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Forum -> Inquiries & Offers -> Israel related Inquiries & Aliyah Questions

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amother

Sun, Aug 31 2014, 8:11 pm

So we are strongly toying with the idea of making Aliyah in about a year. Not definitely decided yet, but a lot of that has to do with making all the details fit into place, so I'll be hanging around here asking a LOT of questions as we go along!

#1: What ideology/community/school/etc would we fit in to?
Ideologically:
a)We are strongly halachically observant, even to the point of chumra in many areas.
b) However, we don't fit in with most chareidi/machmir groups because
- we have a more rationalist hashkafa, reject a lot of minhagim that our research seems to indicate are derived from paganism, reject "pop kabbalah" etc, and
- We feel strongly about being with people who are not judgmental, where you don't base acceptance/rejection on externals such as what type of kippah or tichel someone wears, and it seems that a lot of the more chareidi communities/schools that I know of in Israel are judgmental or exclusionary like that (heard from people sending to those schools)
c) DH is very learned and has semicha, but is now in the academia/working world. We'd want a peer group on this wavelength for him, a good kehilla/rav/shiurim for someone like that.
d) I would like a warm, friendly community with some activity I could get involved with that would help me integrate and get to know people.

Location considerations:
e) Would like to live either in or not far from central Israel because I have relatives in Beit Shemesh area whom I would like to be able to visit with some regularity and not too much difficulty
f) Not far from a major university because DH is studying science and wants to continue there (e.g. Bar ilan, Hebrew U, etc?)
g) Not too expensive, our budget will certainly be tight, we can stretch a little with help and savings until DH finishes school but I imagine any part of Jerusalem will be prohibitive. Also besides for rent it would have to be a place where normative lifestyle is more frugal, as we would not want our kids to stick out as the only ones not having fancy things or whatever.

Tweedy

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 1:49 am

We just made Aliyah to Rechovot and loving it! Very central and close to everything, pm me for more info if you'd like !

5mom

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 1:54 am

Alon Shvut might be a good fit. Close to Jerusalem and Bet Shemesh, a high concentration of brain power and frumkeit without the trappings. There's a range of housing options, too.

amother

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 1:54 am

What is rental cost like in Rechovot? Not sure exactly what size apartment we'd need because apartment sizes run differently in different types of buildings separate from just how many bedrooms, but we are a couple with 2 young kids and would hope to have one or two more babies during the time we'd be living there.

Can you tell me more about it here? I'm not ready to move to PM's yet... sorry, besides outing myself it's also hard to keep track of conversations there.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 2:01 am

5mom wrote:

Alon Shvut might be a good fit. Close to Jerusalem and Bet Shemesh, a high concentration of brain power and frumkeit without the trappings. There's a range of housing options, too.

Just so the OP knows, there is absolutely nothing to buy in alon shvut and prices in the ush as a whole, in general right now are crazy high. We all hope they will go lower.

OP, you say that you have family in beit shemesh, so why not try out beit shemesh or ramat shilo in ramat beit shemesh?
And bar ilan could get to by train and even a bus not 100% sure about that)

amother

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 2:03 am

Posted at same time, did not see new message, please tell me more about Alon Shvut too! Rechovot is a big city, Alon Shvut I never heard about... Advantage of Rechovot is that there is a science university right there, but dunno if DH would even get into it, I hear it's a harder one but I really don't know enough about any of this... oy

amother

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 2:05 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

My impression is that Beit Shemesh/RBS is more expensive, but I wouldn't mind being wrong because it would be LOVELY to be so close to relatives! Also my impression was that the society there is very polarized with a lot of tension between different sects, which is exactly what we want to get away from Sad

amother

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 2:18 am

Rehovot has the Weizmann Institute, which is a university (grad students + post-docs only, no undergrad program). The Hebrew U. Faculty of Agriculture is also located there. Of course, your DH would need to apply and be accepted by these places. Theer are 2 shuls with a high percentage of Anglos (if that is important): Berman's (more DL), and Chatam (somewhat more black-hat), although there is overlap between the two demographics. Theer are a high percentage of educated frum scientists at both shuls.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 2:22 am

amother wrote:

Also alon shvut is NOT centrally located. It is near jerusalem. People who travel to tel aviv for work go to the beit shemesh train to get there.

etky

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 2:32 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

Also alon shvut is NOT centrally located. It is near jerusalem. People who travel to tel aviv for work go to the beit shemesh train to get there.

Yes, but there are tons of people who commute to Bar-Ilan and even BGU from the Gush. I'm sure OP's DH could find a carpool. The Gush - Alon Shvut and Neve Daniel in particular I think - would be perfect IF OP could find affordable housing.

Dawling

Mon, Sep 01 2014, 2:49 am

Two suggestions:
1. prioritize the factors that are imp to you.
You might be able to find everything in one community, but you might not.
When we first made Aliyah, we found a community that was affordable, in the mercaz, but it was also very grey (e.g. many buildings, not much greenery, reminded me too much of crowded Manhattan) until we realized that greenery, parks, etc was imp to us. Now we live in the Judean hills which is very green, still affordable, but much farther from banks, supermarkets, etc.

2. Pilot trip. Can't recommend this enough. the housing dept of nefesh b' nefesh can help you a lot as can their yahoo group.

B'hatzlacha!

ImaInIsrael

Wed, Sep 03 2014, 3:32 pm

If you are willing to consider a small yishuv (100 families) in Har Hevron then I would highly recommend Beit Hagai. We moved here about a month ago and have found it to be a warm and caring community, and we couldn't be happier about our decision to relocate here.

Beit Hagai is located right between Beer Sheva (where Ben Gurian university is located) and Jerusalem and 10 minutes from Kiryat Arba. There are excellent schools nearby, in Kiryat Arba, Otniel and Sussya. One of the reasons we actually moved out to this area was because we liked the schools in Kiryat Arba.

There is a kollel here, a wonderful day-care program and (most exciting for me) a car gemach!
It's a predominantly Israeli yishuv but I was actually surprised to find quite a few English speaking women here (the Rav's wife is from Boston). And my husband, whose Hebrew is weak, hasn't had any trouble getting by.

Housing and rental prices are also very affordale here. Rent for a 4 bedroom house is around 2,300 NIS.

If you would like more information about Beit Hagai, I would be happy to speak with you.

rzab

Wed, Sep 03 2014, 8:23 pm

I got confused when I read this- except for a few details, I thought, I don't remember posting this Smile

I've been hearing a lot about zayit in efrat, but don't know anything concrete. does anyone have input on that?

amother

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 12:08 am

I've lived in the Zayit in Efrat. It's lovely, and full of young families. Religiously and intellectually, it's quite varied. That makes it vibrant, but I have seen that families with a more RW background have left in search of what is called here a more "Torani" atmosphere.

If this part of the country suits you, then try Alon Shvut. True, there is not much to buy, but rentals are available, and the religious and intellectual environment sounds right. OP and her husband should have no problem finding English-speaking peers. It's about 20 minutes north to Jerusalem and 20 minutes west to Bet Shemesh by car.

Anon b/c of identifying details.

amother

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 8:45 am

Sounds like kochav yaakov would be a great fit. I dont live there but we've done a lot of research on it. The only thing it doesnt have on your list is easy access to beit shemesh. You have to go through Y-m.

RachelEve14

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 10:22 am

I was also going to suggest looking into the smaller yishuvim. We spent a lovely Shabbot last week in P'nei Chever (near Chevron) and the friends we have who have moved there are really, really, happy. Nice Torani community, but small and far out (and feels that way).

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