Please tell me about Kiriyat Sefer

amother

Sat, Mar 07 2015, 8:22 pm

Shavua tov, I think Israeli imamothers may be asleep by now but DH and I have been thinking of making Aliya B'EH in the next year or so. We have young children, oldst is 6year old girl. He has some relatives mostly in Jerusalem but not immediate family.

DH has heard from a guy he learns with about Kiriyat Sefer. I can't find much about the town (or is it city) but hoping someone here can educate me a bit. I'm interested to see if it's really all chassidscher like Bnei Barak or accepting to yeshivish couples, if it's popular for young families, support for English speakers. Dh hopes to learn in Jerusalem but is it commuting distance? Do you need a car (or are women not allowed to drive?) and more importantly is it safe? DH's friend said it is much more affordable than Jerusalem which is still our first choice, but how much should we budget for a house or an apartment with decent size garden? Are schools teach in Yiddish or in Hebrew? How does it compared to Lakewood?

BetsyTacy

Sat, Mar 07 2015, 8:29 pm

It is an interesting question How do you find out a lot about a place (or an organization) on the internet when the entity in question is anti-internet? Obviously some people do have internet. I can't tell you much. The few people I know there are yeshivish, not chassidish, send to Hebrew, not Yiddish speaking schools. For sure one has internet in the home for his business. I remember when it was being built it billed itself as the new chareidi city, which pretty much sums it up.

amother

Sat, Mar 07 2015, 10:32 pm

I have good friends there and spent a lot of time there. It's a chareidi city, there are a decent number of English speakers (and some sort of social organization for English-speaking women) but it's very Israeli and very litvish feeling overall. Schools I'm aware of are all Hebrew-speaking and cookie-cutter, my friend had to send one of her sons every day to Yerushalayim because there weren't enough school options for boys who weren't good learners.

The lifestyle is very, very simple Israeli-style kollel type.

You asked how it compares to Lakewood - well in my opinion they're very different. In Lakewood you interact with different types of people on a daily basis, in Kiryat Sefer you're in a self-contained gated city with a lot of people similar to you and you can live a very insular life if that's what you want. It has pluses and minuses.

Cars are not necessary. Some families have them, some don't. There are good buses.

If you aren't familiar with the Israeli kollel lifestyle and mentality Kiryat Sefer would be a big culture shock. I love it there because it's very temimusdik but I wouldn't want to raise my family there. I like more diversity and chilled-ness.

mebs

Sun, Mar 08 2015, 1:46 am

Kiryat Sefer itself is a litvish city. Brachfeld is a neighborhood in KS that is much more chassidische.

It has a large english-speaking community of young-ish couples (most people I know are in their early 30s or older). The english speakers are supposed to be a very warm, friendly group of people. Most of the men are learning (at least half-days) and most of the women are working.

It feels very suburban. It is mainly residential housing, with basic shopping (groceries etc) and shuls/schools. If you want anything more extensive, you need to go somewhere else. Also think about jobs - where would you or your husband work?

It's 45 min from yerushalayim, and about 30min (more with traffic) from tel aviv. Most people do not have cars and there is a good bus system. BUT - the buses mainly go to yerushalayim or bnei brak. Modi'in, which is right next door, is a good-size dati/chiloni city, but without a car it is very hard to get there.

What else do you want to know?

amother

Sun, Mar 08 2015, 1:57 am

OK posters above gave you all the right answers. It's yeshivish, brachfeld is chassidish. There are some English speakers but I don't know of a system built for them. Matityahu is right next door and there are plenty English speakers there so you can always find English speaking friends there.
I don't know about houses with gardes but we just checked out an apartment there - 2 bedrooms (3 rooms with living room) and it was 1,100,000-1,200,000 (nis, not dollars:)). The prices are going up all the time becuase there's a lot of demand (that's what we are being told by people living there).
The buildings are more or less all the same. The shops are basic but you ahve everything you need right there. The buses are great.
For most israelis traveling to Yerushalim every day for kollel sounds quite hard but I guess in American terms it isn't too bad. Traffic in those hours can be pretty bad though.
My kids are youger so I don't know much about schools but overall it's the cookiecutter type of a community so you would need to fit in.

