Venice, Italy

Contributed by Elina Rokhkind | Last Date of Travel: October 2009

Kosher Info: All Jewish life in Venice is clustered inside the former Ghetto area of two compact squares – Campo di Ghetto Nuovo and Campo di Ghetto Vecchio. Here you can find two meat kosher restaurants: Gam-Gam, which is owned and operated by Chabad, and Le Balthazar with the adjacent new kosher hotel Giardino del Ghetto (same ownership) under the supervision of Chief Rabbi of Venice.

It was packed in Gam-Gam on Thursday night, so reservations are recommended. The food was tasty and the service efficient, but the menu was mostly Israeli style with just a few Italian selections. On Shabbat Gam-Gam hosts communal meals (free, but donations are appreciated). They told us that in the summer they had up to 700 guests each week eating in shifts! During our October stay it was less crowded, but the restaurant was full nevertheless.

Le Balthazar also offers Shabbat meals, which you have to pre-pay. During our visit they hosted a morning Kiddush for everyone in their quaint backyard garden, so we got a glimpse of Le Balthazar’s cuisine and atmosphere. I must say, we were rather impressed, both the fresh authentic Italian delicacies they served and the lovely décor contributed to an extremely pleasant experience.

There is another small B&B in the Ghetto – Locanda del Ghetto, which only serves catered kosher breakfast for its guests.

There are also two kosher bakeries – one was never open while we were there, and the other had a nice selection of breads and pastries, and sold kosher packaged products and wine. The bakery is apparently owned by non-Jews, since it was open on Shabbat, while displaying two kashrut certificates. Chabad also runs a small makolet, where you can buy some dry goods and dairy, but it does not have set operation hours, so you need to arrange with them to open it.

Another dining option is the dairy cafeteria in the Jewish Museum of Venice, open during the museum hours. We tried it and were pleasantly surprised, as it offered simple but yummy Italian dishes and heimishe service. Finally, we discovered a gelateria Il Gelatone within a 5-minute walk outside of the Ghetto: all flavors marked with a K are kosher, but cookie holders are not permitted – ask for a paper cup.

Travel Info: Considered an ultimate romantic city with its web of narrow streets and myriads of canals, cozy squares, dreamy bridges and unique architecture, Venice would indeed be so if not for the masses of tourists. But even with the Manhattan-like crowds, the place is worth touring.

Many day-trippers never get to explore Venice beyond the St. Mark’s Square and a gondola ride. In fact, the city has a number of interesting museums and palaces one can visit, but the best part is just to roam through Venice, discover some back streets which no tourists reach, get lost in the narrow lanes and be amazed by the past grandeur and the ongoing struggle with the water to keep the history from decay. The Venetian phenomenon of acqua alta (“high waters”) caused primarily by the exceptionally high tides in the Adriatic Sea and magnified by the Venice’s continuous sinking into the lagoon, brings about periodical flooding of the area and challenges the upkeep of the suffering buildings.

Take a vaporetto (waterbus) ride along the Grand Canal – the once magnificent facades are somewhat dilapidated, but still charming. During the “high waters”, which foremost hit the overwhelmed by tourists San Marco area – the city’s lowest point, people navigate on raised platforms, and traffic can be slow.

By all means, take some guided tour once in Venice to learn more about the rich and interesting history of the Venetian Republic. Both the Doge’s Palace “Secret Itineraries” tour (where they bring you to otherwise inaccessible floors of the palace) and the Clock Tower tour we took were very engaging and are highly recommended. The Doge’s Palace and the Clock Tower are both located on the famed Piazza San Marco together with the Basilica San Marco, the Campanille (bell tower) and several museums. Cafes with outside seating on the Piazza feature baroque and jazz music bands, and at night the square becomes a scene of “dueling orchestras”, when bands from different cafes take turns in showing off their virtuosity.

If you have a chance, visit other islands in the Venetian lagoon. Murano Island, famous for its glassmaking shops, is an interesting option, where you can catch a glass-blowing demo and purchase discounted (compared to Venice) glass pieces.

