Rechovot | Imamother

amother

Tue, Nov 27 2012, 5:21 pm

We are looking at potential places to live when we make aliya pG. Most the places that we are considering we have friends or friends of friends who live there and can get lots of information from. We don't know anyone in Rechovot, but like what we hear and what we have read on the NBN page!! We will of course come out to visit at some point but in the meantime I wanted to know if anyone here lives there are can share more information about it...

type of people and what sort of employment, daily living, shuls, schools, housing, etc etc

Thanks so much.

amother

Tue, Nov 27 2012, 6:06 pm

amother wrote:

What kind of frum are you? Chareidi/ yeshivish or MO?

Type of people: There are all types in Rechovot. It is much less polarized than other places in Israel. The chareidi community is growing rapidly, with lots of young couples and families, but there are not so many young English speakers. Most frum English speakers are older. Rechovot will suit you if you are interested in integrating into Israeli life.

Employment: There is a science park in Rechovot, and lots of high tech jobs. What are you looking for?

Shuls: There are hundreds of shuls for all types. There are two main English speaking communities - Chatam (chareidi/yeshivish but not exclusively, there are also MO) and Bermans (MO/DL). There is a community centered around one of the kolelim. There are near to round the clock minyanim at Pai Shul - and people of all stripes daven there.

Schools: For girls - BY is excellent, caring teachers, warm atmosphere but large classes. All kinds go there. There is also a chassidish girls school (Kretchnev), Ohr Lezion (mostly BTs, mostly Sephardi), Noam (chardal).
Boys - 2 Sephardi chadarim, 1 Ashkenazi, 1 Ashkenazi-more American (run by Rav Stein from Chatam), Chinuch Atzmai talmud torah, Noam.

There is frequent transportation to Bnei Brak and buses to Yerushalayim early morning and afternoon/evening from the frum area. Buses to all over from the Tachana Merkazit. Inside Rechovot, the city center is walkable from the frum area.

There are stores for everything a frum family needs, though many go into Bnai Brak or Yerushalayim for clothes.

Anything else?

amother

Tue, Nov 27 2012, 8:45 pm

We are also considering rechovot and have researched it extensively. I am not comfortable revealing my SN or email here, but if you are willing to post an email or screen name I would be happy to get in touch with you. If you are yeshivish, you should check out Chatam's webiste www.chatam.org. If you are MO, you should check out Berman's webiste: bermanshul.org.
The amother above me is someone who has been very very helpful to me personally and all her info is 100% accurate!

amother

Tue, Nov 27 2012, 9:29 pm

My BIL's family made aliya some time ago and live in Rechovot, very happy there. As other posters said, very cohesive, Rav Kook who's the chief rabbi is very well respected, yet he's still very approachable. (BIL learns gemara at his shul).

It's a good size city but not too big, all amenities including a nice mall and lots of shops along Hertzl. A good assortment of supermarket so you can manage without a car. Rather international because of Weizman Institute, you do see science area professors or grad students on exchange programmes. Weizman campus is really beautiful, nice gym/swimming pool as well. Weizman and science park means lots of hightech and biotech jobs. The city also has large russian and ethiopian population. There's supposed to be one of the top girls ulpana just outside the city. My nephews all went to yeshiva in the same premise as Bermans.

Very good transportation link, sherut and bus to Tel Aviv (more often) and J'lem. I think it's about 45min to J'lem but depends on the traffic. My nephew lives in J'lem but comes home most shabbat. The only drawback I can think of is, it's probably not that cheap and summer is hot and hummid.

amother

Tue, Nov 27 2012, 11:07 pm

amother wrote:

Shuls: There are hundreds of shuls for all types. There are two main English speaking communities - Chatam (chareidi/yeshivish but not exclusively, there are also MO) and Bermans (MO/DL). There is a community centered around one of the kolelim. There are near to round the clock minyanim at Pai Shul - and people of all stripes daven there.

The Berman shul has an extremely active Anglo kehillah, with shiurim, kids' activities, etc. Lots of newly-arived Anglos in last few years.

amother wrote:

Schools: For girls - BY is excellent, caring teachers, warm atmosphere but large classes. All kinds go there. There is also a chassidish girls school (Kretchnev), Ohr Lezion (mostly BTs, mostly Sephardi), Noam (chardal).
Boys - 2 Sephardi chadarim, 1 Ashkenazi, 1 Ashkenazi-more American (run by Rav Stein from Chatam), Chinuch Atzmai talmud torah, Noam.

Also a state religious school (Tachkemoni), and a Chabad school for boys. I'd characterize Noam as torani rather than "chardal."

Rehovot is on the train line to Tel Aviv (and all up the coast) so it's convenient for commuting.

amother

Wed, Nov 28 2012, 2:27 am

I'm the first amother who responded. I'll make my posts in blue from now on since everyone seems to be amother Wink

.

About the weather: Rechovot is mild in the winter, and in the summer it is between Yerushalayim and Gush Dan (BB, TA etc.). It is not as pleasant as Yerushalayim, but much less humid and hot than Gush Dan.

