looking for an oot commuity that is not "too oot"

amother

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 11:45 am

DH and I are moving from Israel in July and are looking at communities to settle in America. We are both from OOT communities and love the feel of a warm community. On the other hand we would like the conveniences of a bigger community, such as frum places to go, eat out and shop and we would like to not have to send our children away to yeshiva.
we need something warm and inviting. Neither of us are very outgoing in terms of having to go out and meet people. (we have to get over that). Anyway we are looking for something yeshivish. I will probably be working and DH working and learning.
Right now its the two of us and we are expecting our first child IY'H in Jan.

Any ideas????

mom23

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 12:13 pm

Cleveland
Baltimore
Chicago
LA
Miami

amother

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 12:53 pm

Detroit!

amother

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 1:23 pm

passaic
phoenix has a growing yeshivish community with a kolel etc., not sure about the high school situation, though
seattle
waterbury, ct -- very yeshivish

PinkFridge

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 3:14 pm

So funny, I'm listening to Michael Medved and this second he said, Chicago is a wonderful city.
Very Happy

I like the midwest myself.
How close are the grandparents? Is that a factor?
What about parnasah? If need be, there are out of town communities that may be too small and out of town l'chatchila, but also worth considering, like St. Louis or Atlanta.

amother

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 3:36 pm

Chicago
Baltimore/Silver Spring
Cleveland
Dallas

Is Passaic really considered OOT? I think if you want choices of schools and a yeshivish community these are the towns your looking at, and Dallas is borderline. The economy is hurting everywhere, but Detroit in particular.

OOTBubby

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 4:09 pm

I'll agree on Chicago and Cleveland. There are other threads here about both of them (and others too) that you might want to look for.

smilingmom

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 4:11 pm

Philadelphia is OOT, but close enough to Brooklyn & Lakewood that you get the best of both worlds.

bhmom

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 4:17 pm

sorry - but what is oot

amother

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 4:42 pm

Waterbury. Most of the people are from "yeshiva" backrounds. There are all types, working/learning. The average age is probably 30. It is not a "yeshivish" community as one poster put it. It has a kosher deli, pizza store (just opened) and ice cream store (not cholov yisroel - just became kosher) and the shoprite has just about anything else you need. It is less then 2 hours from brooklyn.

merelyme

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 4:53 pm

bhmom wrote:

sorry - but what is oot

out of town. (When used by people from New York who are anywhere in the world, this usually means "outside of NY/Brooklyn.")

amother

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 6:37 pm

pittsburgh? people are warm and welcoming, housing affordable, a couple of kosher places to eat, good schools. OOT but enough jewish things you'll need. everything is in one area.

Chani

Tue, Oct 06 2009, 6:44 pm

How about Miami? Denver?

amother

Thu, Oct 08 2009, 1:41 am

op here. thanks for the suggestions. can anyone tell me about Minneapolis? also does anyone know more about the areas in chicago? I know the communities a little bit but am not sure the difference between skokie, west rodgers park, lincolnwood etc.
anyone know more about pittsburg?
we also like the "midwest" feel.
what about clevland? anyone know what is there?
are there younger couples in these places??

Seraph

Thu, Oct 08 2009, 3:57 am

amother wrote:

pittsburgh? people are warm and welcoming, housing affordable, a couple of kosher places to eat, good schools. OOT but enough jewish things you'll need. everything is in one area.

Does pittsburgh still have a boys yeshiva (aside for chabad) since mesivta closed down?

lizard8

Thu, Oct 08 2009, 4:06 am

Good choice to choose the midwest- you wont have the pressures of NY & surrounding areas. There are so many adjustments to moving from Israel, you don't want to have the pressure to conform. In NY you have to dress a certain way, have a certain house, buy your kids the latest toys, have a bungalow upsate....the trend is spreading to all the surrounding areas.

Fox

Thu, Oct 08 2009, 4:31 am

amother wrote:

can anyone tell me about Minneapolis?

Minneapolis -- actually, St. Louis Park -- is a lovely community, but it is still relatively small. There is one kosher grocery that also operates an eat-in deli. There are two frum shuls. I have heard, though I don't know first-hand, that rental housing is somewhat difficult to find within the subdivision where most frum families live. There is one frum day school that serves the community. A car is an absolute necessity. There is also a significant Chabad presence in St. Paul, across the river.

The economy is very mixed, and job opportunities are relatively good. Winters are brutal, though!

amother wrote:

also does anyone know more about the areas in chicago? I know the communities a little bit but am not sure the difference between skokie, west rodgers park, lincolnwood etc.

Each neighborhood has a representation of various types of families, and no matter what your derech, I think you would be able to find a shul as well as compatible neighbors in Skokie, WRP, PP, or Lincolnwood. My guess is that rental housing would be easier to find and cheaper in WRP than elsewhere, but my impressions may be outdated.

Areas of WRP, particularly closer to Devon Avenue, have a more urban feel. Obviously, some people see that as a disadvantage; others, an advantage. However, as you head north, particularly around Touhy Avenue, the neighborhood has a far more suburban feel. Skokie, Lincolnwood, and PP all lean heavily to single-family homes with a suburban feel. You can survive in Chicago without a car -- I have plenty of friends who have done it. But you would probably need to live in WRP within walking distance of various grocery stores, bakeries, etc. Public transportation is relatively good.

Job opportunities are relatively good, but many are located in business and industrial corridors located in the suburbs. You definitely need a car to get to these jobs.

One often overlooked feature of Chicago's Jewish communities: we are within 30 minutes of O'Hare Airport. If you have family in other parts of the country, it is tremendously convenient to have the option of taking a flight almost any time, day or night. Of course, cost is still a factor, but it's pretty common for people to leave work early, catch a flight to LGA or EWR, attend a simcha, and catch an early morning flight back in time for work the next morning.

Oh, and there are enough young couples that I'm starting to feel positively ancient!

And while I'm a devoted Chicagoan, I'd definitely look into Miami, Denver, and Atlanta. Miami's community is fairly good-sized, and Denver's and Atlanta's communities, while smaller, are very well-established. Seattle is also a possibility, too, with a small but rapidly growing community.

Hatzlacha!

Chani

Thu, Oct 08 2009, 6:53 am

Cleveland -

5 restaurants, 3 butchers, a dozen shuls, 2 main neighborhoods, 3 schools + Telshe Yeshiva.

Yes there are definitely young couples here. The cost of living is cheap - houses are unbelievably inexpensive in Cleveland Heights, especially if you are willing to live on a less popular block (there's a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath house for sale on the block where we used to live for which they're asking about $60k - for perspective we sold our house there 3-4 years ago for $130k. Not the most popular block in the world, but there are two other frum families there + about 5 more on the other side of the street and it is only 1 block from the Hebrew Academy and the main street with all of the shuls). On the other hand, the economy isn't great in Cleveland and finding a job could be a challenge.

Also, depending upon where you are hashkaficly, that'll make a difference as to where you'd want to live. If you aren't yeshivish, you probably don't want to be in Cleveland Heights but rather Beachwood / University Heights. While housing in Beachwood /UH is still very inexpensive compared to NY, Chicago, and the like, it is much more than Cleveland Heights. A modest house here in UH will be about $170k and a more top-end house about $300k. Beachwood is a little more expensive. This area has more of a mix of people from MO to yeshivish to even some chassidish (and my block has all 3).