Can you tell me about these neighborhoods or suggest others?

amother

Copper

Wed, Apr 29 2015, 9:40 pm

Looking for an affordable place to live within decent commuting distance from Bar Ilan University. Used NBN website to come up with a few ideas but I really know nothing about any of these places. The places that I'm more familiar with seem to be either too far away or too expensive. Would like a nice welcoming friendly Anglo community, still haven't figured out if we'd be called Chardal or Torani but we're something like that - in US we are in the "Just Plain Frum" category, so looking for real observant but not super chareidi in the Israeli sense of the word. Need high quality school for daughter with mild special needs (currently mainstreamed and receiving services for sensory, social/emotional, and behavior issues, but benefits most from just a supportive teacher/school) who is entering 5-year-old class (gan chova? I have also heard of gan safah and wonder if that would be a good option for her in terms of extra support, especially coming with limited Hebrew. She knows many words but would be instantly lost in conversation) but looking to live there for minimum 2 years (then can decide if it's working or want to keep looking - but 2 years in Bar Ilan first) so need a good school for 1st-2nd grade too. Not anticipating car ownership so good public transportation is important. Bonus points if it is not far from Ramat Beit Shemesh because I have friends and family there, I don't think living there would work for us due to cost and location but would like to visit often using public transportation and likely with multiple kids/babies in tow.

So NBN search plus google maps (looking for names of places near Bar Ilan) has me looking at Rishon Lezion, Petach Tikvah, and Rechovot. If you can tell me about them or suggest other places that might meet my needs, I would greatly appreciate it.

amother

Copper

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 5:52 am

Thanks. Can those who are making suggestions please give as many details as possible? We have very little time for pilot trip so trying to get the best picture possible so we know where to look.

Reiterating please expensive or not-so-cheap is out of the question. We will be barely making ends meet while in university. NBN website has things categorized by $, $$, $$$, etc I did not see ANYTHING when I searched by $ or $$ so I'm looking at the $$$ which seems to be 2-bedroom apartments with average rent in the 3000-3700 range.

Dr Mom can you tell me more about the places you mentioned?