anyone live in caeserea

amother

Tue, Nov 25 2014, 8:49 am

op here- wow! Thanks so much for all of the great (and down to earth) advice. Our hebrew is yeshiva hebrew- so maybe if we lived in biblical times we would be ok! We do need a place with teens- but not one where popculture has taken over and not one where yeshivish has taken over as we fall in between those two identities.
Freidasima- thanks so much for the extensive response- of those places you listed are any of them "olim friendly?"
I had been focusing on Efrat and Chashmonaim and then I started following some of their facebook and yahoogroups and I started getting nervous with all the banter - so I stopped looking as I know people need a place to vent etc. This next comment will sound like I am in la la land, but would love to be in a place where there is as little politics as possible and everyone is kind and looks out for each other and hearts and flowers- is there such a place in the world????
Thanks again everyone!!!!!

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Nov 25 2014, 9:15 am

amother wrote:

About the politics, I dont think you will find that, but about being warm and flowers and hearts and welcoming for olim, I think efrat and chashmonaim are wonderful.
We live in a different yishuv in the gush. Also, very warm to newcomers. The gush is a wonderful place (I dont know anythign about chashmonaim. The only two families I know there basically have all grown children)

Tablepoetry

Tue, Nov 25 2014, 9:17 am

Sanguine wrote:

If you researched you know a Yishuv is the best choice for you.

Why do you say that?
A yeshuv isn't the right answer for everyone. OP, do you live in a quiet suburb right now, far away from all the action?

A yeshuv is amazing if you have friends there and you're the social type. If you find it hard to find friends, or if any of your kids do....a yeshuv can be a grim bubble.

Are you city people now, or 'country'/suburb people?

Teens in particular often suffer when there's nothing in the vicinity other than the neighbours' houses - no shops, hang-outs, library, mall, cafes, shekel shops, pizza places, no other teens to 'people watch', etc etc. Now you may not want your kids in all of the above, but I'm just stating that IME very often teens prefer city living, especially if they don't have friends on the yeshuv.

Also, in a city you have (usually) a lot more schooling options.

freidasima

Tue, Nov 25 2014, 10:19 am

If you are a city person I vote for a city.
Also, the "olim friendly", what exactly do you need? An area with a lot of olim? An area with a lot of English speakers? Then none of the places I mentioned have what you are looking for. However, if you want to get thrown right into the country so that your kids become Israelis fast then you might do better in a non anglo enclave which will force both you and them to become part of the country fast. Otherwise at least with you and the older kids, there is a chance that you will not feel at home in EY but rather only in your little anglo bubble and in the long run when the kids grow up and move out they might not really feel that comfortable either unless they develop a set of Israeli friends.

etky

Tue, Nov 25 2014, 10:27 am

Davka it is helpful to follow the lists because they give a good picture of the activities and services available on the yishuv and in the area, and of people's day to day concerns. If you were nervous about politics being divisive - I can speak only for Efrat, but the list is really not at all reflective of peoples' personal interactions and conduct. How shall I put it..... there are a small number of people who are very 'vocal', sometimes with extreme opinions, on certain issues. They are a tiny handful (and in real life some are actually pretty nice people too) and in any case IRL you may actually never ever encounter them. In this respect the list can give a skewed impression of what the yishuv is like. Also, bear in mind that the list by no means encompasses everyone on the yishuv. I find it hard to believe that there are people in Efrat who manage to get by w/o the Efrat list but they are actually the majority!
Regarding what Tablepoetry said about city vs. yishuv life - one of the things I like about Efrat is that being a large yishuv, it combines aspects of both city and yishuv life. In fact, it may be too urban for you if you're looking for 'country living'.

Sanguine

Tue, Nov 25 2014, 12:29 pm

OP - do you know people who live on these Yishuvim? These Yishuvim aren't little villages on a hill. I live in Neve Aliza, Ginot Shomron. There are hundreds of families in our Yishuv.

Quote:

Teens in particular often suffer when there's nothing in the vicinity other than the neighbours' houses - no shops, hang-outs, library, mall, cafes, shekel shops, pizza places, no other teens to 'people watch', etc etc.

We have all of those things. We have a mall. We have a swimming pool (winterized too) and a fitness room. The kids on Yishuvim are usually more down to earth (I'll be shot here for generalizing). All the kids go to Bnei Akiva. My kids are never ever at home. There are friends all over an the kids are always running around. But you should check that there are kids the ages of your kids. My older kids had 30 friends their age. My 13 yo was born during a baby draught and she has only 10. But now the numbers popped up again. The kids are never home bored. They're never home.

