So, I want to break it down:
New Jersey: Lakewood, Passaic, Teaneck, Edison/Highland Park
Upstate: Monsey
Bronx: Riverdale
Manhattan: Washington Heights, Harlem, UWS, UES, LES
Queens: Kew Gardens Hills, Kew Gardens, Forest Hills, Sunnyside, Astoria, Jackson Heights, Hillcrest
Brooklyn: Flatbush/Midwood, Boro Park, Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Coney Island
Staten Island:
Long Island: Five Towns (+Far Rock, even though it's Queens), Merrick, West Hempstead
Outside NYC: Dallas, Baltimore, Washington DC, Seattle, Miami
Willoughbrook is a Jewish Community in Staten Island.
ReplyDeletewhat about Queens: Kew Gardens, Jamaica Estates, Hillcrest, Hillside, Rego Park, dont dismiss all these places your leaving lots of us out
ReplyDeleteand you didnt even include suffolk county (which is half of long island- you only mentioned places in nassau county)
Prili, I mentioned what I know because I'm trying to jog the reader's minds that they might know something about the communities even if they don't live there or for them to add more places.
ReplyDeleteAs for Queens, I listed Kew Gardens. I didn't list Rego Park because it's not an Orthodox community. Forest Hills has some Orthodox synagogues but even that isn't a community. It's just a neighborhood where some Jews live. I STRONGLY RECOMEND AGAINST MOVING TO REGO PARK OR FOREST HILLS. You will not be able to go to people's homes for meals. There are no kosher butchers in the area. You have to go into to Kew Gardens Hills to buy everything, EVERYTHING. At least Kew Gardens has some shopping. Plus, they have mostly Observant Jews. It's hard to learn to be observant surrounded by "traditional" (code for not observant) Jews.
Los Angeles. how could you forget it? huge frum community
ReplyDeleteYou also can add Atlanta, Miami, North Miami Beach(20 minutes due north of Miami) as having strong and vibrant Jewish communities. Personally, i live in Albany, a small community with swings, highs, and lows, but we have two schools, two *frum* kehillot(Cong. Beth-Abraham-Jacob, and Shomray Torah(The "Shteeble")), three mikvahs, the largest Wal*Mart in the world(two floors?!), 3 hours from Montreal/Boston/Brooklyn (less than two hours to Monsey), as well as readily available kosher food to buy from the regional supermarket chain. Fresh meat and fish is cut daily, one of the stores has an entire newly built store, which includes an all-kosher(Pas"Y) bakery, with bagels, artisan breads, donuts(!), and many Israeli products, and even a small Judaica section. Albany is a hidden gem. We might be The Frozen Chosen, but many people who have left always come back to visit, and many who pass through come back again to visit, as well. Some even stay. We are a state capital, have many state jobs, and many frum Jews from downstate come to Albany for work related trips every so often. i can name a few that come to shul in the mornings/evenings on both hands. We have minyanim twice a day at Beth Abe, and even three Jewish pre-schools, one of which my son just graduated. Our kehilla is made up of lawyers, doctors, engineers, students, med students, pharmacy and law students, young families(like mine), regular state employees, office workers, and people in most fields you'll find anywhere else. We even have a nuclear physicist that has two kids, and who's husband is a mashgiach with the local Va'ad HaKashrut. Yes, you heard me right, her *husband*. Oh, did i mention she's CHaBa"D? We even have our own Jewish newspaper, in regular print since 1965. All walks of life, and everyone is friends all across the board. Rabbi Moshe Bomzer, son of Rabbi Herbert Bomzer, is our Mara D'Asra. He and the rebbetzin do some limited conversions. some work out, some do not. Do not forget Schenectady and Troy. While Troy is slowly aging and passing on, Schenectady still has potential, with a strong, active JCC(Albany has one as well), 6 or 7 highly active conservative and reform congregations(at least they're strong and vibrant), and one Orthodox kehilla, under the auspices of Rabbi Moshe Mirsky, himself doing some conversions one-on-one, as well. i personally work for a large regional Jewish-owned business, doing IT work. Don't pass us up because we're small. Pass us up because you're on your way to Montreal and want to get there before dark. At least come visit us on the way back down. By the way, Albany is *NOT* "UPSTATE". Syracuse, Utice, Rochester, they are upstate. Potsdam and Watertown are upstate. Albany is officially "N.E. NY State", though that's a misnomer as well. We're less than 30 minutes from Massachusetts, and about 35-40 minutes from the Vermont border. Also, anything north of Monsey is not upstate. The Catskills are upstate. Come by anytime, stay for a while, and enjoy the scenic views!
ReplyDeleteI don't recommend that anyone use any rabbi witht the last name BOMZER for a conversion as it's likely to give them problems.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, Ok, you just gave me a really good review of Albany. You're friends with Frum Satire, right? He used to live in Albany.