It's been a while!

Wow… it’s been a long time since my last post… things have been pretty hectic here with Pesach and all.

Got back from Kuujuaq ok… then went straight into Pesach mode. Work has been pretty busy as I have less then 3 months left to my fellowship.

The big news is that we booked our tickets for our summer trip! We will be coming G-D willing from Jul 4-17th. We will be visiting a few communities ( Neve Daniel, Rosh Tzurim, Maale Adumim, Neve Tzuf) with the intention of finding something to purchase. If we can’t find something to buy, ill be back at the end of the winter to find a rental….

Anyway, pretty excited about the trip and a bit nervous…. I really hope we find our place…

Maale Adumim

The first place we ever conisdered in Israel was Maale Adumim. i'll never forget the first time driving into the city... it is truly amazing. Driving throuh the different neighborhoods you cant help but be amazed at the cleanliness and beauty.... all this and only 10 minutes from Jerusalem on a great new highway!

Mitzpe Nevo was the community we were most interested in, a dati Leumi community within a larger mixed city. We have continued to hear so many good things about maale adumim and mitzpe nevo, with an emphasis on the warmth of the community... Oh and mitzpe nevo has a great Carlebach minyan as well!

The major iss ue for us was financial... we were initially interested in the new project in Mitzpe Nevo , but it is a bit out of our price range. If for the approximate price we could get a "second hand" home .. that would be a major consideration.. the only issue is there are very few ( if any) homes available as people dont want to leave!!!!

Anyway, if anyone has any leads in the home department ..... please feel free...... we will be in Israel B'H in July and would love to visit again........

Communities

We have spent much of the last 2 years looking at various communities around Jerusalem where I will be working. After 2 trips, here are the top choices....


1) Neve Daniel:

http://www.nbn.org.il/social/community/community_gush.htm#neve

http://www.gush-etzion.org.il/nevedaniel.asp

PRO'S:

- Proximity to Jerusalem
- Nice view
- We now know some people there
- Good size yishuv, good english services, good
schools in the gush
- has makolet , bakery, pizza, hardware store
- many minyanim ( including carlebach)
- english shiurim

CON'S
- Prices
- Seperation (topographicaly) of new / old yishuv
- some anglo Israeli- tensions
- not "warm" yishuv ( NO one said shabbat shalom to us
in shul!)
- 20,000$ yishuv entrance fee, must take test

2) ELAZAR

http://www.nbn.org.il/social/community/community_gush.htm#elazar

http://www.gush-etzion.org.il/elazar.asp

PRO'S
- good size yishuv
- good relations / mix of anglo israeli
- considered a more "warm" community
-english services, shiurim, schools of the gush
- proximity to jerusalem


CON'S
- Expensive
- lack of housing
- only 1 central shul
- 15,000$ yishuv entrance fee, must take test

3) Zayit in Efrat

http://www.nbn.org.il/social/community/community_efrat.htm

http://www.zayit.com/new/

PRO'S

- proximity to jerusalem
-good mix anglo / israeli
-many english shiurim
-many minyanim
- all the shopping services of efrat
-more affordable housing
- smaller sub section of large efrat city
- no entrance fee, no test


CON'S
- not the most "green" place
- lack of warmth ( i emailed their chat list asking
for info / aliyah questions.. out of the 100 families
or more i got back a measly FOUR replies!! suggestive
of the lack of a real yishuv type feeling, lack of
caring ( not one of the 4 invited us for shabbat to
check it out)

3) Neve Tzuf

http://www.nevetzuf-halamish.com/

http://www.nbn.org.il/social/community/community_neve_tzuf.htm

http://www.nevetzuf-halamish.com/PDF_Files/Neve_Tzuf_FAQ.pdf

PRO'S

- Beautiful yishuv
- Pool!, Forest, stables
- warm, caring, hospitable community
- afordable rentals
- good climate
-good schools, many serives on yishuv
- heterogeneous dati mix
- no yishuv entrance fee, no test
- 5 min to modiin whee there is a TEREM i can do some
shifts
- 15% anglo
- good school used to english kids

CON'S

- 45 min to jerusalem
-most young couples israeli ( few anglo)
-many shiurim but all in hebrew
- schools have less anglo resources compared with gush
- lack of housing ( as per person i spoke with, its
a real issue, the yishuv is almost full!)
- not a free market ( i.e its more of an old school
experience, cannot just come buy a home like all the
other places, need to live in small rental for a year
before acceptance)

4) Alon Shvut

Like Neve Daniel, expensive, and big lack of housing. In the gush so proximity to Jerusalem. Har etzion Yeshivah on the yishuv.


5) Rosh Tzurim
http://www.gush-etzion.org.il/rosh_tzurim.asp

Looks like a good option for us.
small yishuv / kibbutz in the gush. Down to earth, friendly people. Finishing up a new housing project that is more affordable then other places in the gush.

Keeping in mind as well.....

Tekoa: New road not completed yet.. "outside wall"
Maaleh Adumim: Expensive housing, basically a city...


Thats all for now.... it gets exhausting

Shabbat Shalom