Providence’s Orthodox Jewish community is hoping to grow its numbers – and, in light of the rising cost of housing, is offering a $50,000 subsidy to new families who move here.
Those families will also receive a year of free tuition at Providence Hebrew Day School for each of their children, plus a $1,000 move-in stipend that they can spend on movers, grocers, babysitting, or whatever else they need.
“It’s really about affordability, that’s what this is all about,” said Rabbi Peretz Scheinerman, the dean of Providence Hebrew Day School. “The East Side has just become unaffordable for the average young Orthodox family with a couple of kids.”
Orthodox Jews don’t drive on the Sabbath, which means that they need to live within walking distance of an Orthodox synagogue, Scheinerman explained. That limits the number of places where they can live – and, locally, the East Side of Providence and nearby Oak Hill neighborhood in Pawtucket fit the bill.
But numerous families have left the area in recent years, Scheinerman said. As a result, enrollment at Providence Hebrew Day School has suffered.