Looking for a community in Israel

amother

Sun, Mar 10 2013, 4:02 am

We are charedi.
My husband would like to learn in kollel and work also. It's important for us that there are enough anglos but not the majority
We have been a couple of times to Kiryat Sefer and are looking also at Beitar Illit and Ramat Beit Shemesh.

Last edited by amother on Tue, Dec 02 2014, 3:02 am; edited 2 times in total

LisaS

Sun, Mar 10 2013, 4:14 am

I have heard the anglo community in Kiryat sefer is small and close-knit. And I've heard that in Ramat Beit Shemesh it's easy for a newcomer to get lost as there are so many new people coming each year. Just a thought.

amother

Sun, Mar 10 2013, 4:22 am

maybe you can look in the more charedi part of rbs a?
it has lots of anglos but not as much as other parts. less chance of dvd type stuff. but at the same time there are a lot of working fathers too. not just kollel men.

shalhevet

Sun, Mar 10 2013, 4:26 am

This is my 2 agorot for what it's worth:

If you are 'mitchazkim' and your dh wants to work part time, you will do much better in a community which isn't totally chareidi. I would advise you to move to a mixed town with a strong Litvish component, where chareidim are a minority.

The reason is that when a town is totally chareidi people can "afford" to split into factions. And when they split into those factions, they start grading who is 'more' chareidi and who is 'less'. And if you haven't been chareidi so long plus your dh works part time, you will be sug bet. Since there will be 17 different grades of chadarim/ BY, your children will not be accepted into the best ones.

If, however, you move somewhere like PT, Netivot, Rechovot, Haifa, Hadera, Zichron etc, the community is small enough that everyone goes to the same school/s and your children will be in classes with the very best families (whatever that means).

chanabee

Sun, Mar 10 2013, 5:02 am

thanks for your replies. Some good points to think about.

Shalhevet,I hear what you're saying but we would really like a totally shomer shabbos, frum town if possible. Where we already are is what you're describing and we are finding it more challenging now being amongst so many secular. But it's a good point to think about concerning being 'sug bet' and schools etc..that does worry me quite a bit

Peanut2

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 2:50 pm

Maybe there is an area that is overwhelmingly dati, but with a still smaller charedi/litvish part. Maybe someplace with some dati leumi and or sefardi communities in addition to litvish? I can't think of anywhere specific, but I think Shalhevet made a really good point, and especially if you are moving in a certain direction having a smaller but more mixed place is really helpful. But of course, maybe not...

I've heard really nice things about Haifa and the charedi community there, but not specifically about Anglos, just in general.

ewa-jo

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 3:27 pm

What about Tel Tzion?

We live in Kochav Yaakov (next hilltop over) but we send the kids to gan in Tel Tzion. A few pluses is that it's nor so expensive and that the buses are very cheap and frequent and it's easy to get to and from Jerusalem. It's a charedi community with different flavors of charedim. Kochav Yaakov is a religious yishuv with a broader spectrum of religious people. Both communities have a good number of anglos.

http://www.nbn.org.il/componen......html

http://www.nbn.org.il/aliyahpe.....aakov

Isramom8

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 3:34 pm

A number of families in our city who were mitchared moved to nearby Bnei Brak. Interestingly to us, they are happy with the move, mostly because of the environment for the children. One family moved to Ramat Beit shemesh and is happy there. I guess they were really ready.

One family moved to Bayit Vegan in Yerushalayim, and returned to our city a year later. They decided they prefer our closeknit community among the mixed greater citizenship.

If families who became stronger stayed and banded together, more cities could be built up with a stronger Torah basis. But we understand why families want to move on. We understand why our own (all the Kollel) children want to move on.

c.c.cookie

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 3:42 pm

I think Ramat Beit Shemesh has a community that might be a good fit. It's quite anglo, though. Look into Bais Tefilla and the schools Magen Avot. I think those people are very much like what you're describing - striving to grow, but not "cookie cutter Israeli Charedi." There are many in the community for example who work and learn in kollel.

amother

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 3:47 pm

shalhevet wrote:

If, however, you move somewhere like PT, Netivot, Rechovot, Haifa, Hadera, Zichron etc, the community is small enough that everyone goes to the same school/s and your children will be in classes with the very best families (whatever that means).

Most of these places however aren't very Anglo.