Lakewood NJ , Jewish community (Asbury Park: low crime, homes, buying)

[lakewoodresident]

Lepke, I think I like you, you seem to understand the situation.

[Sel Rahc]

I find it very interesting that a great number of the residence of Lakewood's "orthodox" community are in the process of moving to Jackson and Howell. Could it be that the public school system is in decline or that the abundence of undocumented workers are crowding them a little too much.

[dripgrip]

I know exactly what community your talking about and it is a COUNTRY PLACE. The jewish population has been trying to take over this community for quite some time. And it seems that they are slowly becoming successul in their quest. Having said that, Myself and my husband who are both christians have enjoyed living there for many years. Because we are planning to move out of state, and NOT having any prejudice against, religion, race, etc, it makes no diffence who wants to purchase our home. The first person that walks in with the best offer, is the buyer. I don't care if your black, white, Jewish, Christian, Chinese, Italian, and so on. Just pay the price and the place is yours. HOWEVER, I will not negotiate price, wait for buyer to get a mortgage, sell their own home beforing buying. First come, first serve. Come with a bag of cash or a cashier's check. Its yours. But don't try to negotiate as you will be the last one to buy my house. We do not have to sell to move and the house can stay empty till the Lord decides to have us join him/her. People of a Country Place, What difference does it make who lives there, what their religion is. If your happy in your home, enjoy...if your not, move. Everyone is human and keep in mind the soldiers fighting for our freedom to live, speak and choose what ever religion we want. Its america folks, not nazi germany. Have a great day

[jay08701]

While people have the right to complain all they want about any race or nationality they'd like, the bottom line is that there is a big demarcation between complaining, and a call to arms. Unfortunately, many of the posts here seem to cross the line into intolerance.
Again, this is the USA, and we have the right to accuse people of being rude or whatever. But at the same time we have to recognize and acknowledge that those people have the right to be rude! And they have the right to take over neighborhoods! And they have the right to be obnoxious etc!

Please voice your opinion, but acknowledge that the people you accuse have the right to be the way they are.

P.S. And if "they" take over a closed retirement community, so what? If it is done legally, then again, acknowledge their right to do so.

[jellybelly]

Firstly--Lepke--I appreciate your well thought out and informed posts. I am a very well traveled person. Like many others here-I have made the observations that the ultra orthodox people are very rude in that they will not acknowledge your physical presence out and about in the community(ie Target, the mall, etc). I have always chalked it up to cultural differences-just as I did when I noticed that Parisiens, in general have a certain demeanor, or Irish people in Ireland.

I do find my interactions with the UOJ unpleasant though---and I have found myself feeling negatively about the UOJ from Lakewood.

This however-does not make me an anti-semite.

I find it intolerable that when someone makes an intellectual or cultural observation that is negative about a Jewish person--they are labeled an "anti-semite"--this is an effective and aggressive way to completely shut down any type of discussion or discourse.

Name calling is not the answer people.

[bluemango]

My neighbor sent me the link to this thread. We in the small town of Surfside, Florida share your concerns about the apparent transition of our neighborhoods to Orthodox Jewish ghettos for this a single-minded, non-inclusive movement that been intentionally spreading with the mind to takeover whole communities. Sure, it could very well be a Muslim or Buddhist or Eastern Christian Orthodox movement. It is all the same to me. I do NOT want to live in a neighborhood remotely feeling like a ghetto. I do not want a religious building in my back yard and I do not want a condensation of so many of one group of people. It's bad for home values, and SIMPLY, it is UN-AMERICAN! This is an extreme that tears at the fiber of the American way of life.


The Town of Surfside borders the City of Miami Beach on the barrier island popularly known as the latter's namesake. But there are numerous other bordering municipalities on the large island. Surfside, exists as a quiet oceanfront community since 1932, currently populated with 5,600 residents, both with condos along Collins and Harding Avenues and single family homes within its 6 sq miles.


Pockets of the City of Miami Beach are literally dead as they've been suffering from the spread of this 'disease' for years. Locals define them as dead zones, where all the Hasidim have taken over establishing numerous Chabads in a square mile, strictly Kosher eateries and supermarkets, Judaic cultural and religious businesses and just as numerous Rabbinical schools. They change business hours according to their own religion, never mind anyone else's convenience... mainly closing before sundown on Fridays and all day Saturdays. As well as all businesses closed whole months on certain holidays, as they line their vitrines with brown paper, rendering the business districts dead for months at a time. They manage to segregate by alienating mainstream.


Te phenomenon arrived in our town of Surfside, in the form of a large orthodox synagogue whose leaders tell their flock -- a sudden proliferation of young UOJ couples with a minimum of three kids where their wives walk a couple of steps behind them like the Muslims. These people do only as their rebbe advises them. In the UOJ religion, the Rebbe's word is more valuable then God's. Their people are told by their shul leaders who to vote for, what to back and when to go vote for them. Longtime residents discovered long after the fact that in return for getting elected, these officials are lenient with UOJ issues and make special exceptions to approve their variances, ignoring codes on setbacks and zoning laws. As an example, it was years later when we read in the local paper that one former mayor was rewarded with free pews in that synagogue bearing his surname. Value? Approx. $25,000. see: theshul.org This shul bills itself as the most unorthodox orthodox shul as it has openly condoned pornography and quiet illegal activityfrom within its own leadership, as well as certain candidates it has backed. They got a candidate elected who admitted connections to the notorious Sobonito Inc, the offshore porn-spammers who along with this official, before elected, were named as defendents in Federal and private actions in Illinois and California. Opponents call this official "pornoboy".


