English speaking chassidish community in Israel

↑ sara_s

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 4:38 pm

amother OP wrote:

Thanks. Is it close to arab villages? one of the places I heard about overlooks an arab village, maybe this is the one. I am petrified!

There is a village nearby but it's a continuation of Jerusalem, just past Ramot, so if you drive there from Jerusalem you feel really safe. Driving from there to Modiin is past the villages but you could make a decision to never drive that way.

Maybe it's worth visiting to see for yourself?

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 4:40 pm

amother Periwinkle wrote:

So RBS will be great for you lol. What type of community are you in now? Typical chassidish?

Yes pretty chassidish, like 70% and mix of different people are the remaining 30%. I work in a non-chassidish school, which I like because I have a mix of all different kinds of friends. But the place I live is overall heimish, everybody is frum basically.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 4:46 pm

A few questions about Israel and about Beit Shemesh in general:

Does ebay exist in Israel? Flea markets? Thrift stores? I love good metziyos!
Are there english libraries? Jewish english books or secular english as well?

↑ abound ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 4:50 pm

amother OP wrote:

There is yad2.co.il
Pretty much say goodbye to good metziahs, does not exist here.
There is ikea near bet shemesh, but its much more expensive than the us.
English libraries you can find in very english speaking neighborhoods..not so much for secular books.

amother

Gladiolus ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 5:05 pm

amother OP wrote:

Agan haayalot in givat zeev sounds perfect.
There are plenty English libraries for Jewish books, secular there are but you'd have to really filter. Metzios hardly at all.

amother

Whitesmoke ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 6:29 pm

I’m an American born English speaking chassidish woman living in Bnei Barak. If you ever do end up here, I would be more than happy to guide you!
Btw we are also thinking about moving to Bet shemesh because there are definitely chassidish and English speaking areas there but I don’t know anyone there so gathering info has been hard.
Good luck!

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 6:46 pm

amother Whitesmoke wrote:

How long do you live there? Do you like it? Don`t you have a monthly get together for all english speakers living in Bnei Brak? I actually love the action in BB but it gets too much after being there for YT and I can`t wait to get back to normal life after spending a couple of weeks there.

All of us on here interested in the same community should start our own community together!

amother

↑ Whitesmoke

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 6:50 pm

amother OP wrote:

Getting close to a decade!!!!! I don’t like living in a city, I miss having big houses, grass and nature and space, and BB is the citiest city to ever city, but bh I found my place here. My kids are in great schools so that helps a lot.

The English speaking gathering has a lot of older women so I didn’t really fit in. But there are couple of young Americans here and we get together a lot, every shabbos and during the week too.
(We all belong to the same kehilla. )
I’ve also made lots of Israeli friends and my Hebrew is improving by the day.
It’s hard but I’m grateful to be in Eretz Yisroel.

dena613

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 7:13 pm

abound wrote:

Beitar is much less english speaking than yerushalayim, but certain neighborhoods will have more English speaking people. Lots of chassidish schools in Beitar.
Bet Shemesh
Maybe givaat zev hachadasha, but you need to do more research.

Was going to say beitar.

amother

Black

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 7:18 pm

amother Gladiolus wrote:

Agan haayalot in givat zeev sounds perfect.
There are plenty English libraries for Jewish books, secular there are but you'd have to really filter. Metzios hardly at all.

My friend lives there. She never described it as having an American chassidish community. I know Israeli belzers moved there... And Israeli litvish... And American litvish...
And on a whole, although many ladies are quite charedi, it sounds like many are the type to walk around in sweatshirts with words across the front, or smartphones... Not necessarily what op is looking for.
I think beitar is more charedi.

DrMom ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 11:37 pm

amother OP wrote:

. Or we could go to Kiryat Gat on the outskirts of Yerushalayim but I hear the kehillah there is Belz and we are not so I prefer a more generalized chassidish kehillah.
Rosepink, how soon are you thinking of going?

Kiryat Gat is not on the outskirts of Yerushalayim.

Reality ↓

Mon, Nov 04 2024, 12:02 am

amother OP wrote:

Shein is cheaper and faster in Israel then in the US. There are second hand shops in Beit Shemesh that are very cheap.

There are a few English language libraries in Old Beit Shemesh and RBS A. You need to pay a membership and it allows you to take out x number of books a week. Some are all Jewish and some are a mix of Jewish and secular.

In a later post I think you mentioned RBS D. It is tremendous so every area is very different. You need to move to a more anglo block that has a mix of yeshivish and chassidish. Also, keep in mind it is all very large buildings giving the area a real city feeling as opposed to other areas of RBS that have a more suburban look.

amother

Oldlace

Mon, Nov 04 2024, 12:19 am

abound wrote:

Yes, Bnei Brak & Beitar are far from each other.
Bet shemesh sounds okay.
Good Luck!!

If she's coming from chutz la'aretz is 1.5 hours ride really that far?

The distance between beitar & beit shemesh is 20 min.

↑ abound ↓

Mon, Nov 04 2024, 12:30 am

Its a looooong ride, and its exhausting. Bet shemesh cuts out 25 minutes on a windy (nausea inducing) road.
Truthfully bnei brak has the worst traffic. From the entrance of bnei brak to anywhere in the city can take 45 minutes easily.

↑ abound ↓

Mon, Nov 04 2024, 12:33 am

If you can make ym work, that is where you will be most comfortable. You dont need to stick to tenuva, belz, ezras torah. All areas in YM have english speakers nowdays. Shmuel hanavi, geula, sanhedria murchevet etc.

↑ abound ↓

Mon, Nov 04 2024, 12:36 am

abound wrote:

There is yad2.co.il
Pretty much say goodbye to good metziahs, does not exist here.
There is ikea near bet shemesh, but its much more expensive than the us.
English libraries you can find in every english speaking neighborhoods..not so much for secular books.

amother

Fuchsia

Mon, Nov 04 2024, 2:18 am

Agan Ayalot is NOT a mix of american chassidish. It is a mix of American yeshivish/litvish/yeshivish lite and Israeli Belzer chassidim. AFAIK there are no english speaking chassidim there. In the old Givat Zeev (10 minutes drive) there is an english speaking community of Stoliner chassidim.

Ramat Shlomo in Yerushalayim sounds like it might be what you are looking for. I'll also echo all the posters who mentioned Beitar. There are tons of English speakers there, and many are chassidish from various sects.