Chareidi education post-elementary: for boys there are three yeshivos ketanos, though some learn outside Rechovot. Maor Hatalmud yeshiva gedola and a smaller one, Chochmas V'daas - but almost all the bachurim go away. For girls: BY high school goes up to 12th grade, then the girls all study OOT, mostly in Yerushalayim and BB - they travel every day.

There are several kolelim.

amother

Wed, Nov 28 2012, 3:14 am

If you are MO/DL you may find this info helpful:

- For children beyond primary school, there is an AMIT middle- and high school (separate schools for boys/girls, a very well-regarded Pelech girls' school in nearby Kiryat Ekron, Ulpana Tzvia.

Other information both good & bad:

- One downside of Rehovot is the local government. The iriyah is terrible.

- Rehovot has grown a lot in recent years, driven by the real estate boom. Lots of citrus orchards have been cleared and apartment complexes have sprung up at the outskirts of town.

- There is a shopping mall (I seldom go there) and lots of mom & pop stores along the main street, and a produce shuk.

- Recently the municipality has spruced up some of the local parks, but they are still somewhat lacking and the town in general seems to lack any organized planning (see earlier comment about corrupt iriyah).

amother

Wed, Nov 28 2012, 7:19 am

You are right, there aren't DL/Chedi/chiloni "zones", but still, Rehovot is not tiny. Berman and Ohel Shai are right near each other, but Chatam is a bit more South. I assume you want to live near your shul (remember, it'll be ~90F and sunny when you walk home from shul on Shabbat about half the year!). There is overlap between the neighborhoods that are conveniently located for these 3 shuls, but there are also neighborhoods which will be close to Berman/Ohel Shai, for example, but out of the way for Chatam, and vice versa.

And these are just the shuls with a large Anglo contingency. There are probably at least 100 other shuls in Rehovot. Rehovot is a town of about 110,000 people.

If you want to be near one of these shuls, you will want to be on the East side of Herzl. Berman/Ohel Shai are South of the Weizmann Institute, right near Yeshivat HaDarom; Chatam is further to the South on Shkolnik Street. I suggest getting your bearings using an on-line map. Mark off potential shuls and schools and check them out.

I am sure if you call/email the shuls you are checking out, someone should get back to you with help. I know at Berman's they have an active hospitality committee that helps newcomers and potentilal olim by matching them up with those with kids of similar ages, etc.

Are you planning on making a pilot trip?

amother

Wed, Nov 28 2012, 7:56 am

amother wrote:

Thanks for the ideas!
We live in Israel already and are looking for a place to buy. We've been thinking of ideas in the merkaz but not BB Rama gan.. so it sounds really good.

amother

Wed, Nov 28 2012, 9:08 am

OK, look at the map here

This is very roughly the dati/chareidi area.

You can see Hertzl St (412) running from top to bottom. The dati/chareidi area is mostly to the right. Although there is a sizeable Teimani community in Shaaraim with many dati and chareidi families. The main chareidi streets are Ezra and streets off it - Miriam Mizrahi, Haroeh, Nordau etc. But being Rechovt almost nowhere is exclusively anything, there are plenty of secular in these streets too - you really need to check out individual buildings.
Imrei Chaim (at the very top of the map, towards the right) is Vishnitz. The end of Hagana further from Ezra is Kretchnev. There are more and more chareidim and datiim moving in on Besht, Madar, Sireni, Shkolnik etc which used to be secular. If you continue up the map, Madar is now called Menucha v'Nachala and Herzog and there are more DL in this area (near Bermans shul). Kiryat David, Hafetz Haim, Gush Etzion etc (right hand side) are more DL. Haegoz is the new Kretchnev area. Shkolnik, where Chatam shul is, is just off the map, next to Imrei Chaim.

amother

Wed, Nov 28 2012, 11:35 pm

amother wrote:

You neglected to mention that there are significant numbers of dati Anglo families who live in the area of the Weizmann Inst (from eizmann St north to HaNasi HaRishon, and also north of Menucha VNachala on HaShomrim, etc, Paldi, etc. There aren't many haredim in this area; it's a mix of secular/DL.

There is a new housing development being built at the end of HaNasi HaRishon, between Berman's shul and the bypass road.

Basically, anywhere within walking distance of their shul of choice!

Note that this info pertains to Anglo-containing shuls. There are tons of other shuls scattered throughout Rehovot!

amother

Thu, Nov 29 2012, 1:08 am

amother wrote:

This. There are dati families throughout Rehovot. The information you are getting is mostly about where Anglo datiim daven and live. There are dozens and dozens of synagogues all throughout Rehovot. Almost all neighborhoods have dati families. The possible exceptions are some of the newer housing development on the outskirts of town (Rehovot HaHadasha, for example) where I don't think there are shuls within comfortable walking distance.

Hadedi datiim in particular are clustered along some of the streets that were mentioned above, and there are areas in the southern neighborhoods with a higher Yemenite population, for example. But DL famlies, for example, are found in almost all neighborhoods.