Making the move from the town of my youth, Baltimore, to my new home in Kiryat Sefer, has been not only a huge physical jump but a huge jump in mentality and culture as well. Most people think of Kiryat Sefer as a cross between Meah Shearim and the European shtetl of old. In reality, Kiryat Sefer is a vibrant and lovely place to live, one that meets all the physical and spiritual needs of its residents. Come, let’s take a look at the city I love.
Kiryat Sefer was started in 1993 as a response to the severe housing shortage in the religious communities of Eretz Yisrael. The city is unique in that it was built from the start to be a Torah community. One hundred percent of its residents are frum, and its streets are named after sefarim; hence the name Kiryat Sefer! It began as a small town in the Western part Israel equidistant to Yerushalayim and Bnai Brak. Over the years, many other neighborhoods were built adjacent to Kiryat Sefer, such as Brachfeld, Green Park, Neot Hapisga, and Kiryat Avi Ezri. In 2008, all these neighborhoods, along with Moshav Matisyahu, part of Chashmonaim village, and some other surrounding villages, were joined together to form the new city, Modiin Ilit (Upper Modiin, not to be confused with the nearby secular city of Modiin). Because Kiryat Sefer was the original neighborhood, many people still refer to the whole city as Kiryat Sefer.
Children, Children Everywhere
Modiin Ilit, with over 10,000 families and over 65,000 residents, is the fastest growing city in the country; the growth rate is 13.2 percent per year, and 63 percent of its residents are children under the age of eighteen! An average of 65 children are born to Kiryat Sefer families each week. Unfortunately, due to the lack of a local hospital, many of them are actually born on route to the hospital or at home!
Menucha Armel (nee Getz), a former Baltimorean, states that she loves the fact that the city is “very child-oriented, with lots of people in the same stage of life.” Indeed, step outside between 7:45 and 8:15 a.m., and you’ll see streams of children – boys and girls, young and old – walking to school. With 33 elementary schools for boys and 19 for girls, it’s definitely a city bustling with children. (I could have also counted the preschools in the phone book, but there were pages and pages of listings!) We have choices for girls and boys high schools, as well. And, because the whole city is frum, even the public schools are frum, so, you can send your children to Bais Yaakov and to cheder, tuition free! Anyone who wants a school that caters to a more specific crowd, a different learning method, or a different educational approach can choose from the many private schools available. On the whole, Modiin Ilit is known for its excellent educational institutions.
The city has invested a tremendous amount of money to build playgrounds. I estimate that there is one for every 10 to 12 buildings. We have lots of outdoor space, as well, where children can play in a wholesome and safe atmosphere. It is safe enough that three-year-olds walk to preschool unaccompanied, and children are sent to the supermarket by themselves by age five or six.
In addition, this child-friendly city regularly subsidizes events like singers, storytellers, and puppet shows. My children love to see the people behind the voices on their favorite story tapes. And every year on Chol Hamoed Pesach, the city sets up a “luna park” that is free of charge for all local children. For the uninitiated, a luna park is a bunch of portable rides, similar to those at the Maryland State Fair. (My guess is that the Israelis call it a “luna park” because you’ve got to be a real lunatic to let your kids onto any of those rides!) The children look forward to the Pesach amusement park as a highlight of the year, and the parents enjoy having such free or low-cost local activities.
Simplicity Is King
The way of life here in Kiryat Sefer is very simple. As former Baltimorean Aliza (nee Schliefer) Schondorf states: “There’s no keeping up with the Jones’ here.” I agree, and would venture to say that the majority of my daughter’s class shops for clothes at the second-hand store. Nobody is ashamed; we shmooz as we shop. While kids will be kids, and will always complain that “there’s nothing to do,” I don’t remember my children ever complaining about friends having more toys, fancier toys, etc.
Aviva Landau (nee Perkal of Baltimore) likes that the girls have very little competition and peer pressure as far as clothing is concerned. “The girls are happy to wear the same things again and again,” she says. “There’s no pressure to have numerous Shabbos outfits.” One friend states that when they were in America for Pesach, her father-in-law told the eight-year-old girl to choose anything she would like for an afikomen present. What did she choose? A headband! Our boys are more than happy to play with balls and sticks, while the girls go into the local hardware store and buy a length of rope for jumping.
