Miami/miami beach or boca?

Posted: Sun, Aug 22 2010, 12:14 pm Post subject: miami/miami beach or boca?

ok, so we saw a job posting based in fort lauderdale. any floridians out there who can help?
we are a young family, black hat, bais yaakov type.
where could we live if this opportunity worked out? where is the bigger community? where are the schools? are any of these communities commutable to fort lauderdale?
advice please!!!!! I would love to live in florida!

Platinum Member Joined: Nov 17 2008 Posts: 5066

Posted: Sun, Aug 22 2010, 1:33 pm Post subject: re: miami/miami beach or boca?

hey---- I grew up in Boca and know a bit about the Jewish community in South Florida. Basically, the biggest chareidi community is in Miami Beach. If I had to move to Florida, that's probably where I'd go. There's a Beis Yaakov, a great kollel, and many shuls. Rav Yochanon Zweig is a well known rav there and is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva V'Kollel Beis Moshe Chaim. There are also Chareidi families in North Miami Beach. Both Miami Beach and N. Miami Beach are mixed communties made up of Chareidi and Modern Orthodox. Boca is definitely a more Modern Orthodox community. There are a few black hats here and there in Boca and Hollywood, but it's sorta rare. The two main shuls in Boca are Boca Raton Synagogue and Young Israel. There are also at least three or four Chabads spread throughout Boca. As far as commuting to Ft. Lauderdale, from Miami Beach it'd take about 20-30 mins, N. Miami Beach --- 15 mins, Hollywood --- 5-10 mins, and Boca --- 20-30. (By car, taking I-95 or Florida Turnpike)

Hope this helps!

Websites:
Miami Beach: Yeshiva V'Kollel Beis Moshe Chaim

list of shuls w/info --

Miami Beach: MIAMI BEACH SHULS

North Miami Beach: NMB SHULS

Boca Raton: BR SHULS

Posted: Sun, Aug 22 2010, 3:01 pm Post subject: re: miami/miami beach or boca?

I live in Miami Beach. Can you give more info about your family- where you currently live, what kind of community you're looking for, what type of schools you'd like, etc.? That way I can help you figure out what would make sense. Ft Lauderdale is generally about 35-45 min commute from here, although it can be a little longer with traffic (traffic is usually not bad in that direction). N Miami Beach is closer, but both are very doable.

Miami Beach probably has a larger frum community, but N Miami Beach may have more young black hat families. I'm not sure- the two communities don't mix much (I don't have school-age kids yet).

Senior Member Joined: Jun 26 2009 Posts: 101

All the previous information is correct. The only thing I have to add is that housing prices in Miami Beach are through the roof! North Miami Beach and Hollywood are much more affordable and religiously will be comfortable for you. If housing costs are not a factor, then definitely consider Miami Beach as well. Boca is predominantly Modern, with no Bais Yaacov type schools in the area.
You will love living in Fla. Good Luck!

Senior Member Joined: Feb 03 2010 Posts: 242

How about the Hebrew acadamy in Margate? Anyone know about that school? Can anyone give some more info about Yeshiva elem. school? We aere also thinking about relocating

Senior Member Joined: Feb 03 2010 Posts: 242

Hi Miamimother. I just want to kmow what kind of school it is? Types of famalies? academics? and if you know anything about the hebrew acadamy of Margate?
thanks a lot!!

Posted: Tue, Aug 24 2010, 9:05 am Post subject: re: miami/miami beach or boca?

I am only familiar with North Miami Beach, where I know there is a nice sized frum community with many shuls and schools, as well as a kollel. It is also right in center, very close to Ft Lauderdale.
When choosing an airport, Ft Lauderdale is 10 minutes away, Miami 20 minutes to the south.
I just visited Boca recently, and although the houses and neighborhood look more upper class (and priced accordingly) there is much less shopping around, and the frum community is definitely much smaller.
Boca is a 45 minute drive from North Miami Beach.
Houses in NMB are very reasonable now, I just saw one that was 4 bedrooms, totally renovated with a pool, and the going price was $200,000 with no takers.
Wherever you decide to go, I hope you realize that Florida is quite hot and humid most of the year.
It is still "out of town" which makes it difficult to raise BY type children there.
Lubavitch does have quite a few people, and their own shuls/schools/yeshiva, but mostly it's a lot of people from all sorts of backgrounds. Most of them send away their children to NY as soon as they reach Bar Mitzva age. Wishing you hatzlacha with whatever you decide to do.

Diamond Member Joined: Aug 03 2007 Posts: 4449

There are tons of teens in NMB - from MO the Chassidish.

Posted: Tue, Sep 21 2010, 2:30 pm Post subject: re: miami/miami beach or boca?

op again,
so it looks like florida is still a possibility.
some more info about myself so you can possibly help us!
we are from the ny area, not bklyn and not brooklyn type at all!
I definately need an eruv! we are in our young 30s and have 3 kids. we are looking for a sizable community with lots of young ppl with kids who like to socialize on shabbos.
I send my dds to a great bais yaakov in my community and my ds goes to a yeshivah ketana. as I said before we are black hat/ sheital family.
also, can we talk about housing prices? appx amounts in all the different communities.
maybe some zipcodes would be helpful so that I could look on zillow.com or a frum realtor with a website that has listings.
thanks for all your help!