The Orthodox Union’s Community Fair, a 16-year-old project that is now held online every other year, provides an exceptional service to singles, young couples, growing families, retirees and empty nesters looking for a new Jewish community that can best meet their needs.
Held most recently on March 3 of this year, the newly renamed Savitsky Home Relocation Fair was a resounding success. As Rebbetzin Judi Steinig, senior director of community projects and partnerships at the Orthodox Union, shared with The Jewish Link, the fair featured 54 virtual booths highlighting Jewish communities in Israel and across the U.S. It attracted over 2,600 participants from dozens of states as well as from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Kenya, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Venezuela.
Steinig stated that the fair has two aims: “One is providing information and resources to those looking to move about jobs, education, different hashkafot and amenities of various communities. The other is to provide an unparalleled opportunity for communities looking to grow to showcase themselves.”
The 2024 Savitsky Home Relocation Fair yielded another benefit of particular interest to people tracking trends in Jewish communities. OU leaders looked closely at the statistics and compiled a list of the Top 10 most-visited virtual booths. The list is a solid indicator of the communities attracting the most interest among people looking to move.
At the top of the list was Israel, whose virtual booth got 178 visitors. Of the others in the top five, three were in Florida (Jacksonville: No.2; Tampa: No. 3; and Orlando: No. 5) and No. 4 was Atlanta. These were followed by Louisville, Kentucky; Scottsdale, Arizona; Memphis, Tennessee; and Savannah, Georgia—representing the trend for people to seek out communities in warmer climates.
The community making it to No. 10 on the Top 10 list was the only one to rank so highly from the group representing areas in New Jersey, upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
No. 10 on the list was Highland Park/Edison in New Jersey.
Now, you may ask, “How did Highland Park/Edison make it to No. 10 on this list?” The Jewish Link asked that same question.
Steinig suggested that Highland Park/Edison attracted the most attention in our region because it featured a group of shuls, representing a broad spectrum of hashkafot. The Highland Park/Edison Jewish community also has a strong menu of amenities and has easy access to jobs, dining and recreational opportunities in New York City, Northern New Jersey, Philadelphia and Lakewood.
“Highland Park/Edison offers all the amenities one can expect from an ‘in-town’ community such as multiple shuls, schools and restaurants while offering the warmth and feel more traditionally associated with ‘out-of-town’ communities,” said Rob Haarburger, a vice president of Congregation Ahavas Achim who was one of the organizers of the Highland Park/Edison virtual booth at the Community Fair. “Additionally, the entry-level cost of homes is significantly lower than many of our tristate area counterparts.”
“Highland Park/Edison offers a very wide range of different hashkafas in its shuls and schools while remaining one constant community. One example of this is Shavuos night when the rabbis of the varying shuls rotate to talk at the other shuls, to give all community members a flavor of the different rabbis and signal our unity.”
For more information on the OU’s Savitsky Home Relocation Fair, please see:
https://communities.ou.org/fair
Harry Glazer is the Middlesex County Editor of The Jewish Link. He can be reached at [email protected] and he welcomes reader feedback.
