City That (never) Sleeps

Yaakov and I have started thinking about communities in Israel that we're interested in checking out before we settle on Modiin. Don't get me worng, we like it here very much, but we just want to see what else is out there. I was talking to one of my dati co-workers who happens to live in Jeruslaem, in a part called Rosco (which always makes me think of chocolate syrup!), I think its next to Katamon. I was asking her, as a veteran Israeli, how she interprets Modiin, how she would categorize it, how it compares to other places where datiim live. She said she doesn't really know Modiin well enough, but there's something about it that's very unique. Aside from the fact that its brand new, that everything is clean, and white, and planned out well.... thats not what necessarily makes it unique. After all, there are many new areas that are going up all the time... Whats unique about it is that its an almost unnatural place. Its Never-Never-land. No one is old here. no one. Not one cane, or waker, or Philipino aid. This is a city of youth. Its also not a busy city. Here, you have a city, but its quiet. Why? Because, she explained, its an "Ir Shayna"- city of sleep, (not to be confused with "Ir Shmayna"- city of fat). Ir Shayna means that people leave Modiin during the day, they travel to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem for work, and then they come home to ... sleep. Regardless of the point that she was trying to make- that it will take time for Modiin to become a normal society- I just couldn't get over the fact that here I was thinking that I was moving to the closest thing to suburban New York. But in truth, I had gone from the City that Never Sleeps to the City that Sleeps. How did that happen??!!