Cincinnati- City and Kollel

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Forum -> Inquiries & Offers -> Moving/ Relocating

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amother

Thu, May 26 2011, 1:53 pm

We were just told that the Cinci Kollel has 3 openings.

We are both from OOT cities and have been looking to move to a warm OOT city and kollel for a while. Yeshivish, tho chilled- not uptight. (like us)

can anyone tell me anything about the kollel and about the city as well? I looked on the kollel website but there wasnt to much info...

Also does anyone know if there are kiruv requirements in the kollel and what they are (giving speeches, learning one on one, having guests for shabbos etc...)?

TIA!!

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, May 26 2011, 2:27 pm

You can PM me, but I know they've been looking and have been having a hard time finding the right fit Smile

I'm happy there are people now looking into them...

The community is SO warm and giving. Take a look at cincinnatishuls.com and look at their discussion group and you'll see how much chesed is being done (just today I read about someone going to the airport to drop off food for a stranded passenger, bikur cholim arranging shabbos meals, etc)

It's perfect if you're used to being in an OOT community. It's big enough that you won't be lacking any necessity, small enough that you will find friends everywhere. The community is all located closely to each other; not spread out like other OOT communities.
You can walk to any shul you'd like, the kollel is across the street from the kollel apartments, the day school is right behind....you can easily survive with just 1 car.

The people in the kollel are usually Ner Yisroel type -- not too yeshivish to be out of touch with "regular plain frum", not too modern either: the community respects them as serious learners. They're not getting many Ner Yisroel people right now joining the kollel, so don't worry if you're not from that yeshiva. But that's how it started out and usually fills in spots. But not everyone there came from Ner...

You do have to interact with baalei-batim in terms of learning, giving shiurim I think is dependent on the individual avreich, no official kiruv requirements in terms of hosting...but they do like to have a mix of ppl I think so that they won't have a kollel full of introverts or a kollel full of go-getters. Most do give shiurim, some more than others...but I don't know of an official policy for this.

amother

Tue, May 31 2011, 3:18 am

What is the situation in cincinnati now? I heard there are a lot of openings in the kollel again. My husband may be considering it. Is it a growing community? Whats the school like? What type of people are there- MO,BT, FFB,etc. How far of a drive is it from NY? Are the kollel apartments nice? Any info is helpful. Thanks!

amother

Tue, May 31 2011, 3:22 am

Poster #1 are you joining the kollel? Do you know anyone else who is?

YaelB

Tue, May 31 2011, 3:48 am

Do any of you know if the kollel would consider taking a couple that is very serious about learning, ba'alei teshuvot from out of time (in fact, Ohio) that is RWMO (like, no black hat), great at hosting and giving shiurim and very friendly?

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, May 31 2011, 10:51 am

amother wrote:

1. I believe there are 3 openings.
2. The community is definitely growing. Many of the people who joined the kollel in the past 15 years or so have stayed and there is also a program to encourage people to move there and learn part time work/go to college part time (torah l'netzach).
3. The school is a community school. That means there is no official "hashkafah" in terms of (let's say) Zionism vs not. They are happy to take everyone Jewish. The kodesh teachers are mainly RW I'd say. The school is bursting at its seams. As it grows larger, it was able to separate more boys vs girls, but it's still mixed to a certain point (I don't know at what point it is now; by 6th it's separate for sure, not sure about 4th). http://chds.shul.net/ The principal is a former member of the kollel (one of the founding ones IIRC) and a great, personable guy (longest record actually for serving as principal there -- he's that well liked Smile

) There are vouchers available from the state to a certain extent which helps a lot. There is also a frum girls high school across the street.
4. The community is a huge mix. There are MO, BT, FFBs. Everyone you can imagine. You can find a friend anywhere you turn. Everyone lives close by to one another, so it's easy to get acquainted. There are 2 main shuls, and a third one is forming. One of the shuls is a brand new building ( http://www.czecincinnati.org/ ) and the rav is actually also one of the Roshei Kollel. Very family friendly in all the shuls, with places to play for the kids, etc so you can feel comfortable coming.
5. From NY it's about 10 hours. 8 to Baltimore and Toronto. 5 to Chicago. 4 to Cleveland. It's actually a very decent location!
6. The kollel apartments are spacious in that they joined 2 apartments into 1 (there are 2 apartments per building instead of 4) so you have a couple bathrooms, 3 bedrooms and a side room for a study or whatever, decent kitchen, living room, dining room. Right by the kollel, school, etc. They're not brand new and shiny, but they're not dilapidated. They're normal, decent apartments. Smile

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, May 31 2011, 10:53 am

YaelB wrote:

What does out of time mean?

