אודות ירושלים לוקאל
Jerusalem Local started in 2023 as a set of notes for friends who had just made aliyah: how to rent an apartment without a lawyer, which gan to pick, why the Bituach Leumi letter arrived in the wrong name. The notes became guides, the guides became this site.
Everything here is written by English-speakers who live in the city, checked against current prices and rules, and dated so you can see when it was last reviewed. The mikvah directory is maintained with input from the women who use it.
We don't take payment for a place in the guides. Local Services listings are businesses we've used ourselves or that a reader vouched for.
The practical side of the city
Housing, schools and gan, health funds and Bituach Leumi, phones and internet, cars and transport, groceries. Each guide walks through one thing you will actually have to do, names the Hebrew terms you will meet on the form or the door, and points out where the Israeli process differs from the one you may know from abroad.
Mikvaot and local services
The mikvah directory lists every women's mikvah we know of in Jerusalem and the surrounding towns, with an address and a phone number to confirm hours. The services directory is short on purpose: only businesses we have used ourselves or that a reader recommended, and nobody pays to appear in it.
Corrections are welcome
Prices, hours and rules in Jerusalem change often. When a reader tells us a number is out of date or a mikvah has moved, we check it and fix the page. If you spot something wrong, or a guide you wish existed, the contact page reaches a person, not a queue.
Neighbours, not a newsroom
Jerusalem Local is edited by Ari Rosenberg, who moved to Jerusalem and made most of the mistakes these guides warn about. Contributors are residents who have done the thing they write about: rented, registered, enrolled, insured. Nothing here is sponsored, and nothing is written by someone who has not lived it.