Good luck !

PS. according to the people we spoke to (but this could apply only to their nerighbourgood) it's very very warm and friednly. most couples don't have their parents around fr support so they go to each other for everything. They babysit for each other, cook meals after birth- very warm and suportive.

abound

Sun, Mar 08 2015, 8:40 am

Just make sure you realize that Yeshivish American (ie. Lakewood) is VERY different than Yeshivish ISraeli/Kiryat Sefer.
So far the answers are on par.
If you are interested find out who takes care of the American Nshe in Kiryat Sefer call them and you can get some information.

shalhevet

Sun, Mar 08 2015, 4:28 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

DrMom, Kiryat Sfer IS Modiin Ilit Wink

No, KS is one of the areas in Modiin Ilit (it was the first, so in the beginning the two were identical). There is also Brachfeld and another 2-3 neighbourhoods, newer I think.

I think most of what people have told you already is true - it is very Litvish, with a good % of Anglos, but not Anglos fresh off the boat, more Anglo families who are Litvish. Commuting to Yerushalayim for kolel is not normal in Israeli terms (does your dh have a kolel lined up, because it is hard to get into one in Yerushalayim?). If he is set on Yerushalayim there are probably cheaper and nearer options (e.g. Givat Zeev, Neve Yaakov, and slightly outside Yerushalayim like Telz Stone). There are lots of yeshivas, schools, etc. so you can find everything you need. Also a couple of shopping centers, a community center or two, lots going on.

Many women cannot find work, especially if you are in a "traditional" chareidi field like teacher, ganenet, etc. This is a problem with all "self-contained" chareidi towns, since the supply in these fields far exceeds the demand, and also pushes prices down even if you do find work. Mixed towns usually offer far more in work opportunities.

amother

Sun, Mar 08 2015, 4:37 pm

Hi, it's me OP. Thank you very much for information. They're super helpful and I like how you described Kiriyat Sefer. We are solidly yeshivish, and as I said DH has relatives here so we are familiar with Israeli culture and the difference between Israeli and American kollel. We like simpler, less materialistic lifestyle than America so that's one reason we are considering Kiriyat Sefer. I'm ok with cookie cutter schools, so long as you are not looked down on for being American. For girls are there any decent chol studies or do you get tutors? It's also encouraging that there are anglo olim. Just a couple of things I'm nervous after reading the posts. Is having an internet really looked down on or not accepted? We of course have a kosher filter, DH has a freelance computer-related jobs so that's why we have computer at the house but not let children see it. Would we have problems with schools if you use internet? What kind of job opportunities are there for women? Can I teach English as a private tutor or does school have position for an English teacher? I prefer something I can do at home or locally, especially since DH is quite determined to commute to Jerusalem to learn. The housing sounds really expensive, I wasn't expecting place outside of Jerusalem can be that expensive. How does a learning couple expect to buy with that kind of price tag?

amother

Sun, Mar 08 2015, 6:38 pm

Most schools in KS will not accept the children of anyone who admits to having a computer.
Also, working men are looked down upon as sug bet and many schools will not accept their children. In my experience, most of the chutznikim are lumped into one school there-- beis hachinuch.
I know of many many men who commute to Yerushalayim to learn. Of course this leaves the wives with no childcare options in the afternoon when she works till 3 or 4 and the girls and kids in gan get out of school by 1 or 1:30 and DH isn't home between sedarim to feed the kids and watch them like the local avrechim.
There are at least two big corporations in Modiin Ilit that employ charedi women. Hours are 8-3 Monday through Friday. They do not give off for chol hamoed.
Brachfeld has a very large litvish community as well as chassidish.