Yesterday, we returned from our trip to scout out a new community for our family. It was a whirlwind trip and had a lot of layers and highs and lows, but we definitely found a connection to one of the particular communities we visited on the trip. It is small, but has everything we need, including good day schools for both kids and more learning for us and more kosher food. My husband and son enjoyed going to minyan every day and my daughter even made a friend.
Our first trip to a grocery store with a large kosher selection must have been amusing for everyone else shopping. My daughter actually jumped up and down in joy and I just kind of stood there, my jaw dropped, trying to figure out what to buy. I’m so used to going to the store, finding what is available, and then cobbling together a meal from that and having so many choices was just overwhelming to me! If I’d had my kitchen nearby, I could have made my family anything at all they wanted to eat! I also felt self-conscious, worrying a bit that we all stuck out, but a woman inadvertently did me a great kindness, similar to the boy who came up to me my first time in an Orthodox shul to ask me if I was related to someone else he knew.
This woman was looking for havdalah candles, the candles that Jews light at the end of Shabbos. There were quite a few to choose from, but she was looking for a specific candle and she asked me if I knew where it was. In the midst of all these Jews who seemed so frum and put together, she asked me, the wide-eyed Alaskan. I explained that we were visiting from Alaska and that I didn’t know where those particular candles were among the havdalah candle display, but I felt more at ease after that.
We attended classes, visited schools, ate kosher sushi, and really just enjoyed being part of a community. There were little moments that meant so much, like when the non-Jewish hotel owner knew to tell us “Good Shabbos!” as we left on Friday to go to where we stayed for Shabbos or the greetings from Jewish families in the grocery store.
The message was…”You don’t have to be alone anymore.”
Now, we return to the whirlwind of school applications, home sale preparations, packing, and helping our son study like crazy, but we can see where we’re headed.
And it’s warm and bright despite the cold windchill.
The Safek 
It is so heartwarming to learn that you have found a community you had been seeking. I wish you the best of luck moving and settling there!
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בּס’ד
It’s amazing that you’ve found a kehiloh which you feel at home in, may it become a great beginning for you and your family! Behatzlochoh!
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