Efrat vs. other Gush communities

amother

OP ↓

Sun, Jan 05 2025, 1:58 pm

We’ve been thinking of Aliyah for a little while, starting to reach out to contacts to get a feel for which community would be the best fit. Efrat/gush keeps coming up, and I was wondering if any local imas can clarify how the various gush communities vary. My current understanding is that Efrat is the largest settlement but there are other smaller ones, Elazar maybe smaller but more diverse, Alon Shvut is the yeshiva community, Neve Daniel more RW, Tekoa more out of the box. Is this correct? I would love some more details about these. Also how housing prices and school options differ between these.
We are from the east coast, don’t really identify with a specific type of Judaism (which is part of what attracts us to the gush since we don’t want a community where we have to strictly define our type) but I guess are somewhat RWMO /dati leumi, Zionist and value sherut. We only have girls, toddler-elementary age. Any information and insights appreciated! Thank you!

amother

Pansy ↓

Sun, Jan 05 2025, 4:13 pm

amother OP wrote:

I live in Neve Daniel. It is not only right wing. There is a whole new bunch of young professional very modern dati leumi families as well (I wont call them dati lite, but they are not right wing as you know it in america)
Efrat is actually its own municipality, not actually part of the gush.
In the Gush there are many different schools, most are in one location in a place called the givaa tzehuba, part of alon shvut. In each yishuv you have ganim. But elementary schools are mostly there. There are a few other places and there are some families that bus their kids to other places like beit shemesh or jerusalem.
Housing, are you talking buying or renting? It would depend on the size or how many bedrooms you are talking about.

amother

Tiffanyblue ↓

Sun, Jan 05 2025, 4:45 pm

As PP wrote, Efrat is not technically part of Gush Etzion, but calling it separate is disingenuous as all the girls' high schools are in Gush Etzion despite multiple boys' schools in Efrat. We like it here in Efrat, though we're more middle-MO than LW or RW. If you check out Efrat, look at Orot Etzion elementary school. My kids don't go there but have several friends there (neighbors) and I'm very impressed with the middot I see in girls who go there, to the point we had strongly considered sending to that school.

I think we have a very good mix of 'types', mostly middle of the road but some Mesorti (one elementary school is davka mixed Dati/Mesorti) and some more Yeshivish. Two elementary schools, including the one we send to, are mixed through 3rd or 4th grade, while Orot Etzion is separate from 1st. There are a handful of cars on Shabbat but I see the yishuv security vehicles more than private vehicles and the few drivers are careful enough many people will walk in the street.

Housing isn't cheap but it's cheaper than in Jerusalem. We were lucky to buy before mortgage rates shot up- I don't think we could have afforded our apartment if we'd tried to buy now.

amother

Tulip

Mon, Jan 06 2025, 2:55 am

I grew up in Neve Daniel. For the most part, what you wrote is accurate. Efrat is its own "city", but basically still part of the Gush. It's more open than places like Alon Shvut or Neve Daniel (yes, even with the new bunch). Elazar is more "dati-lite", and Tekoa is more out of the box. Carmei Tzur is really trying to be the up and coming place for young DL families.

For elementary schools, there's a public religious school and another religious school that integrates special needs children off of Alon Shvut, Orot Etzion (religious private school) in Efrat, and Orot Etzion for the Gush in Neve Daniel. My brother goes there.

etky ↓

Mon, Jan 06 2025, 3:27 am

amother Tiffanyblue wrote:

As PP wrote, Efrat is not technically part of Gush Etzion, but calling it separate is disingenuous as all the girls' high schools are in Gush Etzion despite multiple boys' schools in Efrat. We like it here in Efrat, though we're more middle-MO than LW or RW. If you check out Efrat, look at Orot Etzion elementary school. My kids don't go there but have several friends there (neighbors) and I'm very impressed with the middot I see in girls who go there, to the point we had strongly considered sending to that school.

I think we have a very good mix of 'types', mostly middle of the road but some Mesorti (one elementary school is davka mixed Dati/Mesorti) and some more Yeshivish. Two elementary schools, including the one we send to, are mixed through 3rd or 4th grade, while Orot Etzion is separate from 1st. There are a handful of cars on Shabbat but I see the yishuv security vehicles more than private vehicles and the few drivers are careful enough many people will walk in the street.

Housing isn't cheap but it's cheaper than in Jerusalem. We were lucky to buy before mortgage rates
shot up- I don't think we could have afforded our apartment if we'd tried to buy now.

