Stumped (and scared)

amother

Thu, Feb 08 2024, 1:39 pm

We currently live in Manhattan where there are antisemitic demonstrations very frequently. We didn’t love it here before but this has made the situation so much worse.

Options:
Stay put and hope it gets better.

Move to Brooklyn? More to do for the kids, commute would stink, safer in terms of antisemitism?

Make aliyah? Something I never thought I’d consider, but… I am so intimidated by the prospect, but things feel really bleak here and why uproot to Brooklyn if it will eventually become unsafe too? I’m realizing more and more that the only people who will protect us are us.

Please help. What factors would you consider? Have you done either move (Manhattan to Brooklyn or Manhattan to EY)? This is keeping me up at night.

amother

Gold

Thu, Feb 08 2024, 2:45 pm

My husband and daughters went in to Manhattan on Sunday to have a fun day. They were eating lunch at Patis in the window area, and 1000 people marched by in a pro-Palestinian demonstration. My husband was wearing a kippah and the protestors were banging on the glass. My family was not comfortable, to say the least.

I would say that Brooklyn would be less of an adjustment than Israel. You could keep your jobs, for example. And the language would be the same. If you can buy a house with a yard on a block with other young families then your kids would presumably have a better quality of life than they do now.

You could also move to Teaneck, New Rochelle, Woodmere, West Hempstead, Great Neck and many other lovely neighborhoods that are not Brooklyn. Especially with remote working, there is a great lifestyle to be had living outside of Manhattan.

theoneandonly

Thu, Feb 08 2024, 3:04 pm

Why are the only move options Brooklyn or Israel? Lots of other places you can move to if neither of those are ideal in your situation.

amother

Thu, Feb 08 2024, 3:49 pm

Re: why not someplace else? I don’t want to live anywhere but a big city, and Brooklyn or Manhattan are really the only reasonable options for my job. Israel would be a new job/new ballgame.

Brooklyn would be way easier (not easy, but easier). I’m just scared at the rate things are going that it’s not going to be safe anywhere but Israel — so why uproot my family twice?

There’s no way we’ll be able to afford a house. We are lifelong apartment-renters, I think.

zaq

Thu, Feb 08 2024, 5:31 pm

IDK why people think Brooklyn is "safe."

This, from https://thedispatch.com/articl.....itic/ New Yorkers reported 419 hate crimes to the NYPD in 2019. Of those, 242 incidents, or nearly 58 percent, were antisemitic in nature. And among those 242 reported crimes, 121—exactly half—were Brooklyn-based.

From https://abc7ny.com/nyc-hate-cr.....9152/ Williamsburg is a family neighborhood and next week the children, many of them from the Hasidic community, will be headed back to school. That left some parents terrified.

Residents say they are afraid just to even walk out on the street, fearing they will be a target because they are Jewish.

Twice last Sunday, Jewish men were targeted on the streets with a fire extinguisher, one of them was assaulted after being sprayed.

A Jewish man was also assaulted in a separate incident

Doesn't sound like a haven of safety to me.

amother

Lightpink

Thu, Feb 08 2024, 11:17 pm

There is no good answer. Brooklyn can be arranged much faster than Israel, but no where is safe. Only Hashem will choose who is safe. Its like elections, pick your best of the worst. I will take 2019 please? Post mashiach please?

Can you move and start preparing for aliya simultaneously?

amother

Copper

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 4:26 am

Op we aren’t safe anywhere. We have a president who is in cognitive decline who feels Israel’s reaction was “over the top.” He’s been waaaay to friendly to the terrorist side lately.
We aren’t safe anywhere - our fate is in Hashem’s hands. But at least if you move to Brooklyn or Israel you won’t see hateful demonstrations weekly.

amother

Aster

Fri, Feb 09 2024, 4:56 am

I recently moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn since I needed more space and can't afford a 3 bedroom in Manhattan. I find that the antisemitism is worse in Brooklyn. BH I haven't experienced it personally but I heard enough stories. On the other hand, my car could be parked on a Brooklyn street without getting vandalized in protests. In Manhattan, during the BLM riots, my car got smashed up.