Jewish Info: The Ghetto area is the center of the Jewish life in Venice. Venetian Ghetto is the oldest in Europe – in 1516 it was decreed that Jews are to live in the small area in sestiere Cannaregio where the old foundries (geti in Italian) were located. Due to the guttural pronunciation of the German Jews who first settled in the geti area, the word “ghetto” appeared. Initially the Jews were given the Ghetto Nuovo, but later the Ghetto was enlarged to include Ghetto Vechio (the names of New and Old refer here to the new and old foundries, not sites of Jewish settlements). The Ghetto was closed at night, and the surrounding canals were patrolled by Christian guards. The Ghetto was abolished with the Napoleon’s conquest in 1797.
Several thousands Jews lived in this pretty confined area of two squares. Unusually high buildings with subdivided floors are the result of the cramped living conditions.

The synagogues in Ghetto Nuovo are located on the top floors of the buildings. Five beautiful 16th century synagogues (called Scole) are well-preserved and can be seen on a guided tour through the Jewish Museum of Venice. Two synagogues are open for services (the Levantine Scola in the winter, the Spanish Scola in the summer), with other synagogues functioning during the holidays.
Aside from the synagogues and the Jewish Museum, there are two Holocaust memorials, Beit-Chabad and their small yeshiva, and a bunch of Judaica stores in the Ghetto. For additional details check the Jewishitaly.org website.

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Cancun, Mexico

Contributed by Elina Rokhkind  |  Last Date of Travel: February 2010

Kosher Info: Your choice of eating kosher in Cancun (unless you are staying in one of the kosher resorts over Passover) is either ordering catered meals from Chabad or bringing your own food (though no beef or fresh produce allowed into Mexico), which you can supplement by a variety of kosher products found in local stores. Chabad lists what you can spot in Walmart, Sam’s Club and Costco. In addition to the familiar US hashgachos, there are two Mexican ones – KMD and VK Alef Alef  – to look out for.  For example, LALA milk (not Chalav Israel) with VK Alef Alef is easily found everywhere. On our trip to Walmart we also discovered yummy LALA yogurts and another brand with KMD hechsher (very cheap too, they were at about $0.25!), as well as cream cheese, lox, tofu, canned goods, cereals, ice cream, and lots of snacks.

Tourist Info: Cancun is a perfect sunny destination if you want to combine beach and poolside activities with sightseeing and other experiences. Cancun offers an abundance of the latter, with trips and activities sold everywhere from your hotel lobby to a mall or a street kiosk. You can choose from a variety of theme/eco-parks (Xcaret, Xplor, Xel-Ha), ancient Mayan ruins (most famous being Chichen Itza), dolphin swim programs, all-terrain vehicles jungle tours, and a number of sports and aquatic activities from zip-lining to parasailing to scuba diving, and more. If you are not an adventurous type you may choose to see the colorful marine life from the glass-bottom boat or in the aquarium. You have to travel 1-2 hours to some sites, while others are local.

Or… you may skip all of it and simply enjoy the turquoise waters, white sand and the luxuries offered by your resort. Be aware, however, that many beach areas in Cancun are notorious for rough seas – during our weeklong visit in February the waves were pretty high and the red flag was raised most of the time.

On our visit we selected 2 day trips. One – to the beautiful island of Isla Mujeres (a 40-minute ferry ride from Cancun), where we participated in the Dolphin Encounter program at Dolphin Discovery, and later took a golf cart tour from the downtown across the island and back. Meeting and touching a dolphin was the highlight of the whole trip for our 3-year-old son.

The second trip was to the eco-park Xcaret (1.5-hour bus drive away) where you fill your day with various water activities, nature encounters, and cultural explorations, all culminating in a 2-hour-long spectacular night show, which unveils Mexican history and culture through dance and music. We also visited a small aquarium in the La Isla Shopping Village (short walk from the hotel we stayed at), which had an evening dolphin show; browsed through the pleasant La Isla mall itself, and undertook a disappointing trip to the flea market (Market 28) in the mainland Cancun. We did not explore the downtown area, but some tourists were heading there.

Cancun is composed of the city itself, where locals live, and the long strip of land (island, in fact) between the coastline and the Nichupte lagoon, called the Hotel Zone. Compared to the shiny tourist zone, the authentic Cancun was a rather unattractive sight to our taste. Buses run regularly along the Boulevard Kukulcan in the Hotel Zone and to the downtown area, making it very convenient and inexpensive to get around, while taxis are quite pricey. If you are traveling with a small child, pick him up when entering the bus – if the child walks in by himself, you pay the fare for him due to the funny automated system counting the number of feet. Also, sometimes you have to flag the bus in order for it to stop, especially in the evening. There is a number of shopping plazas and convenience stores along the Hotel Zone, where you can exchange money, and buy various necessities, as well as engage in more serious shopping. You can buy Mexican souvenirs and apparel in many places along the Hotel Zone, but you can supposedly bargain at Market 28. Beware of the timeshare sales presentations pushed everywhere – we were dragged into one right in the airport upon arrival. (To tell the truth, we were ready to sign up to one in exchange for huge sightseeing discounts, but it was surprising anyway that such presentations were offered at an airport booth, and unsuspecting visitors were somehow channeled to those booths which seemed to provide only tourist info).