Wow! Everything Is Frum
Living in an all-frum city is a far cry from living in Baltimore. After all, when was the last time you bumped into your mayor in shul? When did you ever hear of a public school named Bais Yaakov? The entire city government is made up of frum people, and every detail is run according to our lifestyle. Former Baltimorean Bayla Broderick (nee Wolk), who has been living here since the city was established in 1993, says, “Our mayor, R. Gutterman, has put his heart and soul into the betterment of the city; to make it grow in whatever way it can. It’s well kept; they have put a lot of effort into the cleanliness of the city.” Garbage collection has its regular schedule, of course, but that schedule is changed according to the Yamim Tovim. If you listen carefully on motzei Yom Tov, you’ll hear the garbage trucks out at midnight, emptying the overflowing dumpsters. The sanitation department has special schedules before Pesach, as well, including a deadline of when you can last place chometz in the public, therefore Jewishly-owned, dumpsters. The city provides metal cans for burning chometz, one for every few buildings. After Sukkos, too, the government takes care of our disposals. Regular garbage goes in the dumpsters, but old branches and anything else used for the sukkah or schach gets deposited in pre-established places. The city then collects and disposes of them in a manner appropriate to items used for a mitzva! Now that’s a full service sanitation department! We also have 20 sheimos collection containers distributed throughout town.
Shabbos in Kiryat Sefer is a wonderful experience. According to the instructions of the local bais din, all stores must close on Friday by 1 p.m. in the summer, and by noon in the winter. The Friday morning shopping rush is followed by the thousands of children coming home from school. That is followed by the migration of numerous families – parents, children, suitcases, strollers, and foil packages of food, on route to the bus stops on their way to “Savta Yerushalayim” or “Savta Bnai Brak” for Shabbos.
Then comes the silence. I love to step outside on Friday afternoon and feel the peacefulness. The buses have stopped well before Shabbos in order to enable the drivers to finish their routes, return their buses, and travel back home before Shabbos. The streets are empty. The shops are closed. Everyone is inside getting ready for Shabbos. Shortly before licht bentching (candle lighting), the children line the sidewalks waiting for the “Shabbos car” to come. One innovative man took it upon himself to drive around the city each week playing music on his loudspeaker and announcing what time licht bentching is. With car windows rolled down, he throws candies to any children waiting on the side who are already dressed for Shabbos.
The city gates are closed at licht bentching time, and the streets become one big playground. Jump rope games, ball games, and various forms of tag quickly form in the streets, as the fathers are running off to shul. Shabbos has arrived!
The Bottom Line
From a parnassa perspective, Modiin Ilit makes the map, as well. R. Yaakov Gutterman takes special care to provide work opportunities for the local wives. He offers incentives to companies to establish a branch here. There are quite a few large companies that outsource to Modiin Ilit. Madison Title of Lakewood was the first to do so, naming their Israeli branch “City Book” after “Kiryat Sefer.” They currently employ a few hundred women, and have opened additional branches in Yerushalayim and Beitar. Visa credit card company also employs large numbers of women at their Modiin Ilit branch, along with Matrix Global, which outsources to Modiin Ilit, employing an additional few hundred women. And, of course, we have all the standard job opportunities found in any city: in schools, stores, home offices, etc.
I asked a few English-speaking friends what they have to say about Modiin Ilit, and received only positive responses. One friend commented: “I feel that Kiryat Sefer is one big family. We have just about everything we need here, and we have the convenience of it all in a heimishe setting. We don’t have to compromise our Yiddishkeit to fulfill our gashmius (material) needs. It is a frum city full of chesed, ahavas haTorah, and yirat Shamayim.” Rochy Sklar (nee Reidler, of Baltimore) states that, “while most people here have the same values as I do, I like that it is enclosed, but not closed-minded.”
Spirituality Comes First
I’d like to end with a quote from a friend of mine, which I think expresses the common sentiment very well: “There are many kollel families like us here, which creates a very positive peer pressure. People here live simply in terms of gashmiyus (materialism), focusing on ruchniyus (spirituality), so it’s easy to just fit in and do the same. And I have so many people to look up to, especially among the English-speakers; they are a very special group of people who are true bnai Torah and ovdei Hashem. I know that I would not be the same person I am now if I were living anywhere else.”
Aidel Matskin (nee Berman) grew up in Baltimore and now lives in Kiryat Sefer.