It can't hurt to call; I'm not sure what chevra they're looking for.
Does no black hat mean not even for davening, or it means not during the week to go shopping, etc ? (It means different things to different people Smile

) I'm not sure they'd take the former; they'd for sure be interested in the latter.
You can also look at Torah L'netzach as an option that might work well (half time learning, half time working/going to college) as frequently those people who enjoy giving shiurim do so through out the community.

amother

Tue, May 31 2011, 11:15 am

Wow! Thanks for all the info! How long have you been living there?

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, May 31 2011, 11:21 am

I don't live there Very Happy

(Feel free to PM me if you'd like me to give you names of those who do Wink

)

amother

Tue, May 31 2011, 11:38 am

Thanks, I have already have some numbers for people who are there. Just curios how you know so much about the place if you don't live there?

gold21

Tue, May 31 2011, 11:44 am

she probably has close friends or close family there, and has visited.

amother

Tue, May 31 2011, 12:26 pm

A few Q's as well:
1. Can anyone who lives there confirm about what grades are coed?
2. How separate are say the 7th and 8th grades girls and boys?
3. What is the girls high school like? RITSS? Is it a Bais Yakov? Is it well run?
4. I heard RITSS is very small..if the day school is bursting where do most of the girls go for high school if not to RITSS?

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, May 31 2011, 12:43 pm

amother wrote:

I'll bli neder find out about 1 and 2.

3. It's different than a mainstream Bais Yaakov. The girls wear uniforms and such, but questioning is not discouraged. You will find some girls who listen to secular music, but it's not the majority, and it's not accepted. There are no forms to sign away internet or anything like that, but for the most part, the girls are pretty normal girls you'd find in any bais yaakov. As it's a small school, it's easier to run without hefkerus. To give you an idea of the girls, this year's graduating class got accepted into seminaries like Machon Raya, Mesores Rochel (? don't quote me on that), Bnos Chava, Bnos Sarah, Darchei Bina, Pninim, Michlala...a nice range like any run of the mill BY.

4. The community is growing, meaning the younger grades are bursting. There is only one class per grade at this point in the day school, but at 25 kids, it's too small to split, but to big to grow much more in one class....so let's say half of those are boys. And the older grades have 15 kids instead of 20. You're left with about 7 girls per grade, times 4 grades for the high school, and it's only about 30 girls. As the years advance and families stay, you'll be raising the amount of kids in the high school.

Last edited by Hashem_Yaazor on Tue, May 31 2011, 9:09 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Tue, May 31 2011, 1:16 pm

Whats the differences between all the shuls? Do they all get along? Are there politics?
Hows the kosher food shopping?
I'm assuming there is a lady's mikvah...

amother

Tue, May 31 2011, 1:19 pm

http://www.cincinnatishuls.com/

has info about shopping, shuls (not politics tho), mikvos, schools etc

amother

Tue, May 31 2011, 1:21 pm

www.cincinnatimikveh.org.

amother

Tue, May 31 2011, 1:32 pm

How big would you say the black hat part of the community is? Say how many kids in the first grade (a young class) have a father who wears a black hat? Not trying to stir anything up here just to get a feel for the crowd Smile

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, May 31 2011, 1:40 pm

amother wrote:

Whats the differences between all the shuls? Do they all get along? Are there politics?
Hows the kosher food shopping?
I'm assuming there is a lady's mikvah...

Right now there is a little bit of politics because of the new shul starting up (breakaway basically from the other main shul that I didn't link to), but the community as a whole all gets along -- many people are members of one, two, or even 3...it's funny like that. Small community so everyone is friends, even if people want things run a bit differently. And the breakaway shul is a mix of ppl to -- they didn't all leave for the same reason. I don't want to get into it, but you don't have to be involved in it either. The shul I linked to (CZE) does not seem to have much politics from what I hear. I think the politics will die down after the new shul is established, but it's really fresh (think 2 months old) so it's at the forefront of people's minds. But it's a rare thing, not a usual occurence.

Kosher food shopping isn't hard -- in a couple big groceries is a whole section for kosher food; the meat goes on sale and is comparable to some other locations. You can also get frozen in bulk at Sam's or whatever. Nothing too much of a shlep, but you can't walk to go shopping; you do need a car. You can get basically whatever you want there, maybe not fancy items, but almost everything. There are also a lot of small home businesses to sell candy platters, dips, etc. You can get CY milk on WIC now if that matters...

The lady's (and men's!) mikvah is brand new and supposedly gorgeous. But they've had a mikvah for years and years and years. It's not a new community at all.

Really, this is a full fledged community with everything a frum person needs. It's not NY, but you won't be stranded. (OK, they don't have chassuna gowns, etc but still daily life is completely doable.)

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, May 31 2011, 1:41 pm

amother wrote:

My guess would be at over 50%, but I'll try to get a class list and do the math Smile

amother

Tue, May 31 2011, 2:34 pm

Anyone know what tuition is and if the Kolell members get a break?

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