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thank you for your help in advance. my husband and i are lapsed jews. we really like the area of new providence, the price is right and they have some lovely historical homes I drool over. we have no problem with living in an area with a predominantly different religious background as long as the people in the area have no problem living next to us. we have plenty of catholic friends, have lived in catholic areas before and never had any issues.
the town seems very nice, and i want to ask... are the people in the area going to be welcoming or treat us as outsiders? i do get that there are all kids of people, but usually there is an atmosphere in the place, and that atmosphere can range from openly friendly to openly hostile and everything in between. we don't expect our realtor to tell us if they are not so big on the jews here.
i am not really asking if someone is going to vandalize our home with a star of david lol. more like... will people secretly feel we are out of place? not be so big on inviting our kids to birthday parties? look at us funny when we have no easter decorations?
so what do you guys think?
Why wouldn't you care, first and FOREMOST, how Jewish it is?
You apparently "don't" have a problem with Catholics who, according to you, you are friends with and have never had an issue with before? In all the towns that had Catholics living in them and you also happened to reside in?
Go knock on the doors in town and see who cares that you're Jewish and thinking of moving in.
I would agree that most people don't care, but I lived in a small Bergen County town that only has a few Jewish people but a lot of different types of Christian churches. There was a Jewish woman in town, with kids, who I got to know through Girl Scouts. She felt that other people in town were prejudiced against her and her children, and eventually moved to another nearby town that is not particularly Jewish but is larger and doesn't have as many churches. I didn't see the prejudice she was talking about, but apparently SHE did. This was about ten years ago.
IMO, a Jewish person would have fewer problems with Catholics than some of the other, more fundamentalist Christian denominations.
I'm not at all familiar with New Providence, so I couldn't speak to that town's religious makeup, but I don't think the OP's question is invalid.
I am not bothered when people are interested in knowing how much of a certain group is there because they are that group. Like I understand Jewish people wanting to live with Jewish people, Indians with Indians, on and on.
To the OP, you shouldn't move there if you're really thinking this. Because you're going in there with a chip on your shoulder. Find a town that is more Jewish would be my advice.
You know what irks me? Posters who routinely attack Jews for daring to ask if they are tolerated in a particular town. It seems to happen here about twice a month. If you can't contribute, don't answer. Its true that 90% of the population couldn't care less. Its that last 10% that's a real pain.
I actually live in the area, so...New Providence is extremely homogeneous - much more so than most of the surrounding area. I suggest looking at Springfield, Mountainside, Westfield, or Summit - much more mixed areas with heterogeneous populations. There are very few places in the area I'd be hesitant about living - Scotch Plains, Cranford, Clark, Edison - all great. But New Providence is a different matter.
You know what irks me? Posters who routinely attack Jews for daring to ask if they are tolerated in a particular town. It seems to happen here about twice a month. If you can't contribute, don't answer. Its true that 90% of the population couldn't care less. Its that last 10% that's a real pain.
I actually live in the area, so...New Providence is extremely homogeneous - much more so than most of the surrounding area. I suggest looking at Springfield, Mountainside, Westfield, or Summit - much more mixed areas with heterogeneous populations. There are very few places in the area I'd be hesitant about living - Scotch Plains, Cranford, Clark, Edison - all great. But New Providence is a different matter.
What if someone wrote a post that said "Is this town too Jewish?"
Would that bother you? Or maybe this post is ok because it's about Catholics?
I agree with you though, I think this poster should look at other towns. If you're going into a town with that attitude, then it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
You know what irks me? Posters who routinely attack Jews for daring to ask if they are tolerated in a particular town. It seems to happen here about twice a month. If you can't contribute, don't answer. Its true that 90% of the population couldn't care less. Its that last 10% that's a real pain.
I actually live in the area, so...New Providence is extremely homogeneous - much more so than most of the surrounding area. I suggest looking at Springfield, Mountainside, Westfield, or Summit - much more mixed areas with heterogeneous populations. There are very few places in the area I'd be hesitant about living - Scotch Plains, Cranford, Clark, Edison - all great. But New Providence is a different matter.
There are ways to search demographic info. online or just look at how many synagogues are in an area to get a feel of the Jewish-ness of a place without saying "How Catholic is it?" It's the ass-backwards way to gather information and equates Catholicism with Jew hating. The OP claims to be a lapsed Jew to begin with so why the focus on religious identity? Not to beat on her but I just don't get it.
If I was thinking of moving to rural Georgia and I was black, I wouldn't start off with "so what's the over/under on how many crosses the Klan will burn on my front lawn the first year? Does that mean they won't invite my kids to birthday parties?"
You'll more than probably just fine. Religious choice or lack there of is really a minor thought for most people unless it's a known enclave. A former coworker of mine was Jewish and from New Providence, never had anything bad to say about the town. Best of luck!
Secular Jew in a town full of lapsed catholics. LOL. Troll me thinks.
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