Maccabim and Judean Hills views from Modi'in
| Maccabim and Judean Hills views from Modi'in |
On a day to day basis most services can be found in town or in the shopping areas of adjacent towns and villages such as Makkabim and Shilat. As the town grows services improve, and gradually we've become less and less dependent on nearby big towns. Today Modi'in has several large supermarkets, bakeries,greengrocers, branches of several major Israeli banks, household goods stores, post offices, pharmacies, hairdressers, clothing stores, travel agents, and most of the other shops and services you'd expect to find in a suburban town.
The newest shopping centre is Yishpro, on the outskirts of Modi’in, which includes medium to large sized branches of many well known Israeli chains, including two large supermarkets, DIY, clothing and appliance stores, as well as restaurants, a cinema and bowling alley.
A new shopping mall is currently under construction in the town centre, and it is slated to open within the next year or two, as part of the planned central business district. The mall is being built by Israeli “shopping mall king" Azrieli who claims it will be one of the largest and most modern in the Middle East.
Modi'in has several health centres providing all the basic services, family doctors, labs, pregnancy monitoring, x-ray facilities and the like. There are special clinics for women's health, infant care and a Terem out of hours emergency centre, with x-ray and ultra-sound facilities. All of Israel's four health funds are represented, and two, Maccabi and Klalit, have their own purpose built clinics. There are also many dentists and a couple of dental clinics.
The town has many young families and a large population of babies and school age children.There are several schools in Modi'in, from elementary to high school, catering to the secular and religious communities, as well as numerous day care and kindergarten options. Aside from the regular state secular and religious schools there are also independent streams, such as the Democratic school, the mixed secular-religious Yachad school and the more Haredi style Lema’an Achai. The Katedra offers adult education courses in a variety of subjects. Many synagogues, the Modi’in Hesder yeshiva and various private individuals and organizations offer a wide selection of shiurim and lectures and events of Jewish interest.
Other activities on offer for both kids and/or adults include a selection of arts and crafts classes, dance classes, gymnastics, music lessons, martial arts, junior football clubs, little league baseball, occasional concerts, sing-along evenings, choirs, lectures, Rotary club, WIZO, Emunah and more. The Diada centre at the Yishpro shopping centre offers a variety of activities and classes for babies, young children and their parents.
While in theory Modi'in was thoroughly planned, like any new place it's had and still has some teething problems. At the moment there is a shortage of public buildings so that it's hard to plan public events, hold a large celebration or find new premises for the growing number of synagogues.
In addition to all the ancient ritual baths, Modi'in has two modern mikvaot, one near the current town centre and the other in the Shimshoni neighbourhood in western Modi'in. Another is under construction in the Kaiser neighbourhood.
This is still a quiet town, but there are certainly more recreation options now than there were a couple of years ago
During the summer and on holidays the municipality arranges special events including free concerts, activity afternoons for kids and craft and food fairs.
In the last couple of years a municipal recreation/sport centre has opened as has a private fitness club, operated by the Holmes Place chain, which includes a gym and swimming pool. There is now also a gym at Ligad Centre, and others in neighbourhood sports centres.
After many years of waiting and whining, Modi’in now has it’s own cinema, a modern complex in the Yishpro Shopping Centre on the outskirts of town. During the summer the municipality used to hold some public open air filmshows, which were fun, but it seems that now there is a cinema these will no longer be held. Shame really, cinema in the park was fun, even if the choice was limited…
Modi’in’s theatre is currently under construction and is due to open this year. While as yet there is no Matnas (community centre), one is planned, with proposals submitted for its construction either next to the theatre in Emek Dotan, or in the Shimshoni neighbourhood.
Modi'in's convenient location means that it's quite easy to go out for the evening to say a cinema in Petah Tikva, a shopping mall in Tel Aviv, the theatre in Jerusalem or an increasing number of restaurants in the greater Modi'in area.
Introduction |
Location |
Historical sites in the Modi'in region|
Modern Modi'in
Population and Employment |
Services and Amenities |
Modi'in's Neighbours |
Recreation Areas
Eating Out |
Modiin area birds
Copyright 2007 by Leiah Elbaum. Text and photographs on this page are by Leiah Elbaum. Last updated 25 July 2007.