Scranton? | Imamother

shanie5

Fri, Jun 27 2014, 7:11 am

chanamarie wrote:

We're considering moving to the US after having lived abroad for a while and I'm interested in finding out about Scranton, PA. What's the community like (both Jewish and the area generally)?
Small jewish community-everybody knows everybody else. General community is decent most of the time.

Housing - average house prices?
Probably cheaper than average, and you get a lot for your money.

Can you get a home with a decent backyard?
More than decent. Unless its a corner lot, most houses have BIG backyards.

Living costs? Aside from kosher foods itself, cost of living is cheaper. But the salaries may be lower also.

Anything you could tell me about the area would really be appreciated!

One day school, 1 out of town boys high school, girls high school, kosher store where he does his best to accommodate everyone, 3 shuls, welcoming community.
You can pm me for more specifics.

shana rishona

Fri, Jun 27 2014, 11:11 am

Small close knit, out of town, diverse warm,caring Jewish Community .A great place to raise a family . A Mikvah,3 Orthodox Shuls, Eruv,Big Lakewood style Yeshiva,Small Girls high school,Jewish nursing home,small Jewish day school with a leaning towards a Yeshivish style,Very accomodating Kosher food store with everything you can get in New York store with out paying for gas;),Kosher sushi and catering.
Overall area is friendly(most people ,Jews and non Jews alike say" Good Morning ").3 hospitals and University in local walking distance of Jewish neighborhood,lots of grass and trees, nature etc.,big backyards, cheap housing but may be difficult to find a job depending on your occupation. Its also 2 hours from Monsey and Philly and 2.5 hours to Brooklyn .
They recently made a website and brochure to encourage people to move to Scranton's Jewish community .
If you need anymore details, you can PM me.

amother

Thu, Sep 18 2014, 9:43 am

Hi, we are looking for a new neighborhood please help Smile

amother

Thu, Sep 18 2014, 10:33 pm

It is diverse.
The community doesnt "revolve around the Yeshiva" actually the Yeshiva is the only thing thats really out of the community (Mesivta/BM). There are many ppl that like to keep the leaning of the community as Yeshivish - however its a "do as you please" type of city and nobody cares to keep up with the Jones. the chesed is unbelievable and everyone chips in to help eachother.

There are yeshivish families, and there are totally non-yeshivish families.
A class will be made up of a handful of kids from Frum not yeshivish, to totally yeshivish, BT, Chabad, Israeli, rich, poor, etc big fam, small fam, - its not all one type. EVERYONE knows everyone and you quickly become part of the fam when you move in.

Its kind of in need of a resurgence of young families to move in as many communities are.
Wonderful Rabbis - that relate to ppl on every level of yiddeshkeit.
all live near eachother.

Winters can be very cold and it is situated on a hill - takes getting used to. Need good brakes on your car Smile

No traffic in the community in general. its a small city though for the region its big.
Gonna post as amother cuz - e/o knows e/o here (even tho im not there now) and I prefer to remain unknown. Smile

shanie5

Thu, Sep 18 2014, 11:34 pm

amother wrote:

Hi, we are looking for a new neighborhood please help Smile

I find it interesting that everyone is saying the community is diverse- I asked someone who used to live there and he made it sound like it revolves around the yeshiva and there are certain "religious standards" required- which one is it or has it changed? Is that only true for the highschools?

No 'standard' or I wouldn't like it here. There are a lot of large yeshivish families as well as 'just plain frum', more modern, and now we have some chasidish moving in too. There is also Lubavitch.

The girls high schools are Bais Yakov types. The boys high school is very yeshivish. Lots of High school age kids (both boys and girls) go away for school.

How does it work in terms of the cold weather? Are the house right next to the shul? Does everyone park in their garage and go straight in to their house? I love being outside but doesn't sound like I'm going to find a community where the temperatures are temperate

Most houses are only a few blocks from the 2 main shuls. Depends where you choose to buy. But all are walk-able. Those houses with garages are not attached. There is usually a yard (as in grass) between the 2. .Although the weather is known for being cold, there is a lot less wind than New York, and in the past few years, we have missed most of the storms that hit NY, NJ and even Philadelphia.

are the schools close by? Yes

Does everyone live near each other? Pretty much.

Is the community pretty self sufficient or are people always running to brooklyn and lakewood?

The community has everything you need (mostly), but there are always people going to brooklyn or lakewood-weddings, shopping family etc..

how much is tuition? In the $6000 range I think. Scholarships are available.

are there any additional fees? A few, but I don't remember them-no kids in school here at the moment. doesn't seem like the elementary school has a website. I dont think it does, but there is a website for the Scranton Jewish community. http://jewishscranton.org/blog/

how is the pace of life, is there a lot of traffic, honking etc or is it a much slower simpler way...

