FRUMVILLE USA: Lido and Long beaches pitch Orthodox movers

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The Orthodox shuls in Lido Beach and Long Beach were the two Long Island towns that joined 46 communities from 22 states on Sunday in bidding to attract frum Jews looking for greener — or at least different —pastures.

More than 2,000 peple crowded the fifth annual Orthodox Union Communities Fair in Manhattan where they were pitched on the hospitality of a wide range of cities from throughout the country — including the Silicon Valley, Seattle, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Memphis (represented by an Elvis) and more.

Many communities, hungry to attract new Jewish families, offered financial incentives, including free shul memberships, real estate rebates, and day school tuition discounts. They pitched amenities that are standard fare in the New York area but not universally known to exist in the heartland — Orthodox shuls, mikvot, day schools and kosher restaurants.

For those seeking a more elevated move, the second floor of the fair was given over to talk of aliyah.

While many of Sunday’s community-shoppers were looking for cheaper housing, less expensive yeshiva tuition and good job opportunities, others were simply seeking a change of scenery but within an flourishing Orthodox environment.

For pricy Lido Beach and Long Beach, discount housing may not have been a big draw, although housing rebates and tuition discounts were on the table.

The first communities fair, in 2008, was the developed by then-OU President Stephen J. Savitsky, a resident of the Five Towns.

“The objective behind establishing growing communities as places for relocation was the excessive cost of housing and education in the large New York metropolitan market,” he said.

“As I visited these communities it became apparent that they offered desirable alternatives for the high cost of living an Orthodox Jewish life here.”

OU’s current president, Martin Nachimson, said his organization “recognizes that, despite the qualms, moving is a very important consideration for the Orthodox community.

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