West Hartford is one of 46 communities from across 22 states to participate in the Orthodox Union’s (OU) Fifth International Jewish Communities Home and Job Relocation Fair, to be held at Metropolitan West in New York City on Sunday, April 26, noon to 6 p.m. This will be the first time West Hartford will be included in the fair. The community will be represented by the Young Israel of West Hartford.

The original 2008 fair was the brainchild of Stephen J. Savitsky, then president of the OU, and Frank Buchweitz, the organization’s director of community services. In his extensive travels around North America, Savitsky developed a picture of Orthodox Jewish life that made it clear that smaller communities, also known as emerging communities, would make fine homes for Orthodox Jews. “The objective behind establishing small communities as places for relocation was the excessive cost of housing and education in the large New York metropolitan market,” Savitsky says. “And as I visited these communities it became apparent that they offered desirable alternatives for the high cost of living an Orthodox Jewish life.”

According to Rabbi Judah Isaacs, director of the Department of Community Engagement, which organizes the Fair, “The Fair will highlight communities both big and small, geographically both close to New York City and far away, that all offer the amenities needed for an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle – day school, mikvah (Jewish ritual bath), eruv (ritual enclosure around a neighborhood area ensuring the ability to carry in public spaces during the Sabbath) and easy availability of kosher food. There will also be an opportunity to tune up your resumé and network with the OU Job Board.”

For more information, contact Hannah Farkas at (212) 613-8351 or hannahf@ou.org, or visit www.ou.org/fair/communities.

Metropolitan West is located at 639 West 46 St. in Manhattan, across from the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.