Quote:

if you want to get thrown right into the country so that your kids become Israelis fast then you might do better in a non anglo enclave which will force both you and them to become part of the country fast. Otherwise at least with you and the older kids, there is a chance that you will not feel at home in EY but rather only in your little anglo bubble and in the long run when the kids grow up and move out they might not really feel that comfortable either

Sorry, I totally disagree. teens who make Aliya need the security of other anglo kids to help them feel comfortable in the new country. In my Yishuv many of the parents are originally anglo but the kids are so so Israeli. (I wish my kids would talk English at the table on Shabbat). When new olim come the anglo kids are so welcoming. Really make them feel at home. But then the newer olim find that the conversations always jump to Hebrew. There's always someone to help them out but they blend into the Israeli crowd. True, my kids were born here but they grew up in Neve Aliza, an "anglo enclave". These kids are so Israeli. My sons go to Yeshiva and are Mifakdim in the army. My kids are learning in Israeli universities. The other day one of them said to me - You realize that we're all going to marry Israelis shock

.

There are people who really like city life. When I was growing up in Brooklyn I had a friend who lived in Manhattan and thought that was great. I thought it was awful. So different strokes for different folks.

freidasima

Tue, Nov 25 2014, 2:06 pm

There is one thing you have to be careful in a non city environment...if you for whatever reason find that you or your children don't fit it, and it happens you are really stuck. In the city there isn't that cohesive feeling that you have to fit into. If you don't so you don't and you find another crowd to hang with. But in a small enclave be it a settlement or a moshav, if for whatever reason you won't fit in or you kids won't you are stuck.

There are kids who just don't like bnai akiva. And they don't go. Even in a small or large settlement. And those kids, you can be sure that after the army they don't come back, they just don't like it. I have many friends who lived or still live in such places and their kids, if they didn't mesh with the bnai akiva crowd, well they were stuck and hung out with the other kids who weren't into bnai akiva and none of those kids would ever consider living in a settlement - they all moved to the city straight after the army.

Also a lot depends on the age of your kids. Teens versus elementary school versus really little kids. They all need different things. Also boys versus girls. On a lot of settlements there is no high school or the high school isn't suitable for your kids and a lot of kids get sent off or to boarding school for yeshiva high school or ulpana. Depends where you will live.

amother

Tue, Nov 25 2014, 2:16 pm

op here- we do know people in those yishuvim, actually what scares me a little about Chashmonaim is that it felt too much like camp- not sure how to explain that better. What I meant about olim friendly is, do they have services for new olim like ulpan and are the schools organized to really help new olim etc.
I grew up in a big city, but we live in suburbia now, but it has everything we need. (shopping/ mall/drycleaners/haircuts/doctors ect.) and I really don't miss the traffic of the city- I like driving on wide open roads.
As far as politics- I meant more of internal than country.. Like complaints about the shul/ mikvah/ Rabbi/school etc. I know one can never completely avoid it...
I do want a place that is not all English speaking because as someone posted before my kids need to become part of the society. I am actually looking into getting tutors now so that we can beef up on real Hebrew.
Someone mentioned Ranaana- do you think this could be another option or am I just pulling at straws here?

chanchy123

Tue, Nov 25 2014, 2:30 pm

amother wrote:

Efrat sounds like a good match. You have all the amenetis of suburbia that you mentiond (no mall yet, but a small on should be built soon about 10 minutes away and Yerushalayim a major city is really near by. It's green, you can have a larg house with a backyard for a price (and if Cesearea is something you can consider - no reason to think Efrat wouldn't work).

amother

Tue, Nov 25 2014, 4:06 pm

Its really not clear what the OP is looking for - all we know is that she has teenagers and needs to be near the airport- which presumably means that either her or her husband will be flying a lot. This means that one parent may not be home much - which makes life harder for the other parent.

Some more details on what the OP is looking for would be helpful. I am sure the OP has been in touch with NBN - but here is my understanding of the areas with high concentrations of Olim that would have a lot of services:

Modi'im
Chasmoni'im
Rannana
Beit Shemesh
Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph
Efrat
Ma'ale Adumim

Sanguine

Tue, Nov 25 2014, 4:46 pm

amother wrote: