By Leyna Krow, Assistant Editor, JTNews
Is Seattle one of the best places in North America to be a Jew? The Orthodox Union thinks so.
Seattle was one of 13 cities selected as part of the OU’s Emerging Communities Showcase, an event held in Manhattan that drew 650 people from the New York area on April 6. The showcase was designed to highlight cities around the country that have growing Orthodox communities, which might be attractive to New Yorkers looking to relocate.
According to OU spokesman Stephen Steiner, cities had to meet five criteria in order to be considered for the showcase. Along with having at least one OU member synagogue, cities must have a yeshiva day school, a mikvah, a Judaica store, and easily obtainable kosher food.
Steiner pointed out, however, that “not every community who fulfilled those five criteria was chosen.”
Stephen Savitsky, president of the OU, noted that only cities whose Orthodox communities seemed poised for, and accommodating of, growth, were selected.
“I know these communities and I know the players in each. Seattle has a pretty good infrastructure. They just need another infusion of people to get to the next level,” Savitsky said.
Other West Coast cities highlighted during the showcase include Oakland, Calif., San Diego, Calif., and Vancouver, B.C.
Rabbis Moshe Kletenik of Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath, Salomon Cohen-Scali of Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, and Simon Benzaquen of Sephardic Bikur Holim traveled to New York to attend the event on behalf of their respective synagogues and the Seattle Orthodox community as a whole.
Kletenik believes that many of those in attendance are attracted to Seattle for the prospect of jobs in the tech industry and because of the relatively affordable cost of Jewish education, when compared to schools in New York.
However, Kletenik takes exception with the notion of Seattle as a newly emerging Jewish community.
“I don’t think to say that Seattle is ‘emerging’ is really accurate,” Kletenik said. “I think of some of the other cities selected as emerging. Seattle has been established as a Jewish community for many years. But it was an opportunity to highlight for people on the East Coast what Jewish life is like here.”
He noted that he is currently in e-mail contact with several of the New York-area residents he met at the showcase who are seriously considering relocating to Seattle.