Cancun is all about luring tourists into spending more money, be it a sightseeing tour offered by your airport transfer company rep, or a sunblock sold on the tour bus, so make wise choices and don’t hold a grudge, as many locals depend on the tourist industry to make their living.

Jewish Info: When we came for the timeshare presentation, they changed our salesperson at the last moment. Perhaps, a manager saw us, who knew what a kippah on my husband’s head means. The first thing the new (very Mexican-looking) salesperson did was taking a kippah out of his pocket and confiding to us that his last name is Cohen, but they don’t let him wear kippah at work, and later producing his ID as a proof. According to him, there are lots of Jews in Cancun, which we understood to be mostly unaffiliated or traditional, and some organized Jewish community in downtown Cancun with no rabbi of their own. As nice as our salesperson was, we did not buy the timeshare.

The Orthodox community is represented by Chabad of Cancun with its enthusiastic Rabbi Mendel Druk and his lovely wife Rachel. They run a number of programs, hold services and host Shabbat at their Chabad House in downtown. Twice per month they hold Shabbat services and Kiddish dinner and lunch at Avalon Grand Hotel in the Hotel Zone. They also organize Jewish holiday celebrations and cater to various other Jewish needs both of locals and tourists. We tremendously enjoyed meeting this couple so dedicated to bringing Yidishkeit to as many Jews as possible. Please contact Rabbi Druk directly for any questions.

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Birmingham, AL

Contributed by: Daniel Wenger | Last Date of Travel: Several visits in early 2010

Kosher Info: Not much going on here, I’m afraid. Birmingham’s shining star is the Publix supermarket on Overton Road which, in addition to having a larger-than-usual Kosher section in the regular shopping aisles, has a refrigerator case of fresh meat, chicken, deli, and cheese and a small freezer box of similar items. Shabbat meals are sometimes provided by the synagogue (see Jewish Info below).
I am told that one of their nearby ice cream parlors maintais a Kosher status and that a local bakery carries Challah and other Shabbos-friendly items for the community. Other supermarkets carry a standard matza-and-gefilte-fish Kosher section, though, in addition to the Overton Road Publix, the nearby Winn Dixie has a slightly expanded section to include more Israeli products, catering, of course, to its local constituancy.

Tourist Info: The first time I saw the term ‘BJCC’, I thought “why would the Birmingham Jewish Community Center be hosting a Monster Truck Rally?” Ok, so the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex hosts a wide variety of entertaining events, and the Birmingham Business Alliance would be happy to show you what else the metro area has to offer. The Birmingham Barons AA minor league baseball team (White Sox affiliate) can provide for cheap near-field seats.
Car travel is essentially all there is.

Jewish Info: The orthodox Jewish community is located southeast of downtown (along Overton Road). Knesseth Israel claims 120 years of Jewish history in Birmingham and has recently relocated to a beautiful building with full service meat and dairy kichens. Just up the block is the Chabad of Alabama, which runs events, Minyanim, and attracts some of the local Israeli community.
This community has been struggling as time has gone on, with membership growing older and/or moving away. Minyanim are sometimes hard to come by, even on Shabbat (the constituants are mainly not Shomer Shabbat, even if they affiliate with orthodoxy). They still hang on to a community day school and, yes, there is the real Birmingham JCC.
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You are welcome to contact the author with further questions about the community. Contact Daniel Wenger.

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Kosher on Campus: Cornell University

Students at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, whose undergraduate population of 13,000 is 20 percent Jewish, are lucky to have plenty of Kosher options right on campus.

