Type of Community: City

Region: North

English Speaking Percent: 10

Haifa is a quiet, beautiful, residential city with a decidedly European flavor. Haifa has a rich cultural life, a young cafe and bar scene along the main drag on the Carmel, and many family oriented activities. Haifa is friendly to Olim: it has absorbed the largest number of Russian immigrants proportionate to its size and it has a veteran Anglo community. There is a small but steady trickle of English speaking Olim and many services are available for new immigrants through the municipality and the Ministry of Absorption.

Local Employment
Haifa houses a Hi-Tech Industrial Park (with Intel, Amdocs, Elbit, IBM etc) at the entrance to the city, Haifa University, the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology, heavy industry in Haifa Bay Area, the Israel Electric Company, Rafael (government munitions R&D), Oil Refineries, Haifa Chemicals, and numerous other places of employment. Trains run daily to employment opportunities in Tel Aviv, Netanya, and other areas, and the ride generally takes less than one hour.

Education / Youth
Haifa has a wide range of educational institutions, from nursery to university, including programs for special needs children, and many choices are available both in the secular and the religious streams. There are too many secular options to list here but a variety of religious educational institutions in Ahuza and Neve Shaanan are available as follows: Ganim: there are excellent religious ganim available in both neighborhoods and some of the secular ganim have rich traditional programs. Elementary Schools: the Carmel School (Ntiv Eliezer) is a government religious elementary school for boys and girls with a religious Zionist orientation. Some of the elementary school age children in Ahuza attend the Barkai school (run by a national religious school organization), which runs separate classes for boys and girls, and is located in Kiryat Eliezer – about 15 minutes away from Ahuza and Neve Shaanan. High Schools: for girls, Ironi Vav is the municipal religious girl’s high school located in Neve Shaanan. There is also a Tzvia High School (run by a National Religious school organization) for girls, located in the Hadar. For Boys, Yavne is the Municipal Religious High School and it is relatively close to both neighborhoods. Branco-Weiss High School for boys (run by a national religious school organization) is also easily accessible. In addition, there are a number of outstanding secular high schools (Reali, Hugim and Leo Beck) nearby, as well as municipal high schools.There is an excellent local municipal religious elementary school for boys and girls, as well as private one. There are two religious boys’ high schools and two religious girls’ high schools within easy commuting distance of Ahuza. There is a very active, bustling Bnai Akiva chapter in the neighborhood, with children from fourth grade through senior high school, and it provides youth with a strong and binding social, educational and ideological framework.
“There is an excellent local municipal religious elementary school for boys and girls, as well as a private one.”

Community and Religious Life- “Most neighborhoods in Haifa are mixed. Therefore, the Anglo population tends to be well integrated within general Israeli society.” “Ahuza has over twenty orthodox synagogues,..”

Transportation
Intra city buses cover the city in its entirety, and there is a cable car to connect the upper part of the city to the lower part.
There are buses from to all destinations in the country. The train line also connects travellers to destinations further North and South. Travelling to Tel Aviv by train makes working there a very viable option.

Olim Services
There is a small but steady trickle of English speaking Olim, and many services are available for new immigrants through the municipality and through the Ministry of Absorption.

Amenities / Services
Haifa has many excellent cultural resources: the Haifa Municipal Theater with its own beautiful building, the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Cinematheque and a number of thriving community centers. It also has a well-developed network of public libraries which include children’s books and books in English. There are a number of sports complexes, four large cinema multiplexes and to top it all off, an excellent amateur English theater with performances for the general public two or three times a year. Haifa also has active branches of all the large volunteer organizations, including an English speaking Hadassah chapter.

Community and Religious Life
Haifa has a wide variety of religious communities ranging from Hassidic Sects through Modern Orthodox, Mesorati and Reform.

Most neighborhoods in Haifa are mixed, therefore the Anglo population tends to be well integrated within general Israeli society. Ahuza and Neve Shaanan are excellent choices for Anglo who want to enjoy the range of relgious services while also enjoying the mix that a large city has to offer.Kiryat Shmuel, a largely religious suburb in the Haifa Bay area, is also a viable alternative.

Generally speaking, English speaking Olim, are spread out all over metropolitan Haifa and can be found in every neighborhood, but for those seeking religious community life the above three areas provide the best alternatives. Ahuza is the most expensive of these neighborhoods, although compared to other cities housing costs are reasonable and even some bargains are available. Achuza has over twenty orthodox synagogues, as well as an active Conservative synagouge (Congregtion Moriyah) and two thriving Reform congregations (Or Hadash and Ohel Avraham).

The Ahuza synagogues sponsor joint holiday celebrations and events and publish a bi-monthly community journal. Neve Shaanan has a large, vibrant religious community which boasts a community center with round the clock activities.

Unlike Ahuza and Neve Shaanan, Kiryat Shmuel is a largely religious neighborhood where secular people are a definite minority. Some streets are closed on Shabbat and the institutions there have a more strictly Orthodox leaning.

Real Estate
Average price for purchasing a:
3 bedroom Apt- 469,076 NIS
4 bedroom Apt- 700,025 NIS
5 bedroom Apt- 876,068 NIS

Average price for renting a:
3 bedroom Apt- 2,148 NIS
4 bedroom Apt- 2,736 NIS
5 bedroom Apt- 3,404 NIS

Source: Nefesh B’Nefesh

This entry was posted on July 18, 2010 at 1:35 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Northern Israel by admin No Comments Yet