What is life like in Dallas?

amother

Fuchsia

Sun, Jan 13 2019, 12:15 am

We are moving... but not sure where yet. Someone suggested I look into Dallas. We are moving from Los Angeles. We have never been to Dallas - please tell me what life is like there. Anything and everything you can/want to share. I'm RWMO.

SRB

Sun, Jan 13 2019, 1:06 am

OP here. Can you describe the 3 communities? Where are the schools and kosher shopping? How do you manage the long periods of heat? What are the people like? I want a RWMO school for DS & DD (both still very young). I want a RWMO shul. DH would like a more yeshivish place to take Shirim. We want to buy a nice house aprox 3500 sq ft w an nice yard in a nice, safe neighborhood with lots of frum school friends for our kids to play with on shabbos/yom tov.

amother

Peach

Sun, Jan 13 2019, 12:44 pm

The far north Dallas community may be the best based on your description.

Tom Thumb is the grocery store with a nice kosher counter and a few other extras that aren’t so common in OOT communities. You can likely get what you’re looking at for housing for $500K or so with $10K in taxes. Most homes will have more than one A/C unit, and many homes will have pools. Quality of life is very good. It’s not for pretentious types and people are very accepting. Dallas is easy to get around in for transportation.

Torah Day School of Dallas is the school there in that community and I would call it RWMO.

The shuls are very small. Like large houses. Torah Chaim could be for DH. Kosher food options available and that taste good.

SRB

Sun, Jan 13 2019, 1:03 pm

Can you give me the zip code and streets where the Jewish community lives so I can search realestate? Where are the restaurants, kosher shopping, schools and mikvah? How densely populated is the Jewish area - are kids playing outside together on shabbos? What is general life like? What's the general culture?

amother

Ecru

Mon, Jan 14 2019, 6:32 pm

amother wrote:

Sounds amazing! What’s the catch?

amother

Peach

Mon, Jan 14 2019, 7:57 pm

SRB wrote:

Google far north Dallas eruv. There’s a Google map with the eruv streets and shuls.

amother

Bisque

Mon, Jan 14 2019, 8:00 pm

amother wrote:

OP can you define what RWMO means to you? Because I went to Torah Day School of Dallas and know people who work there, and I don't think it's MO at all.

This.

amother

Peach

Mon, Jan 14 2019, 8:07 pm

amother wrote:

OP can you define what RWMO means to you? Because I went to Torah Day School of Dallas and know people who work there, and I don't think it's MO at all.

There was no insult to TDSD. I could have said it differently. It’s the place where a portion of RWMO send, the other option close by is Levine.

SRB

Mon, Jan 14 2019, 9:32 pm

Op here. Instead of defining what I consider RWMO, I'll define myself/family - shomer Shabbat, keep kosher, working professionals with higher education, respect diversity, zionistic and patriotic Americans. I see the word thru Torah values and want to be a part of the world not completely isolated from it. I want my kids at a school where most families are similar and there is excellent secular education including a STEAM program, to compliment the excellent Judaica studies. Hope that gives a good picture. Btw, I'm a BT (father not Jewish) and husband a convert. I say this because it impacts our outlook.

Edited to add I don't cover my hair and usually found in the school carpool lane wearing black leggings with a knee length skirt. Dh wears a black hat on shabbos. During the week business casual with a black kippah.

Last edited by SRB on Mon, Jan 14 2019, 11:16 pm; edited 1 time in total

mha3484

Mon, Jan 14 2019, 11:13 pm

Torah Day School has also had a lot of change in administration over the past few years. We looked into Dallas and found the school not equipped to handle kids who are more out of the box in terms of learning and attention issues. It’s a shame my husband misses Texas but that’s a big concern for us.

amother

Wine

Mon, Jan 14 2019, 11:25 pm

SRB wrote:

So, there are people similar to you that would send to TDSD, but the administration and staff and majority of the students are much more right wing than you describe. And it is not Zionistic.

amother

Wine

Mon, Jan 14 2019, 11:26 pm

amother wrote:

There was no insult to TDSD. I could have said it differently. It’s the place where a portion of RWMO send, the other option close by is Levine.

Yes, I think that's a more accurate way to put it.

SRB

Mon, Jan 14 2019, 11:39 pm

Can you tell me more about the school Levine and types of families there? Based upon the description of my family where do you think we would best fit Neighboorhood and schools (I have 2 yr old DD still home with me and a 5 yr old boy). I do prefer seporate gender schools for upper grades but willing to consider coed for secular studies. It doesn't sound like TDSD is what I'm looking for.

amother

Ruby

Mon, Jan 14 2019, 11:42 pm

You may like Akiba, which is modern orthodox but the majority of the student body is not frum. Like, some birthday parties werent kosher even though the schools policy is that parties have to be kosher. The Chabad families in Dallas send to Akiba also. You can google to learn more about it. I used to live in Dallas and DH and I both worked at Akiba and also at Shaarei Teffilah, the MO shul in dallas. I loved it there.

There is not a shabbos environment in Dallas like you would see in LA, NY, etc. The community is just too spread out. In the summer (6 months at least) its too hot to leave your house. Kosher food at Tom Thumb is very expensive.

Having said all of that, the people are wonderful and I miss it a lot.

amother

Wine

Tue, Jan 15 2019, 9:16 pm

SRB wrote:

I think Akiba/Levine are more left wing than you want. Honestly there's not really a RWMO school in Dallas. Like others have said there is a small RWMO community. They would mostly send to TDSD.

amother

Ruby

Tue, Jan 15 2019, 9:39 pm

SRB wrote:

Levine is Solomon Schechter (conservative).

Sounds like Akiba is the best fit. Kodesh classes are no longer coed starting in 5th grade. For shul, shaarei is in the community known as the “south eruv” and is MO with some RWMO families.