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In Lakewood: Are Jews The New Moslems?

On blogs you can read stories about CAIR silencing critics, schools where study of Islam is required in the interest of multiculturalism, and about concessions made to Moslem sensitivites.

The Star Ledger is addressing a different threat.

Welcome to Lakewood, New Jersey where an article in The Star Ledger describes how the new Orthodox Jewish majority there is changing the balance. The title of the article is A Growing Divide: With the ascendancy of Orthodox Jews, tensions escalate in Lakewood, long home to a mix of cultures and religions

It is a daily dance of uneasy co-existence in an Ocean County town that has undergone rapid racial and cultural transformation. Once a cosmopolitan mix -- black, white and Hispanic, Christian and Jew -- Lakewood is now home to one of the largest concentrations of fervently Orthodox Jews in America.

The new majority is flexing its muscle.

In only a few years it has taken control of the mayor's office and school, zoning and planning boards. Yeshiva-schooled children now outnumber public school stu dents by nearly 3-to-1, and traditionally black and Hispanic neighborhoods are giving way to Orthodox expansion.

The streets that old-timers remember as a mix of cultures are now crowded with men in black suits, white shirts and black fedoras hurrying to and from prayers, often pushing baby carriages. Few women wear pants in Lakewood anymore, because the ultra-Orthodox say Judaism forbids it. Weekday traffic, normally appalling, disappears on Saturday because nearly 60 percent of the population cannot drive on the Jewish Sabbath.

That sloppily written sentence: "Few women wear pants in Lakewood anymore, because the ultra-Orthodox say Judaism forbids it. "--could easily be interpreted to mean that the Orthodox Jews have somehow passed a law forbidding it to everyone.

In Lakewood, the Orthodox majority do not vote. No, they "flex their muscle." They "control" and "expand". And local elections are not 'won':

The Orthodox vote is large, estimated at 10,000, which is enough to sway any local election, the mayor said.

Apparently, things were OK when the Jews were just another minority like everyone else. Now that Jews--and Orthodox Jews at that--are a majority, people are feeling uneasy.

And who are these people who want to live in Lakewood and find it so special? Let the Star Ledger tell you in their own words:

Twenty years ago, most of the Jews in Lakewood were Reform or Conservative and sent their children to the public high school, invited their Christian neighbors to sit shiva and, in turn, attended their neighbors' baptisms.

Today, the vast majority are Haredi, the most theologically rigorous form of Judaism.

Like Hassidim, Haredi Jews are extremely insular and adhere to strict dress and dietary laws. They trace their belief system directly back to Moses and consider non-Orthodox denominations to be unacceptable deviations from authentic Judaism.

It is a closed culture dedicated to religious study and family. Marriages may be arranged, and large families--eight to 12 children--are encouraged.

One of the key tenets of Haredi Judaism is the refusal to assimilate.

The article does not volunteer a list of those religions that do encourage assimilation. Apparently, the Star Ledger does not find the 50+ assimilation rate of Jews in the US to be sufficient.

It is not as if they were trying to impose their beliefs on others or want to see the US under Jewish law. They have not asked that Piglet be banned, nor have they protested for the beheading of people who think differently than them.

The reporter compares the Orthodox Jews to Hassidim: another group that the reporter--and the people to whom this article is directed--know only superficially. Likewise, the use of the term Haredi, which is left undefined for the reader to interpret.

The broad brush with which the entire Orthodox Jewish community is painted shows a lack on information and research on the part of the newspaper.

State Sen. Robert Singer, who is also a Lakewood councilman, notes that "unfortunately, people fear and resent what they don't understand." True, but no one who reads this article is going to come away with a true understanding of Orthodox Jews.

If anything, an article such as this is only going to increase the tensions, accusations of favoritism, and real problems that Lakewood is facing. The latter part of the article paints a disturbing picture of the bad relations between the Orthodox Jews and the rest of the community. If accurate, there may be real abuses and favoritism that must be addressed.

But the Star Ledger is doing more than just revealing a problem and advocating its solution.

It is going out of its way to describe a group that has grown in size and votes according to its values as if it were something insidious.

Daled Amos

Technorati Tag: Lakewood and Star Ledger and Orthodox+Jews

Posted by daledamos at October 23, 2006 12:12 AM