The main kosher dining hall, 104West!, is run by Cornell Dining and supervised by the Orthodox Union. It is located on Cornell’s west campus, adjacent to the Cornell Center for Jewish Living. Because of its integration with Cornell Dining, students need not purchase a separate, more expensive Kosher plan: A meal at 104West! costs one meal swipe, just like every other all-you-can-eat dining hall. 104West!, which serves both dairy and meat meals, is open for lunch and dinner every day, and offers daily soup, salad bar, and deserts, in addition to whatever the hot option is that day. Students also have the option of ordering custom specialties from the grill, which include omelettes, quesadillas, and pad thai. 104West! provides catering services, allowing students to buy Kosher food for outside events—Pizza, deli, and even Shabbat meals!

For freshman who live on North Campus, which is approximately a 12 minute walk from 104West!, there exists a more conveniently located Kosher option. North Star, an all-you-can-eat facility in North Campus’ Appel Commons, features a kosher station supervised by a mashgiach. Besides for such classics as deli sandwiches, hot dogs, and matzoh ball soup, the station also provides fresh hot food, brought from the kosher kitchen at 104West!

When on the go, Cornellians have the option to pick up Kosher, prepackaged deli sandwiches from many restaurants and shops around campus. The Noyes convenience store offer kosher staples such as frozen pizza bagels, lox, deli meats, and more. And for those students adventurous enough to venture into Ithaca, the supermarket Wegmans’ maintains well-stocked kosher meat and dairy sections.

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Brussels, Belgium

Contributed by: Michelle Szpilzinger | Last Visited: January 2009

Kosher Info: This site has a good list of the kosher resources in Brussels. There is not much to find in the old historic center, but there are currently two kosher restaurants in the EU area, which is not a major tourist destination but is fairly simple to get to by metro. I would check to see if they are open on evenings and weekends as I know for a fact that the EU area is deserted at night. I can not vouch for them as I did not eat at either one. Unfortunately, it seems that the one kosher place in Brussels I actually visited (Pilpel) is now closed, which is a shame as it was a nice little restaurant with an adjacent kosher shop that was open in the evenings. We bought our food for Shabbos there.

For Shabbat Hospitality, contact Chabad. They offered to host us for meals and accommodation, but we opted instead to stay in the city center. They were really nice and I had good communication with them by e-mail.

If you’re staying in the city center, the kosher shops are not terribly convenient by public transportation. We opted to stay in an apartment-hotel with a kitchen rather than a regular hotel and brought a small pot and pan and some food from home so we could save money and time by making our own food. We also figured it would mean avoiding the annoying key-card issue, and we almost did — the only problem was that our flat was above a shop and when the shop was closed you had to use the key from the outside or a button on the inside to open the electric door shutter. This meant we were stuck inside Friday night (though we didn’t mind, as it was cold) and on Shabbos day had to make sure the shop was open. It was annoying but I’d still highly recommend the company, Apartments Apart, as the flat was really comfortable and nice, cheaper than most hotels, and even provided free wifi. You also get to feel more like a local for your stay.

Another option is to head over to Antwerp where kosher food abounds. It’s only 45 minutes or so from Brussels by train, and many kosher shops and restaurants are right near the Antwerp train station.  If you’re staying in Brussels for more than a day or two, Antwerp is a must-visit whether you need the food or not.

Chocolate is, of course, a Belgian specialty; but the only brand we were told is definitely kosher is Guylian, which you can also buy internationally. We did manage to find some obscure kosher chocolate in a tiny store in Bruges that happened to have an Israeli hechsher on it, but we never saw it in Brussels.

Another Belgian specialty is beer, including many types of flavored beers. We were never given a definitive answer on the kashruth of these beers, so we stuck to regular, plain beer.

As for the ubiquitous Belgian waffles (sold in stands on nearly every street)…good luck finding kosher ones. Let me know if you do. They smelled incredible — it was torture.

Tourist Info: Once a major medieval city, now the de facto capital of Europe, Brussels has a great mix of old and new with some amazing Art Nouveau thrown into the mix. A first stop for any visitor would be the Grand Place, a stunning square surrounded by the city hall and the glittering former guild houses of medieval merchants, where you can also find the tourist office. Every other summer the square is filled with a giant Carpet of Flowers. If I ever go to Brussels again, it’ll be a summer when I can see it. Nearby is the famous “Mannekin Pis,” a hilarious symbol of Brussels as it’s a fountain with a center sculpture of a tiny boy putting out a fire by rather unusual methods. (The title is a hint.)

Up a hill is Place Royal, home of the King’s Palace (open only in summer) and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, which houses both the Museum of Ancient Art and a Modern Art museum.

