Are Mega Frum Communities Meaningful?
Are Mega Frum Communities Meaningful? by Rabbi Perry Tirschwell After living out of town for sixteen years , my wife and I moved back to Teaneck. Today’s Teaneck is very different than the one we lived in for 9 years before our years in Boca Raton. When I walked into a restaurant in Teaneck in 1997, I knew nearly all of the people. It’s just not possible today. Is life with twenty shuls, 7 elementary schools, and 6 high schools better? Even at the smaller shuls (like the one at which I daven), congregants often do not know each other, as there are often multiple Shabbos morning minyanim. Our yeshiva choices have been impacted greatly by the information age. Unthought of a few years ago, it’s not unusual today to find families enrolling different children in different schools and switching a child’s school when they are unhappy. The much-celebrated death of brand loyalty has touched our religious life. Our eldest daughter and her husband live in Oakland, Californ