Intellegent: From your post it sounds like earning potential and cost is two of the factors that you are considering. As others have said there is life outside of Brooklyn, and New Jersey. I live in NJ and grew up in Brooklyn. The taxes-real estate and income will eat you up. Then, the Yeshiva tuition will tax you like you have never been taxed. Housing prices in the Northeast are higher as well. Why not do pilot trips to Baltimore, Cleveland or Columbus Ohio, Houston or Dallas, Texas? Even North Miami Beach or Boca Raton have kollels that look up to the people learning there. I am not sure about Memphis, if it has a kollel or not but the cost of living in the South can’t compare to NY/NJ. The nice thing about these communities is that everyone counts. You and your husband can make a difference in these communities far easier than in NJ. Don’t be travel shy. There is Yiddeshkeit west of the Hudson River. People don’t kill themselves to pay for the standard of living that you expect or want. Yes, there isn’t twenty pizza stores and five bakeries but that is the sacrifice you have to make to live a calmer lifestyle.
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