Reply to Convince me why a Jewish family should move to NoVA instead of Maryland?

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[quote=Anonymous]Hi all,

Our family has recently made the big decision to move to the D.C. area (yay!) from a New York area suburb. We are very aware that it will already be somewhat of a shift culturally in terms of the number of Jews in the area! With that being said, I think we were (as many Jews who move to the area likely do) thinking that we would probably end up somewhere in Montgomery County, as that seems to be the more obvious option for Jewish transplants who want somewhat of a similar feel to the more Jewish areas they may have grown up in.

However, upon researching neighborhoods, I have become very intrigued by some of the Northern Virginia towns we have looked at, such as Arlington and McLean. The vibe overall of Northern Virginia seems a bit more down-to-earth, I am a big fan of many of the schools in that area for our kids when they are of age (I'm an educator and am in the know/have many connections to schools in the general Mid-Atlantic region), and after doing more research, it may end up being an easier commute relative to where my husband and I will end up working, and seems more diverse. Plus, I am under the impression that the Jewish population in Northern Virginia has grown significantly in the last decade or so. I was even lurking on this sub recently and read someone say that NoVA actually has an even BIGGER Jewish population than MoCo but is more spread out so there's not as many Jewish enclaves (not sure if that's true, but that is what someone said).

My husband is also on board with considering buying a home in Virginia, but my parents and some of my friends seem to be trying to convince me otherwise. They are saying things such as "it will not be the same" "it will be too much of a culture shock" "do you really want to be in the minority group" etc. My husband and I also have quite a few friends between us from childhood/college/grad school who have actually moved to the D.C. area (both VA and MD) and are raising their families there, and they have been sending us very conflicting messages. Our friends in MD are basically saying the same things as my parents are saying, with one saying that she gets the impression that her Jewish friends in Virginia are not nearly as involved in the Jewish community there, and another one saying that anyone who wants an active Jewish community is basically doing their family a disservice by not choosing to reside in the more Jewish of the D.C. areas. On the other hand, some of our friends in Virginia absolutely love the Jewish community there, and say that although it is smaller, it has actually pushed them to be MORE involved in the Jewish community so they can connect with other Jews.

I'm a bit torn, though putting all opinions aside--and putting all religious reasoning aside--I personally think we would enjoy living in NoVA more. However, the notion of it possibly not being Jewish enough has been lurking in my mind for a while and is something I'm taking into consideration. For the record, I don't necessarily care as much about the sheer population of Jews, but do want to be able to find a strong Jewish community.

Now that I have most of the pros and cons I can gather laid out, I'm interested in hearing from Jewish people on this sub who have moved to Virginia about why you decided to move to Virginia as opposed to Maryland, and whether or not it has ended up being a good fit. I know of the basic pros and cons, but I thought it would do us well to hear from the horse's mouth why Jews who move to the area CHOOSE to move to NoVA as opposed to the more Jewish and Northeast-esque MoCo. What are the best parts of being a Jew in Northern Virginia (or any challenges that you feel are relevant, if necessary), that you would try to use to sell me, an NY-area Jew by upbringing, to move there?

TIA!

TIA![/quote]

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