Baltimore Maryland??

Mitzvahmom

Tue, Mar 18 2008, 5:38 pm

Can anyone give me information....

Someone sent me an interesting email, and if it is what it says it was...

Seems I might be looking at baltimore as an option.

chinuch, cholov avail? etc....thanks

pink car

Tue, Mar 18 2008, 5:40 pm

can't help you but hatzlocho!!! Smile

cookielady

Tue, Mar 18 2008, 5:43 pm

send me a pm MM

Atali

Tue, Mar 18 2008, 6:20 pm

Mitzvahmom wrote:

you can PM me too

amother

Tue, Mar 18 2008, 9:13 pm

Two girls schools, two boys schools, plus a mixed, MO school. At least two chabad shuls. No prob with CY - Star K of Balt holds by CY. You can get tons of stuff here.

Tons of shuls, nice JCC, lots of outreach, very nice community, lots of chessed here.

Anon to protect the privacy of my location

DefyGravity

Wed, Mar 19 2008, 9:59 am

You can even get cholov yisrael products at the regular supermarket (they have a huge assortment of cheese, yogurts, etc).

chocolate moose

Wed, Mar 19 2008, 10:24 am

It's not very Chabad. You don't have a big choice of Lub schools.

DefyGravity

Wed, Mar 19 2008, 10:30 am

There are two Chabad shuls, one caters to the Lubavitch community and the other is a mix of Lubavitch and whatever frum Jews live nearby. I wouldn't say that the Lubavitch community isn't very big, it's a fairly decent size.

Nicole

Wed, Mar 19 2008, 1:27 pm

I don't know much, but I've heard wonderful things. I'm on a campaign to get dh to move us there in a little while- unless we decide to go to Israel...

amother

Wed, Mar 19 2008, 3:58 pm

I sure hope it's easy to find cholov yisroel here, as we keep it Smile

It really is easy. Seven Mile Market (the main supermarket) has plenty of cholov yisroel options, as do some of the "regular" supermarkets like Shoppers.

As for schools, what type of schools are you looking for? I don't know much about the boys' schools here (I know about them, but not enough to give good info on what they're like right now. I grew up here, but don't have younger siblings or sons...). As for the girls' schools, I'm assuming you would send your daughters to either the local Bais Yaakov or Bnos Yisroel. I love both of them (not sure where I'll be sending my daughters, IY"H). Bais Yaakov has been around for a LONG time, and it has a big mix of girls. The hanhalah is yeshivish, and many very shtark, yeshivish families send there. At the same time, I went there - and growing up, I was most definitely not yeshivish. I loved it there, mostly because of how people like me were able to grow in ways we couldn't have otherwise, and people of all types learned how to be more accepting of other yidden. I'd say the majority of the girls there are "out of town yeshivish" (but I wouldn't take offense if anyone else would disagree with my assessment).

Then there's Bnos Yisroel. Right now, I believe it only goes up to 8th grade. The vast, vast majority of the girls there (if not all of them?) are from out of town yeshivish homes. Much less diverse (which can be good or bad, depending on your attitude).

A third option is Rambam. The hanhalah and teachers are mix of MO and oot yeshivish (and everything in between); most of the students there are MO. They stress Zionism, etc. I know that they used have some co-ed classes...I think up until 8th grade, but maybe only for secular studies? If you're interested in this and want to know more, don't go by me - they may have changed in the meantime.

I love Baltimore. It's a lot of different "types" living together. That doesn't mean there's no machlokes - far from it! But it means a lot of people who at least try to work together to get things done, who are accepting of each other, who can relate to people outside of their daled amos, and who try to help their kids see that all Jews are Jews. (There are obviously exceptions to this rule, but I think that it's something that a lot of Baltimorons hold dear.)

There are plenty of shuls - take your pick! Some are more uniform in who they attract, some less.

I don't know much about the Lubavich life here, though - sorry. I had a friend in school who was Lubav, but I never asked about her communal life here...and it's likely changed a lot. It's a great community, though. If you're not stuck on the "convenience" of living in New York (everything within walking distance, public transportation, etc), it's definitely a frum community to consider.

amother

Fri, Mar 28 2008, 2:02 pm

Is it possible to live in Baltimore and commute to DC?

DH is actually going to DC for an interview.

So I've got q's as we're lub.

where do lubavs send their kids to school?
is there a bor algabei bor mikvah walking distance or do you have to shlep to columbia?
are there any events/programming for lubav kids (farbrengens, rallies) around chassidishe yomim tovim?
who do you ask shailahs too? taharas hamishpacha but also kashrus etc? do you use non local rabbonim for some things?
where do kids go to mesivta/high school? Pittsburgh?
How much interaction is there with the diffrerent groups in the community? a lot? what's the achdus like?
is it suburban or pretty urban?
Are schools very expensive?