We too suffer from crops of synagogues and Judaic schools on almost every residentially-zoned block of our tiny 6 sq mile town. Homes in our backyards are synagogues and homes around corners are Judaic schools. Sukkas (temporary outdoor gazebo-like structures) pop up everywhere during their holidays. To the detriment of other faiths and denominations, Orthodox Judaism is being crammed down our throat as well. And if someone speaks up, the familiar "anti-semite" accusations fly. But under the current RLUIPA, we can't fight these takeovers the usual way, with zoning violations. And the UOJ KNOW THIS! So, Get smart, get a smart town attorney, or start a PAC and drive for donations to get a strong lobbyist to change the RLUIPA Law. This is the way to defeat this problem, in my opinion.


There was a time when Code Enforcement was able to apply zoning code and enforce it because religious or private educational use of a building is still a business which, in pre-RLUIPA, was an easy zoning violation in a residentially zoned district. Historically, and before 2000, authorities such as Police and Code Enforcement always shied away from enforcing issues involving religion, thus many religious buildings were eventually grandfathered in and thus protected under the Ecclesiastical Law, just by the mere years of its survival. But for those towns that were not afraid, they would enforce their code successfully within residential districts.


HOWEVER, as of 2000, Clinton's 'Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000' (RLUIPA) was passed. RLUIPA trumps ANY local zoning codes. That's the crux of this law. Thus the UOJ are wreaking havoc in any neighborhood by abusing this law. And their intent IS to make these communities exclusive to their own. They are segregators by intent and want nothing to do with people other of their own. They have expensive unrelenting lobbyists working on this in your State Capitals as well as in Washington DC.

Segregation and Prejudice on their part is what you have to address when you write to your State Representatives and Congress and your President. A violation of your rights to own a home in a residential area needs to be addressed as well. American law is meant to promote freedom of religious practice however, what RLUIPA is doing is succumbing to abuse, as it now helps special interests violate citizen's rights, and homeowners' rights since it allows abuse to the detriment of agnostics, non-religious, and people of other faiths.


Meanwhile, your town code should be customized to meet RLUIPA law by defining "an adequate percentage of your town size for "Places of Assembly" which would include "religious use" without reference to local zoning - because RLUIPA negates municipality's rights to enforce their own zoning laws in religious use. Otherwise there is no recourse to the RLUIPA law except tp change it. And that's what the UOJ used to win their case in a landmark case with Surfside. If you read up on RLUIPA, you will no doubt come upon our case.


In Surfside, our town code had not been updated since the 1960s - which because of our small area, had not not allowed for any part of the town for religious places of assembly, not even in our small business district. Most likely because such use is tax-free. To remedy this, AND to apply control factors against RLUIPA, in 2007, our town attorney and firm clarified and defined what a Place of Assembly is - which now includes religious use and defines the area in our town with that percentage in the business district clearly where we expect the establishment of "Places of Assembly". To further define Places of Assembly, new parking and gathering requirements were codified for Places of Assembly so as to differentiate from residential Places of Assembly. I don't know if this will stop the proliferation of religious use in residential areas, but so far, these new codes have not been challenged since they abide by RLUIPA as well.

Still, the control of the proliferation of all these chabads/shuls came too late. We continue to experience overwhelming droves of various factions of this fanatical religious group, as they GHETTO our town! To the point where even new housing being built are billed as "Kosher" homes... probably with two kitchens etc.

FIGHT RLUIPA! Call for a REPEAL or MODIFICATION of RLUIPA. UOJ are NOT the only ones with rights. Don't allow your neighborhood to be taken over by these divisive people by abusing this federal law!

[bluemango]

Midrash Sephardi v. Town of Surfside
Midrash Sephardi vs Town of Surfside



Zoning law in Surfside violates RLUIPA, Constitution, Becket Fund says
Zoning Violations in Surfside, Florida



RLUIPA.org


Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act

[Lepke]

Who has the energy to fight? It's just easier to move.

[mike123]

when the uoj started moving in i put my house up for sale thinking that i would move far away. all i can say is that thank god no one bought it. after becoming close with them i realized, they dont take drugs, no gangs, no crime. for me its a dream come true, living in a safe place. to all you ppl that complain about them going to pray, let them, they dont bother you. you are all just upset that you cant be like them or their children.

good luck to all you haters out there, maybe you should move to some drug infested area then maybe you will be happy.

[Lepke]

Originally Posted by mike123

when the uoj started moving in i put my house up for sale thinking that i would move far away. all i can say is that thank god no one bought it. after becoming close with them i realized, they dont take drugs, no gangs, no crime. for me its a dream come true, living in a safe place. to all you ppl that complain about them going to pray, let them, they dont bother you. you are all just upset that you cant be like them or their children.

good luck to all you haters out there, maybe you should move to some drug infested area then maybe you will be happy.

I don't know what part of Lakewood you live in but the Haredi landlords brought the drug dealers here. They bought up houses left and right and rent to illegals and section eight turning lovely tree lined communities into slums.

The Haredi don't send their children to the public schools but are on the school board to cut the school budget so the community can have lower taxes. I have to send my child to a private school because they have destroied the once fine schools in Lakewood.

You obviously don't have children or you would care about what they have done to destroy the community. aside from destroying the school system they won't let their children play with your children.

It's not nice to disregard the rules of a retirement community and set up a synagogue in a home. People move to a retirement community for peace and quiet, lower taxes, to be among their contemporaries and enjoy the facilities.

They didn't bargain for families with young children and people from outside the gated community traipsing through at any hour of the day. The rules are for everyone and Jews are not exempt from them.

I have very mixed feelings about the Haredi community. as a Jew myself there are aspects of Haredi life and behavior that I can be proud of, on the other hand there are also things that are disgraceful and I'm ashamed of.

When a person puts on a uniform telling the world they are Jewish they should show the gentile world the very best side of the Jewish people.
Unfortunately it seems like that is rarely the case with Haredi Jews.