Lakewood/Solterra Jewish population (Denver, Golden: attorney, neighborhoods, public schools)

[jdubo79]

We are considering making a move to Colorado. and a realtor I have been speaking with mentioned a community in Lakewood called Solterra. We are not religious at all, but it would be nice to be around some fellow Jews and I was wondering if anyone could provide some insight on the jewish population in Lakewood, or even within Solterra.

I was also curious if there are any other similar communities in the Denver area.

I should also mention I work from home, so location does not matter as long as it is a Denver suburb, or even in Denver proper as long as public schools are good.

[COcheesehead]

The Hilltop area in Denver is popular with Jews. It is roughly Alameda on the south, Colorado on the West, 6th on the north and Quebec on the east.

[2bindenver]

There are a few Jewish people on this forum. If you wish to be around more people like you, find a synagogue and look close by.

Solterra is a nicer newer neighborhood in Lakewood.

[emm74]

I am Jewish, and lived in the Northeast all my life before moving to Denver about a dozen years ago. I took a quick look at your other posts to see if you were also from the East Coast. I don't think I can overstate how different it is to live here when you are used to the East Coast in terms of the Jewish community, and just how small it really is here.

That's not to say non-existent but in comparison, it's the first time in my life that I've really felt what it's like to be a religious minority. Schools and workplaces aren't closed, and there will be activities scheduled on the High Holy Days with no one giving it even a thought. My son is in 9th grade and has had only a small handful of Jewish kids in his schools all along, even living in a couple of Denver neighborhoods that are considered to be reasonably Jewish. It just means something different here than back east. He has had years of dealing with teachers not understanding that they can't penalize him for not being there for a test if it happens to fall on Yom Kippur, as opposed to schools being closed because a large percentage of both students and teachers are Jewish.

I am not really observant, but my son did attend weekly religious school starting in kindergarten and became a bar mitzvah a couple of years ago. I would have still wanted that for him even if we hadn't moved here, but it became much more important to me here for him to have a connection to a Jewish community and a place where he could be on a regular basis where he wasn't the minority. So while I can't comment specifically on Lakewood or Solterra as I'm not familiar with that area, I would strongly suggest that you consider joining a temple in order to make sure you do have access to a Jewish community, rather than assuming you'd develop those friendships more randomly out of proximity to neighbors. You certainly could end up with some Jewish neighbors but it won't be a lot of them. So you might want to start your research from that side, and then see what communities are a reasonable proximity from the congregations that seem like they might be a good fit. I will say that while there is some variation from temple to temple, even religiosity is a bit more informal out here (like pretty much everything else) so you still may find something that feels right for your family. My temple is very focused on issues beyond religion that matter to me, so it's been a nice community to be a part of.

[BarryK123]

Following emm's lead, I just looked up your old posts. Small world. I see I responded to one of them. I lived in Newtown and worked in Yardley.

[SkyDog77]

I have a very different view than emm. On my block there are 3 other Jewish families with kids.

[jdubo79]

Thank you SkyDog and Emm, it is very nice to hear everyone's opinion. We would definitely join a temple.

Barry - we never wound up moving to Yardley. Had two accepted offers that both wound up falling through due to inspection issues. We are currently in Margate NJ which I am sure you know of being from the Philly area.

[suzco]

Originally Posted by jdubo79

Thank you SkyDog and Emm, it is very nice to hear everyone's opinion. We would definitely join a temple. . .

Another Jew here - if you're definitely joining a temple, you won't have a problem finding your Jewish community. Historically, Lakewood actually had one of the oldest, largest Jewish communities here, although that's no longer true. You can still find Golden Hill, the Historic Orthodox Jewish Cemetery in Lakewood.

You may also find this interesting - after the last elections here, Westword article:

As Democrats swept to power in Colorado this fall, many national headlines focused on Jared Polis becoming America's first openly gay governor as a point of increased diversity in the Centennial State. . .

But what traveled under the radar was the fact that several prominent Jewish candidates, including Polis, Griswold and Attorney General Phil Weiser, are the first Jews elected to constitutional statewide offices in Colorado's history. Along with Democratic Senator Michael Bennet and Representative Ed Perlmutter, many leaders of the Colorado Democratic Party are of the Jewish faith or some mix of religions, as was the case with Bennet, who was raised in a Christian and Jewish household. . . .

[emm74]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

I have a very different view than emm. On my block there are 3 other Jewish families with kids.

I'm talking about the perspective of coming here from the east coast, specifically the NY/NJ metro area or more broadly the BosWash corridor. I never said there weren't Jewish families here in Denver, actually I specifically said there were.

But it's still very different here, such as schools not being closed even for Yom Kippur and no one thinking twice about scheduling meetings or activities for those days. That's compared with growing up in the NYC area, where everyone knows Rosh Hashahah and Yom Kippur, the schools are closed then, and people are just more familiar with Judaism and Jewish customs and practices.

For me, and the many people I know who have relocated here from back east, this has been a big adjustment.

[jdubo79]

Originally Posted by emm74

I'm talking about the perspective of coming here from the east coast, specifically the NY/NJ metro area or more broadly the BosWash corridor. I never said there weren't Jewish families here in Denver, actually I specifically said there were.

But it's still very different here, such as schools not being closed even for Yom Kippur and no one thinking twice about scheduling meetings or activities for those days. That's compared with growing up in the NYC area, where everyone knows Rosh Hashahah and Yom Kippur, the schools are closed then, and people are just more familiar with Judaism and Jewish customs and practices.

For me, and the many people I know who have relocated here from back east, this has been a big adjustment.

Did you enjoy life in the East or CO more?