Definitely slower. Little traffic (except on the interstate highways during construction), no honking, friendly people. Accepting.

thank you so much!

amother

Fri, Sep 19 2014, 7:42 am

I don't want to send my daughters away. Right now we only have girls so we have even more time to worry about boy schools Smile

amother

Fri, Sep 19 2014, 9:25 am

more questions Smile

is the school professionally run or at least wants to be and will gladly take help to improve- like if someone offers to make them a website, improve their e-mail service- I tried e-mailing the school only to get an e-mail saying the address had been switched- I'm pretty sure there is a way to automatically transfer e-mails to a different address.

Is there anyone who is in charge of the community- ie makes ALL the decisions and only his opinion counts?- my husband doesn't deal well with dictators benevolent or otherwise. We know a menahel of a school who described himself to my friend as a benevolent dictator shock

no it wasn't a chassiddish school nor was it in lakewood.

We are looking for a community where we get involved and make a difference. We need the people in charge to be people who are willing to at least hear out a different opinion with an open hear and we've found that that's not always the case Sad

sometimes they are just looking for henchmen.

shanie5

Fri, Sep 19 2014, 5:39 pm

amother wrote:

thank you amother and shani5 that was extremely helpful.

In terms of the high school how bais yaakov are we talking- like pushing kollel, family can't have internet- the whole nine yards or just a uniform which I can "deal" with, no tv, co-ed camps? For example I've heard good things about rinas bais yaakov in Edison- that it's a chilled out bais yaakov with a good education- that's what I would want for my daughters not something like central in queens for example to give you an idea or where we fit.

They do not encourage internet, but the faculty do use it and they know I have it and use it. As in they never tried to make me sign anything that I won't have or use it. Others parents have it too, so I guess its not an issue. The basic ideas are BY, but the girls are diverse, and not treated badly because of it.

Do you think there might be other options in another 8 years- kids are little Smile

No. the community is small, not growing too much at this point. We have had a bunch of new families move in recently, but we also said goodbye to quite a few too.

I don't want to send my daughters away. Right now we only have girls so we have even more time to worry about boy schools Smile

Are there any younger families? Personally we get along great with people in their 30s and 40s- just wondering if we would be the youngest people there especially in terms of our kids. There are a few younger families-not many. My youngest dd is in nursery. There are children in her class. We "lost" 2 who moved away, but gained 1 who moved in this year.

How's the academic education in the schools? Depends on who you ask. Some are happy with the education, some complain constantly about it. Im okay with it, but don't have kids in the schools right now. (little dd is in a nursery playgroup).

Thank you!!!!!

Your welcome

shanie5

Fri, Sep 19 2014, 5:47 pm

amother wrote:

more questions Smile

is the school professionally run or at least wants to be and will gladly take help to improve- like if someone offers to make them a website, improve their e-mail service- I tried e-mailing the school only to get an e-mail saying the address had been switched- I'm pretty sure there is a way to automatically transfer e-mails to a different address. Any volunteered help is usually appreciated. We do have s/o who is in the process of improving the school, not sure how and what though.

Is there anyone who is in charge of the community- ie makes ALL the decisions and only his opinion counts?- my husband doesn't deal well with dictators benevolent or otherwise. We know a menahel of a school who described himself to my friend as a benevolent dictator shock

no it wasn't a chassiddish school nor was it in lakewood. NO! We do have a Rov of the community, but he is not a dictator. He is there for shailos, and advice and to talk. He listens when needed. Will consult other Rabbis when necessary. Accepts others opinions.

We are looking for a community where we get involved and make a difference. We need the people in charge to be people who are willing to at least hear out a different opinion with an open hear and we've found that that's not always the case Sad

sometimes they are just looking for henchmen.

If you come in trying to change things, you probably wont be listened to. If you wait a bit, see how things go and then make an effort to improve, then it is likely you will be heard.

amother

Sat, Sep 20 2014, 9:08 pm

hi Ruchel

I'm the amother who is looking for a similar community to you I was wondering if you were looking in to scranton and if not how come. Seems like we aren't the only two, since the amother about the houses and yeshiva wasn't/weren't me lol.

Shanie5- thanks so much for the info!

In terms of young people- do you know why the community isn't growing much? Its important to us that our kids have kids to play with. Are there any babies?

shanie5

Sat, Sep 20 2014, 9:17 pm

Houses are not expensive here. A 3 bedroom is a small house. You can easily get 4 or more for a reasonable price. A lot depends on the condition of the house. I know people who paid less than $100k for fairly large houses. I know others who paid over $400k for stunning houses. And everything in between. A lot depends on the block you live on rather than the neighborhood you live in.There are very few apartment buildings in the frum area. What people call apartment buildings are really houses with a few apartments in them-6 maximum.

The Yeshiva was known for turning troubled boys around, but it got to be too many boys like that, so they stopped taking them quite a few years ago. So now there are only "good boys". The level of learning is considered higher in limudai kodesh. The limudai chol has decent teachers from what I understand, and my sons came out of there fine. Its basic subjects only, though my older sons class requested extra math in 12th grade and they got it.

The yeshiva used to accept all the local boys who wanted to go there, but don't anymore.