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I am currently living in Mahwah and have two young daughters (20 mos. and 5 years old). We are Jewish but do not consider ourselves religious but more culturally Jewish. However, my husband and I grew up in Westchester and went to school with a decent population of Jewish people so we never felt uncomfortable. We love Bergen County because we can get more in our price range and in general the people are more down to earth. However, with the rise of antisemitism I don't want my daughters to grow up ashamed and want them to be in school with a more visable population. I went to the Kindergarten orientation in Mahwah and although I like diversity I have to admit I felt uncomfortable. My daughter is clearly the only Jewish student in the kindergarten class (maybe one more). Not sure if this is just in Lenape Meadows. So now we are thinking of moving down the line. It is very difficult to get accurate Jewish populations in towns. We had our daughter go to preschool in Wyckoff and like the community so will look there but I was also curious about the following towns and what percentage of Jewish kids are in the high schools; Wayne, Woodcliff Lake, River Vale. I heard Woodcliff Lake can be cliquey but not sure. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I guess comfort level is important, but it's pretty silly to judge the town's K-12 public schools by K. Many families won't start their children in the public school district until 1st. Before going overboard about moving, have you talked to other Jewish families in town about their experiences? You could also consider talking to local Rabbis for their perspective as they are sure to have a pulse on the education systems. I have never heard of antisemitism in Mahwah.
I am currently living in Mahwah and have two young daughters (20 mos. and 5 years old). We are Jewish but do not consider ourselves religious but more culturally Jewish. However, my husband and I grew up in Westchester and went to school with a decent population of Jewish people so we never felt uncomfortable. We love Bergen County because we can get more in our price range and in general the people are more down to earth. However, with the rise of antisemitism I don't want my daughters to grow up ashamed and want them to be in school with a more visable population. I went to the Kindergarten orientation in Mahwah and although I like diversity I have to admit I felt uncomfortable. My daughter is clearly the only Jewish student in the kindergarten class (maybe one more). Not sure if this is just in Lenape Meadows. So now we are thinking of moving down the line. It is very difficult to get accurate Jewish populations in towns. We had our daughter go to preschool in Wyckoff and like the community so will look there but I was also curious about the following towns and what percentage of Jewish kids are in the high schools; Wayne, Woodcliff Lake, River Vale. I heard Woodcliff Lake can be cliquey but not sure. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
What rise in antisemitism? Is this even a real post or a troll in action? Anyhow I will bite - tell us about this rise in antisemitism that I am just hearing about?
I am currently living in Mahwah and have two young daughters (20 mos. and 5 years old). We are Jewish but do not consider ourselves religious but more culturally Jewish. However, my husband and I grew up in Westchester and went to school with a decent population of Jewish people so we never felt uncomfortable. We love Bergen County because we can get more in our price range and in general the people are more down to earth. However, with the rise of antisemitism I don't want my daughters to grow up ashamed and want them to be in school with a more visable population. I went to the Kindergarten orientation in Mahwah and although I like diversity I have to admit I felt uncomfortable. My daughter is clearly the only Jewish student in the kindergarten class (maybe one more). Not sure if this is just in Lenape Meadows. So now we are thinking of moving down the line. It is very difficult to get accurate Jewish populations in towns. We had our daughter go to preschool in Wyckoff and like the community so will look there but I was also curious about the following towns and what percentage of Jewish kids are in the high schools; Wayne, Woodcliff Lake, River Vale. I heard Woodcliff Lake can be cliquey but not sure. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Wyckoff has a temple (it moved there some years ago from Paterson) so they have a larger Jewish population than some of the other towns.
Bergen County has an extremely high Jewish population (over 10%). While I'm not a community insider, I am a Jewish demographics junkie and can provide you a link to this study, which should be helpful. Note that (a) the study dates to 2001, and (b) it does not include the western portion of the County (Fair Lawn, Wyckoff, Franklin Lakes, etc.), which also has a sizable Jewish population. Teaneck, Englewood, Tenafly, Alpine, and Closter (among others) had 20%+ Jewish household populations at the time of the study. Mahwah was only a little over 5% (others will have to chime in as to whether that's dramatically changed).
I think the OP is referring to the impact of the latest conflict in the Israel / Gaza regions. I don't recall the situation being this flared up in quite some time. Certainly this is causing some isolated rifts stateside lately. Check this article out for example:
What rise in antisemitism? Is this even a real post or a troll in action? Anyhow I will bite - tell us about this rise in antisemitism that I am just hearing about?
I think the OP is referring to the impact of the latest conflict in the Israel / Gaza regions. I don't recall the situation being this flared up in quite some time. Certainly this is causing some isolated rifts stateside lately. Check this article out for example:
I get my takes on Jews from Woody Allen & Howard Stern...and they're both nuts.
North Jersey is filled with all kinds of Jews - Orthodox, Hasids, Conservative, etc. Jews from NYC who post on CD think NJ is KKK country for some reason.
I think the OP is referring to the impact of the latest conflict in the Israel / Gaza regions. I don't recall the situation being this flared up in quite some time. Certainly this is causing some isolated rifts stateside lately. Check this article out for example:
Sounds like more like a whackjob got what was coming to him. "Rise of anti-Semitism" is some fearmongering ridiculousness, at least as far as the US is concerned.
Anyway, basically everywhere in Bergen County has a significant number of Jews, with the towns listed above having the most. If you're not religious, Teaneck and Englewood aren't great choices, though--the Jewish areas there are mostly Orthodox.
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