We're in CH now.

TIA

DefyGravity

Fri, Mar 28 2008, 2:10 pm

People do commute to DC, but it's a tough commute. Yes, there's a Lubavitch mikvah within walking distance, it's on Old Pimlico and Smith and it's located at the Lubavitch shul. There might be another mikvah at the other Lubavitch shul, but I don't know about it.

If you're very serious about moving to Baltimore, you should probably speak to the shluchim here, they'd be able to answer more of your questions.

I know that Rabbi Kaplan's shul runs events like farbregens and stuff on lag b'omer etc., however, I think that rallies are more of a Crown Heights thing.

I'm not sure who the Lubavitchers in the community ask shailas to, I assume they ask Rabbi Kaplan of the Rabbi of the other shul.

I think there's a Lubavitch mesivta here in Baltimore, there's some kind of lubavitch boy's school, but I'm not sure if it's high school or what.

Baltimore is suburban.

chocolate moose

Fri, Mar 28 2008, 2:40 pm

I grew up not too far away, and IIRC, the bor al gabay bor mikvah is in the old sectio of Baltimore.

The Columbia mikvah is NOT a Lub one and if you want to PM me, I 'll tell you what Rov Marlow OH said about that mikvah for ppl who had to trvel to use it.

My father AH said that in the days of the bad (snowy) weather, he had a hard time making it to work (DC) but the baltimore crowd didnt as the public transportaion is so good !

DefyGravity

Fri, Mar 28 2008, 2:48 pm

CM, there's a fairly new Lub. mikvah in Baltimore, it's at Rabbi Kaplan's shul. There have been tons of changes in Baltimore in the past few decades, I think that most of your info is outdated.

chocolate moose

Fri, Mar 28 2008, 2:57 pm

oh, I knwo there's a new mikvah. I just remember the old one, that's all.

btMOMtoFFBs

Fri, Mar 28 2008, 4:33 pm

If you want to commute to DC from here, is probably an hour ride on public transportation. There is a group that learns on one or two of the trains.

There is a Lubav. community and mikvah closer to DC in Potomac, MD, but there isn't a Lubav school there. A VERY pricey area to live, however.

amother

Fri, Mar 28 2008, 5:08 pm

My dd is graduating Bais Yaakov. Afew Lub girls left over high school years to go to lub schools. But other girls left to other schools too. 2 are graduating & going to Lub seminaries in E"Y. There is a new cheder that I think opened this year. But my boys at TA also have Lub boys in the class. I don't think it has been a prob, we are not Lub but our minhagim aren't always the same as school & the kids know that. They have all types of backgrounds in the schools here & mix fine. Actually one year we got the cutest/interesting Haggadah from dd class. Teacher went over parts & asked all the girls what their families do (also sent questionaire to parents) Amazingly diverse we Jews are, it was so nice.Also Rambam is going to be totaly seperate starting this coming year 1st - 12th. Mid & high boys are moving to a diff building.

amother

Sat, Mar 29 2008, 10:47 pm

btMOMtoFFBs wrote:

I don't see anybody listed in Potomic MD in the Tzach list besides the shaliach.

613

Mon, Mar 31 2008, 11:26 am

R' Kaplan is the rav of the newer shul- where the chabad beautiful mikvah is.

R' Lisbon is the rav of the older chabad shul. Not sure if there's a mikvah there.

I know R' Lisbon sent his daughters to Bais Yaakov (Bnos Yisroel wasn't in existence yet) through all of HS.

And yup, there's tons of Cholov Yisrael available. All the restaraunts are CY, except for one which is partially CY.

amother

Mon, Mar 31 2008, 2:42 pm

Thanks, 613!

Any concrete differences between Beis Yaakov and Bnos Yisroel?

if anything happens here I'll be pming you Baltimore people (although if anything happens DH is saying he isn't too keen on the thought of living in Baltimore and commuting so I might have different issues to worry about!)

If we moved Baltimore sounds like the more obvious choice than the DC area though. Not to mention I thought that the Jewish area near DC was more expensive and I took a casual glance at one of the schools and shock

when I saw the tuition. Here I think full tuition is at least 40% cheaper. Baltimore schools sound more like what we're used to, although I could be wrong. We'd need schools closest hashkafically to Lubavitch as is possible.

Of course this might be all moot but it's fun to speculate!