Northbrook (Chicago, Schaumburg, Skokie: fit in, sales, cliquey)

[Jel2004]

I am Christian looking to move to Northbrook however, can anyone tell me if I will feel left out for not being Jewish? Especially my kids in the schools there.
Thanks.

[chet everett]

Like many other towns the percentage of folks that identify themselves as Jewish is considerably different than the number of folks that are openly observant of Jewish religious customs. The steady increase of folks from Asian / Middle Eastern / East Indian background as well as dominance of folks from a wide range of Christian backgrounds makes the schools and overall town feel pretty diverse these days. The school calendar does reflect the influence of Jewish holidays, but that is generally not seen as a negative -- District 27 - District Calendar

The same kind of questions come up regarding Highland Park and Skokie as well as other towns and unless you happen to be particularly insensitive (serving things like cheeseburgers and shellfish without first checking which neighbors abide by dietary customs...) odds are you (and your kids) will fit in just fine.

[3Series]

Originally Posted by Jel2004

I am Christian looking to move to Northbrook however, can anyone tell me if I will feel left out for not being Jewish? Especially my kids in the schools there.
Thanks.

No, you and your kids will not be left out. Period.

[Jel2004]

Thanks for your replies. Would you estimate the Christian population more in certain areas of Northbrook ithan others?

[chet everett]

... AGE than anything else. I mean there are certainly some condos and townhouse developments that have a large number of retired folks and those tend to be a lot more concentrated with folks of Jewish background than some of the subdivions with larger / updated homes.

It really seems to be more a "perception" thing too, as like I said there are certainly a whole lot of folks that work in the nearby offices of pharmaceutical firms or insurance firms that are more likely to be from Asian or East Indian background but the percentages are probably similar to those kinds offices downtown or near other employment centers around Schaumburg or DuPage Co so folks don't really associate it as anything "special"...

Years and years ago, when folks who might have grown up in Chicago's more crowded Jewish neighborhoods wanted something more spacious and upscale Northbrook was at the right stage of its development cycle to accommodate that surge in housing and land was also available for congregations that wanted to build new facilities. That peaked many decades ago...

Originally Posted by Jel2004

Thanks for your replies. Would you estimate the Christian population more in certain areas of Northbrook ithan others?

[branch28]

Northbrook can be somewhat cliquey. The Jews are more cohesive in that fashion, because they share not only a religion but ethnic roots too. The Gentiles in NBK are not connected in any ethnic fashion and less cliquey because of that. That's my experience and observation. Northbrook is to Jews what (let's use an example) some south suburb like Frankfort or Orland may be to the Southside Irish. If someone Jewish moved to those suburbs, they wouldn't be left out or discriminated against, but they would never really crack the clique. Do you see the analogy? That's what it will be like in NBK as a Gentile. Plus there used to be (not sure anymore) entire subdivisions like Sutton Point in NBK off Sanders Rd. that were/are entirely Jewish, with no diversity at all, none, that's a little extreme.

[branch28]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Years and years ago, when folks who might have grown up in Chicago's more crowded Jewish neighborhoods wanted something more spacious and upscale Northbrook was at the right stage of its development cycle to accommodate that surge in housing and land was also available for congregations that wanted to build new facilities. That peaked many decades ago...

That's not right. Today there are significantly more Jewish religious buildings/synagogues than there were in the 70's and 80's in NBK, see the list below. Plus there's a new Jewish high school that never existed decades ago. The large Solomon Schecter school was never there either (at Landwehr and Dundee). One temple used to be the Ichiban Japanese restaurant. Plus, large numbers of Russian Jews are a new influx, and they can be quite cliquey (as are all new immigrants). The NBK public library carries the local Russian-Jewish newspaper with local ads in cyrillic, etc.

All 9 Temples & Synagogues companies in Northbrook
Union for Reform Judaism
555 Skokie Blvd, #225
60062 - 2854 Northbrook, Illinois


Young Israel of Northbrook
3545 Walters Ave
60062 - 3218 Northbrook, Illinois


Congregation Beth Shalom
3433 Walters Ave
60062 - 3217 Northbrook, Illinois


Congregation Ezra-Habonim
2095 Landwehr Rd
60062 - 6411 Northbrook, Illinois


Adas Yehudah V'Shoshana
2548 Jasper Ct
60062 - 6977 Northbrook, Illinois


Lubavitch Chabad of Northbrook
755 Huehl Rd
60062 - 2317 Northbrook, Illinois


Shir Hadash Reconstructionist
3380 Commercial Ave
60062 - 1909 Northbrook, Illinois


Temple Beth-el
3610 Dundee Rd
60062 - 2203 Northbrook, Illinois


United Synagogue-Conservative
601 Skokie Blvd, #402
60062 - 2851 Northbrook, Illinois

[chet everett]

The influx of former Soviet-bloc immigrants is a fairly recent shift. The pattern of folks moving from the West side of Chicago or Rogers Park to the NW suburbs peaked many years ago. Very different patterns of assimilation and even employment -- many of the folks working in IT or related technical fields learned their skills from Soviet era training whereas the older generations of whose parents came from Chicago tend to be in fields more traditionally associated with the American Jewish experience -- lots of attorneys, physicians, accountants...

[reppin_the_847]

To me, Northbrook is much more diverse than it has ever been. So in addition to an already strong Jewish population & Eastern European population, you have a ton of Asians (including Indians). To me it gives it an airier, more upscale Skokie type feeling in terms of demographics. Parts of Glenview have this feel as well. And Northbrook is pretty damn expensive as well. I'd say more so than Buffalo Grove. At least the Cook County property taxes are surprisingly more forgiving than they are on the Lake County side up in Deerfield & Highland Park. Sales tax is obviously lower in Lake County, but that's not really a big deal anyway.

[pvande55]

Northbrook has a large Jewish population but nowhere near as much as Buffalo Grove. And neither place would you feel left out if you weren't Jewish.