santoro) they sipped glasses of Blood Orange Schivitz, the evening’s signature cocktail made with kosher Casa Noble Tequila, lime juice, blood orange juice, and Limoncello. They munched on Michelin-starred chef Laurent Tourondel’s appetizers of challah bread, potato and leek latkes, smoked salmon topped with crème fraîche and Ossetra caviar, and spiced slow-cooker applesauce.
Guests on the balcony were also treated to a classical concert that happened to be taking place in front of The Betsy. “We offer this nightly at the hotel and wanted our guests to indulge in some lovely music before dinner,” says Plutzik.
For their Hanukkah celebration, the couple decorated the dining table with a mixture of family heirlooms and traditional holiday accents, resulting in a feeling of nostalgia that both Plutzik and Goldwasser say is what makes holiday dinners special. Stacked books written by members of Plutzik’s family (including poetry tomes penned by his father) were interspersed with tabletop items like Goldwasser’s spotted fired-clay guinea fowl vases from Zimbabwe filled with roses, hydrangeas, and other blooms.
“I collect these vases and have them as table appointments as well as placed in other areas of our home,” says Goldwasser. “The collection is in various sizes and important to me.”
Before dining, Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner recited the holiday prayer and conducted the lighting of the Hanukkah menorah. He gave blessings, thanking God for the miracles of Hanukkah. (On each of the eight days of Hanukkah, one new candle is lit on the menorah, until all eight candles are illuminated, symbolizing the number of days the ancient temple lantern blazed until new oil could be found.)
The family-style meal was served with kosher Herzog Variations Five Cabernet Sauvignon and Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc. In preparation for the evening, chef Tourondel (the namesake of The Betsy’s LT restaurant) researched the ideal dishes to prepare and serve. He was surprised to learn that some of his selections were similar to dishes he enjoyed as a child, like sufganiyot (beignets).
Tourondel’s bespoke menu included mains of wine-braised beef brisket with turnips and heirloom carrots topped with a horseradish gremolata, crispy lemon pepper chicken, and baked salmon with citrus, whole-grain mustard, and dill. Sides were smashed potatoes with walnut dressing and smoky roasted kale.
“The brisket dish was inspired by my mother’s boeuf bourguignon braised in red wine with carrots and mushrooms,” Tourondel explains. “The potato latkes appetizer reminded me of my grandmother’s millassou, a classic Correzien dish from Brive in southern France. It’s sort of a grated potato cooked in a large pan with parsley and onion.”
Even though Goldwasser makes a “delicious brisket,” according to her husband, everyone was over the moon with Tourondel’s version. After dinner, desserts included Hanukkah favorite sweet noodle kugel cinnamon crumble plus raspberry and green cardamon sufganiyot.
While dining, guests discussed the latest cultural happenings in Miami Beach, how internationally cultured and diverse Miami has become, and the power of the Jewish community. They agreed that Plutzik has put his mark on a great deal of good happening in Miami Beach and around the area.
“Jonathan is a gentleman who understands Miami so clearly,” says guest Howard Herring, president and CEO of New World Symphony, an organization that trains emerging classical musicians. “He is sensitive to where we are going culturally and is a citizen of the world. He is the future of our community.”
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