For Elegant Shopping you can visit the Sablon Squares and Avenue Louise. If you have children with you, you might want to visit Mini-Europe.

One unique museum is the Center for Comic-Strip Art. Belgium is the home of the famous Tintin, and it’s a fun museum housed in a gorgeous Art Nouveau building. Art Nouveau lovers will also love the Museum of Musical Instruments and the Musee Horta.

Jewish Info: The Jewish community of Brussels is much smaller than the one in nearby Antwerp, much of it outside the historic center. We did not encounter a lot of it, but there are a few sites in the city center. The Great Synagogue is a lovely Neo-Romanesque structure on Rue de la Regence between the Palais de Justice and the Place Royal. There are also a couple of memorials to the Holocaust and Jewish martyrs. For more information on Jewish life in Brussels, check out the Jewish Virtual History Tour.

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Adirondacks Mountains, NY, Burlington & Stowe, VT

Contributed by: Aaron Steinberg | Last Date of Travel: August 2008

Kosher Info:

There was not a lot of Kosher food to be found in either of these destinations. Our plan was to camp out for two nights in the Adirondacks (upstate NY), then drive to Vermont and spend two nights in a resort hotel.

We packed most of our food with us from New York. We brought your normal camping food (burgers, bread, peanut butter, veggies, condiments, eggs, snacks, trail mix, and more) with us in a cooler and grocery bags. Kosher camping is so simple and fun, and I truly recommend it for anyone who is considering.

We lived pretty simply for those days, and our only treat was when we went to Lake Placid, NY (site of both the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics). This quiet town has a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop, and a Starbucks.

After two days of eating like this, we needed some sort of break. Driving into Vermont, we went to the one Kosher establishment we could find (aside from home hospitality in Chabad): Shaws Supermarket (570 Shelburne Rd. Burlington, VT 05401). What we found there was frozen delicacies like pizza and knishes. With our trusty sandwich maker, we were prepared to turn our 4-star hotel room into a gourmet kitchen.

The final Kosher treat of our trip was the Ben and Jerry’s Factory Tour. While the tour is more than it’s hyped up to be, there’s nothing like driving 8 hours to wait in a longer than usual line to buy some Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.

This trip reminded us that sometimes Kosher traveling isn’t about planning a trip around OU establishments, and is rather a challenge to go anywhere and make it work your own way.

Tourist Info:

We left New York, and drove about 8 hours north into the Adirondack Mountains. We headed straight to the campsite we had reserved, and rushed to setup our tent before night fell.

We spent the next day really enjoying Lake Placid which is really an amazing little town. It has the feel of a hippie college town with just a bit too much tourist influence. There is beautiful nature everywhere, with great lakes and places to bike/hike around. It also has some amazing Olympics-related experiences including a dry-run of an Olympic Bobsled track (a bit pricey), rifle shooting on the actual Bi-athlon range (totally worth the $10-$15), and bunch of other Olympic venues such as Ice Rinks, the Ski Jump and much more. We were actually able to check out a womens “Pro” hockey game for $6 while we were there.

After sleeping another night at the camp site, we drove a few miles north and caught a ferry across Lake Champlain over to Burlington, VT. The ferry ride was a fun 45 minutes or so, but it was a bit too cold to sit outside and really enjoy the ride. After arriving in Vermont, we headed over to the Kosher aisle of the Shaws.

For the final leg of our trip we drove to Stowe, VT (Ski country during the winter) and stayed at Stoweflake, which is an amazing resort spa. We just chilled out and enjoyed the beautiful room, wonderful grounds, and nice spa treatments.

We checked out some of the local sights which included some small unique stores in Stowe itself, and of course the Ben & Jerry’s Factory tour. Warning: If your goal in traveling to the Adirondacks/Vermont is to avoid Jews (as ours was) this will ruin everything – the place is packed with frum Jews of all flavors. It was still worth visiting, although the tour is pretty meager.

The drive back from Vermont through Massachussets to New York is beautiful, and the most amazing landscape I have ever driven through can be found in southern Vermont. This is definitely a great destination for people who can appreciate nature.

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Atlanta, GA

Contributed by: Daniel Wenger | Last Date of Travel: [Author lives in Atlanta]
Original article was posted in May 2008 and has been updated for 2010

Kosher Info: Atlanta has the largest amount of Jewish/Kosher resources south of Maryland and north of the southern Florida hotspots. The Toco Hills community is the focal point of this activity, with fully-stocked Kosher sections in the local Kroger and Publix supermarkets, as well as several Kosher restaurants – even a self-standing bakery and Kosher mini-mart!

