Apartment hunting in the Tel Aviv area

B"H 

Iran, Jordan, Syria, Gaza … honestly, I am worried and sometimes question where to move to.

I am planning to move into a new apartment on the 1 June or, if possiblem, even before. Therefore, this month will be the month of an intense apartment hunting. Of course, it isn't easy finding something. A bigger place and affordable. Nevertheless, it is possible and I am hoping for the best.

After far more than a year in downtown Tel Aviv, I need a change and less action. The city is far too loud and even quiet areas are noisy at night. I like the coastal area. Especially due to its variety of people and the infrastructure. New Yorkers say that Tel Aviv is like "New York" and I love living in a bigger city. Hoever, I decided to look for a new apartment in the Ramat Gan / Bnei Brak area. For Bnei Brak, I am not frum enough and, as I have mentioned before, I also need a balance between religion and a daily life. I cannot only see Haredim.:-)

For those of you who don't know much about Israel: Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and Petach Tikwah – all of those are independent cities but gepgraphically very close to each other.

Entering Ramat Gan from Tel Aviv

 Despite many modern building and the stock exchange, Ramat Gan also has a quiet and romantic side.

Photos: Miriam Woelke

Choosing an area to live in can raise many doubts. Iran and all other Arab countries have the Tel Aviv area on their destruction list. Shall I look for a new apartment, get settled in order to being bombed ? I cannot go according to those thoughts while I am looking for a new place. Of course, Jerusalem may be more secure in this respect, as the Arab countries wouldn't dare bombing Israel's capital. Arab bombs could hit their Dome of the Rock or the Temple Mount and then it will be hard blaming the Jews for it. 

On the other hand, though, Jerusalem has a bad infrastructure compared to the coastal area, and the city is in danger of becoming an earthquake victim. Whatever I consider, there is a potential danger everywhere.:-)

I quit my present job until the end of the month in order to start something completely different. It will be a busy and chaotic month of May. Apartment hunting, asking for days off from my job in order to have time for all the necessary things to do. After getting settled in June, hopefully life will be a bit more relaxed. New personal goals and I will be back at chassidic Tishes and report a lot about haredi Bnei Brak. 

Inbeetween, I am planning a brief vacation. Travelling a few days around northern Israel: Tiberias and especially Zfat (Safed). I haven't been there for more than a year and I am really looking forward to a visit at the ARI's grave in Zfat. 

 Photo: Miriam Woelke

Those of you who are interested in information about apartment hunting in the Tel Aviv area, you will find a lot to read on this blog in the upcoming weeks. 

Something about the Future

Ramat Gan, located between Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv.

Photo: Miriam Woelke

B”H 

Some weeks ago I announced that I am planning to move back to Jerusalem. An announcement I regretted only a few days later. I had started to analyze whether I really want to move back to Jerusalem and if I was happy with this decision. I wasn't. Don't ask why because I cannot really tell myself. Maybe because I got used to the Tel Aviv mentality. And I don't mean this in a sense of the city's secularism but because of a rather "New York Life Style". Jerusalem seems to be so "village - like" compared to Tel Aviv. Furthermore Jerusalem's mentality simply became strange to me. Always being suspicious and the entire capital is full of pressure. Politically as well as in a religious sense. When I was in Jerusalem during Pessach, I heard some Yeshiva guys talking about this Halacha and that Halacha. One guy wanted to be more strict than the other. This is simply not my world anymore and I am not saying that it has something to do with religion. Maybe I just became too pragmatic. In Tel Aviv you work, you create and you act. I like this kind of life and not the typical Jerusalem complaint "What should I do ?" 

However, I decided to stay in the Tel Aviv area but need to look for a bigger apartment. For the past year, I have been living in a matchbox where I can hardly move but pay a lot of rent. As everyone knows, Tel Aviv is expensive and some say that it is more expensive than Singapore. At least, this is what I read somewhere today.:-)

Rents are high and you have to work a lot in order to make a living. I guess that readers from New York know what I am talking about.:-)

This is why I decided to look for an apartment in Ramat Gan. The city is very close to Tel Aviv and on the other side of it we find the haredi part of Bnei Brak. Furthermore, Ramat Gan is still a bit less expensive than Tel Aviv and has lots of quiet parts. 

My plan is moving there and I will try finding a place as close to Bnei Brak as I can. Hopefully by the end of May / beginning of June, I will be back at the chassidic Tishes. Not only in Mea Shearim but especially in Bnei Brak. I have to find out about Vishnitz and Nadvorna because their Rebbes just passed away recently and we have to see how the two chassidic groups are going to continue. 

Haredi Bnei Brak

Photo: Miriam Woelke

In the upcoming weeks I am going to tell you about me looking for a new apartment. All those crazy experiences you have when you search for a new place to live. In addition to that you will get to know many details about Bnei Brak and the haredi life there.

Street Scene in Ramat Gan (near Tel Aviv)

Photo: Miriam Woelke

The Great Synagoge in Ramat Gan (near Tel Aviv)

Photos: Miriam Woelke

Picture of the Day

Seen in Ramat Gan (near Tel Aviv)

Photo: Miriam Woelke

Memories from Ramat Gan

Ramat Gan

Photo: Miriam Woelke

B”H

If there is a place in Israel I avoid seeing let alone live there, it is Ramat Gan. Ramat Gan is not a Tel Aviv suburb but an independent city. Three cities are located right next to Tel Aviv and you won't see much of a border. Sometimes you may even think that you are here but you are actually there. Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and Givatayim. 


Until a few years ago, Israelis who thought that Tel Aviv is too expensive moved to Ramat Gan or Givatayim. Today the costs of living are basically the same and the only difference may be that there is less noise outside Tel Aviv.

Many years ago, I used to live in downtown (if I may call it so) Ramat Gan. The shops near our house haven't changed much. The hardware store turned into a hairdressing salon but this is nothing unusual in Israel where hardly any store exists vor more than five or ten years.  


My flatmate was national religious. Modern, using lots of make - up and walking around in high heels.

"If I mind that her married lover is showing up from time to time ?"


Somehow the Tel Aviv area appears to me as a huge "spouse betraying area". Of course this is happening all over the world and all over Israel but outside Tel Aviv, people may not talk about it openly. 


I didn't mind and the lover turned out to be quite nice. Two national religious flatmates and one had a married lover. My flatmate went nuts when her lover went out with his wife and she used to phone him all the time and hang up. A game and she drove me nuts as well. One day, her "love diary" was taken by mistake by one of her students she helped with their homework. My flatmate went berserk and managed to get the diary back. The worst was when her really frum national religious parents and Yeshiva brother came for a visit and we all played the game "perfect world". Only her sister knew about the lover but what could she do when my flatmate wasn't too religious.

However, this experience is not the reason why I don't like Ramat Gan. In order to live somewhere and feel at home you need a certain feeling. I have never had this with Ramat Gan. To me the city was nothing more than something inbetween. Inbetween my life and inbetween my decision where to live. I stayed but moved on. Nothing has changed until today. When I come to Ramat Gan then I am only passing through in order to get somehwere else.

And the end of the story ? There is no end. I just hope that my former flatmate has found a good Shidduch and fulfilled her parents dream.