Agree with this for the most part.
We've been living here for almost 25 years. We raised our family here.
From my perspective now one of the main differences between Efrat and communities like Elazar and Neve Daniel is less the character of the population but rather the urban feel of Efrat, which has grown tremendously and is slated to expand even more. There are of course pluses and minuses to this expansion. We've gained in services but lost some of that small town intimacy that we used to have.
I do feel that the population here is very diverse in terms of levels of observance and there is an ethos of pluralism that dates back to the founding of Efrat and that thankfully has survived its growth.
Alon Shvut has its own unique character because of how central the yeshiva is to the yishuv.
I'm not really familiar with Karmei Tzur because it does skew younger. Take into account that it is south of Tzomet Hagush so its location is a bit more complex security wise.
Tekoa is indeed more out of the box, although in recent years somewhat less than it used to be. There has been an influx of young professional families there too so prices have gone up in accordance.
Also in the Eastern Gush are the smaller communities of Nokdim (mixed religious/secular) Ma'ale Amos (young chardal families) and Pnei Kedem (young-ish, idealistic DL).

↑ etky ↓

Mon, Jan 06 2025, 9:26 am

amother OP wrote:

Thanks all for the helpful and detailed replies! We prefer a more suburban and less hectic neighborhood, sounds like Elazar or Neve Daniel are more like this than Efrat. Can anyone comment on how these compare to each other in terms of population type/size, types of home available etc. Thank you!

Then you might also want to consider Rosh Tzurim and Kfar Etzion, both kibbutzim near Alon Shvut, in which there are newish residential neighborhoods that are not part of the kibbutz proper.

amother

↑ Tiffanyblue ↓

Mon, Jan 06 2025, 11:06 am

amother OP wrote:

Just so you don't get the wrong idea, there are definitely quieter corners of Efrat, away from the shopping centers. The two northernmost neighborhoods in particular, and even some side streets in the others, are fairly suburban and not visibly different from a random street in Elazar or Neve Daniel.

↑ etky ↓

Mon, Jan 06 2025, 11:39 am

amother Tiffanyblue wrote:

Totally true.
I used 'urban' in the sense that Efrat is so much bigger than it used to be in terms of population because of the expansion to the northern hills, and in terms of the services that we have available now. It's no longer a small yishuv but rather a full-fledged self-contained town.
But with the exception of the Zayit, parts of which has taller buildings and thus has more of a city feel, most of Efrat still definitely retains a quiet suburban vibe.

↑ justforfun87

Mon, Jan 06 2025, 11:53 am

etky wrote:

Funny, I was thinkingn Efrat was too quiet even though I live in suburbia. Compared to Bet shemesh etc it's like the wilderness unless I just didn't see it all. Looked like a few stores, a pizza shop and an ice cream store.

↑ etky ↓

Mon, Jan 06 2025, 12:05 pm

justforfun87 wrote:

Haha, everything is relative.
Sounds like you were at the 'mall' in the Zayit (the ice-cream parlor was the giveaway cause we have Pizza shops in other neighborhoods too..)
Beit Shemesh is on a different planet than Efrat in terms of how urban and densely populated it is.
Yet Efrat is still the closest thing to a city that the Gush has.

amother

↑ Tiffanyblue ↓

Mon, Jan 06 2025, 12:45 pm

etky wrote:

Totally! Honestly, I think your talking about Efrat on here may have been part of what put the idea of moving here into my head about ten years ago. Smile

It wasn't a pilot trip, but what everyone my age and younger seems to do of starting in Jerusalem, finding it growing unaffordable to rent or impossible to buy, and choosing which direction to move out without going so far you can't meet up with the friends who left elsewhere.

Was Efrat always planned to be bigger? I'd assumed so, given its administrative differentiation from Gush Etzion, but maybe I'm wrong.

Also, on the matter of the Zayit, even there there are quiet side streets. The area just past the Makolet (I think it's Pitom Haketoret) is quiet, as are the side streets below Orot Etzion Banot.

↑ etky

Mon, Jan 06 2025, 1:11 pm

amother Tiffanyblue wrote:

Totally! Honestly, I think your talking about Efrat on here may have been part of what put the idea of moving here into my head about ten years ago. Smile

Yes. Efrat was always envisioned as a small city and its municipal boundaries reflect that. Of course the fulfillment of that vision has always been and remains subject to both domestic and international political winds.