Toco Hills

Broadway Café, located on Briarcliff Road by LaVista Road, is the Milchig (dairy) sit-down restaurant, and really the only place to go for its level of service (not upscale fancy, but certainly business-appropriate). Broadway bills itself as vegetarian (with plenty of fake-meat and also vegan options) and draws in even non-Jewish diners during the local business lunch hour. The current location is where Pizza Palace (now closed) used to be; Broadway has since added Satrday night hours and pizza-by-the-slice specials. See their menu and even place your order online.
Pita Palace is around the corner on LaVista Road, and also draws an international crowd that favors falafel and shawarma. There’s not much seating room, but could still be business-appropriate if you’re specifically looking for an international ambiance.
Following LaVista down to North Druid Hills and the Toco Hills Shopping Center leads you to the aforementioned Kroger and Publix supermarkets. Kroger has a Chinese takeout station Chai Peking inside (order on your way in, shop for your weekly groceries, and pick up on your way out), and also has a Fleishig (meat), well, American, I guess, take-out counter (sandwiches, fried chicken, hot dogs, etc.). Publix’s deli counter has a sub station (I recommend picking up some subs to take with you to Turner Field downtown should you have tickets to a Mets Braves game). Both have full-service meat, fish, and deli counters and Kosher bakery sections.
There is also a separate Pareve bakery, Simone’s, that is near Kroger. Simone’s in-house baked products are all Pareve, though they have many pre-packaged specialty items including cheeses, nuts, and candy.
Several hotels and other conference centers are in touch with Kosher caterers, so you should feel comfortable asking for Kosher food if you have business in the area. Kosher Gourmet, the latest name of the store locals still know as “Steve’s”, is one such caterer who also has a storefront next to Broadway Café. They have a small selection of Kosher-brand pre-packaged products, a large selection of brands and styles of wine, plus cheese, fresh meat/poultry, and gourmet in-house prepared dishes available for take-out, delivery, and catering.

Dunwoody

Local Dunwoody supermarkets have Kosher sections, catering to the communities who live there and pass through on their way to the JCC. There is a café – Goodfriend’s Grill (which has, in addition to a grill, a dairy side as well) – in the JCC itself.

Sandy Springs

Local Sandy Springs supermarkets have Kosher sections, catering to the communities who live there and pass through on business. Near the heart of the business district (Hammond Drive) is OU for You, which is essentially a Milchig Pita Palace, serving Falafel and other middle-eastern fare to the local Israel business market. Bonus: during Channukah they have authentic Israeli Sufganiyot.

Alpharetta

Alpharetta still relies on the metro Atlanta eateries to satisfy its Kosher needs, but local area supermarkets do have minor Kosher sections.

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See the Atlanta Kashruth Commission’s listing of locally supervised establishments (which include some locations of Bruster’s Ice Cream and Krispy Kreme Donuts) for the latest on locations and contact information for all the previous sites mentioned.

Tourist Info: The Toco Hills community is north of downtown Atlanta, but its easy access to I-85 and the MARTA public transit system keep it within a 10-30 minute range of all the local attractions. The Dunwoody community is north of metro Atlanta, directly outside the I-285 loop defining the “perimeter” of Atlanta. Public transportation is a little weak, but with a car, you’re within a 20-30 minute range of all the local attractions. The Sandy Springs community is north of metro Atlanta on the edge of the perimeter, and abuts GA-400, which runs from downtown directly north (while the interstates run NW and NE).
Downtown destinations include the newly revamped World of Coca-Cola (yes, they still have the international tasting room), CNN Center, the Georgia Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta, Cyclorama, and several other historical sites. Underground Atlanta can provide some shopping (plenty of other malls in the suburbs as well), and Turner Field, Philips Arena, the Georgia Dome, and the Fabulous Fox Theatre all add entertainment value.

Driving half an hour or more in any direction starts to take you away from the major city centers and into a more natural Georgia. Stone Mountain and Kennesaw Mountain offer hiking and historical sites, and the famous Stone Mountain laser show every May-August evening is a must. The farther away from Atlanta you get, the more mountainous the terrain and the more you’ll see of nature trails and state parks.
North of the city you will find the North Georgia outlet malls, as well as the Discover Mills shopping complex. Gwinnett Arena may have events of interest, too.

Jewish Info: The Jewish community as a whole extends all throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area and even throughout the rest of Georgia, but Toco Hills is the Orthodox headquarters. LaVista Road itself is home to 5 Shuls, a Kollel, a Mikvah, the Atlanta Kashruth Commission, and Torah Day School. Between the Shuls, schools, and food (and, of course, an Eruv), Toco Hills (and Atlanta in general) is clearly a self-standing Jewish community.

It should be noted that Toco Hills is also near Emory University, as well as a home for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thus there are many Jewish grad/doctoral students living in the apartment complexes along LaVista Road, and several Emory professors (including a few Rabbi-Doctors) and CDC doctors are members of the local Shuls.

Congregation Ariel is the Orthodox Shul of Dunwoody, around which the community lives (though it is convenient that it is only a block away from the JCC). Ariel hosts a Kollel, but local kids generally carpool to the established schools, which are in other towns. There is an Eruv here as well.

Sandy Springs hosts Beth Tefillah, the full-service Shul which also serves as the flagship for the Chabad of Georgia. The Shul, with a Mikvah, and local community are encircled by an Eruv. Several Jewish schools are nearby, in addition to Chabad’s educational services.

The Chabad of Alpharetta is your source for Orthodox Jewish life in that area, and now includes an Eruv and a Mikvah. The community has seen a recent growth due both to the increased business industry in the area, as well as its residential situation. With the Atlanta-based communities becoming more expensive and young-couple housing becoming scarce, Alpharetta has been able to offer newer houses at $100K less than Atlanta, attracting several younger families to consider Alpharetta as a place to settle.

Alpharetta is also home to the Atlanta Men’s Synagogue Softball League. While the Orthodox communities are generally farther away, there are many non-Orthodox communities in northern Georgia, making Alpharetta somewhat central to all.
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You are welcome to contact the author should you or someone you know be passing through and wish to visit the community for Shabbat or even during the week. Contact Daniel Wenger.

Toco Hills synagogues Beth Jacob and the Young Israel are also valuable resources.

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Outer Banks, NC

Contributed by: Dahlia Adler Fisch | Last Visited: August 2009

Kosher Info: There are no kosher restaurants in the Outer Banks area. However, if you’re making the drive from up north, you can easily stop off at Little Israel in Virginia Beach–it’s only a 5-10 minute detour off the highway and they’ve got some helpful groceries and great falafel and schwarma.

Tourist Info: The minute you arrive in the Outer Banks, it will become patently obvious from the preponderance of OBX stickers on every car in the area that this is a popular repeat destination for east coast tourists. With its beautiful beaches, serene atmosphere, and the number and range of activities available, it’s equally obvious exactly how it got that way.

Outer Banks is actually a fairly large area — a couple of hours drive from tip to tip–but if you have any interest in American history, aviation, or a combination of the two, the northern tip is the perfect destination. It’s home to Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, the sites of the Wright Brothers’ aviation experiments and first flights, and Roanoke Island, once home to “the lost colony.” Tickets for the Wright Brothers’ Memorial are cheap and last all week, and gain you entrance to the monument commemorating the first flight as well as two small but informative museums. Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills are also home to an outlet mall, a movie theater, and endless activities such as kayaking, biplane rides, and hang gliding.

About 20-30 minutes south by car is Roanoke Island, home to Elizabethan Gardens, an aquarium, and a 2-hour show called “The Lost Colony” that is not to be missed for summer visitors. (If you have flexible travel dates, try attending a show on August 18th; it’s the birth date of Virginia Dare, the first child born to colonists on American soil, and the locals celebrate by using real local babies in the show. Admission to the gardens is also free on that date.)

Lighthouse visits are another popular Outer Banks activity, the most famous being Cape Hatteras on Hatteras Island. Hatteras, like several of the other islands, is accessible by ferry.

Jewish Info:
It seems that the only Jewish institution in the area is the The Jewish Community of the Outer Banks (JCOB) which is unaffiliated religiously. Their once-monthly Friday night services are reform, and the community center is located in Kitty Hawk, NC. They can be contacted here: jcob@embarqmail.com

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Tags: jcob, jewish travel, kitty hawk, kosher travel, NC, North Carolina, outer banks, roanoke island, wright brothers