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My wife and I are moving from Brooklyn to Westchester with our two children, ages 2 and 1. We are considering purchasing a house in Northern New Rochelle, right near the Wilmot Woods section (Scarsdale PO, NewRo schools) -- close to Baraud Rd and Wilmot Rd.
We love everything we've read and seen about the community so far, our only concern is that it might be exclusively Jewish (or close to it). We are Catholic and like the idea of having some diversity in the community we move to, but certainly don't mind the idea of being in a predominantly Jewish community, so long as it's not almost exclusively Jewish (i.e. we wouldn't want to be in the overwhelming minority), and that we wouldn't be shunned by the rest of the neighborhood.
Any insights, advice, etc. from folks who live near this area or are familiar with the neighborhood, would be greatly appreciated.
I lived in that area for a couple of years in the late 1990s. It is heavily Jewish, but not 100% and I don't think you would be a "token family" there. I know that some parts have increasingly become very much "Orthodox Jewish" (full disclosure: I am Jewish but not Orthodox), but again, it is not 100% like some neighborhoods in Brooklyn are.
Though you didn't ask, as for schools, New Rochelle is one of those places where you are fine for elementary school as they are very much zoned by neighborhood, but for possibly middle and definitely high school, it is 1 (high school) or just a couple of schools (middle school) for the whole city and much like Mt. Vernon or Yonkers, people tend to think about private schools or moving at that point (though I still consider NewRo to be a little nicer than the other 2 in that regard). Ironically, a lot of Jewish people go on here asking your kind of question (i.e. "will we be the only Jewish family in the whole neighborhood?") and get a lot of flack for it. Keep in mind that a lot of the Orthodox in the neighborhood send their kids to religious private schools, so the makeup of schools will have a nice diversity considerably beyond what the neighborhood is like (I do some indirect work for some New Rochelle schools so I know that even for that neighborhood you would be far from the only Catholic family sending your kids there and that quite a few Catholic families live in that area too).
I lived in that area for a couple of years in the late 1990s. It is heavily Jewish, but not 100% and I don't think you would be a "token family" there. I know that some parts have increasingly become very much "Orthodox Jewish" (full disclosure: I am Jewish but not Orthodox), but again, it is not 100% like some neighborhoods in Brooklyn are.
Though you didn't ask, as for schools, New Rochelle is one of those places where you are fine for elementary school as they are very much zoned by neighborhood, but for possibly middle and definitely high school, it is 1 (high school) or just a couple of schools (middle school) for the whole city and much like Mt. Vernon or Yonkers, people tend to think about private schools or moving at that point (though I still consider NewRo to be a little nicer than the other 2 in that regard). Ironically, a lot of Jewish people go on here asking your kind of question (i.e. "will we be the only Jewish family in the whole neighborhood?") and get a lot of flack for it. Keep in mind that a lot of the Orthodox in the neighborhood send their kids to religious private schools, so the makeup of schools will have a nice diversity considerably beyond what the neighborhood is like (I do some indirect work for some New Rochelle schools so I know that even for that neighborhood you would be far from the only Catholic family sending your kids there and that quite a few Catholic families live in that area too).
I hope that helps, good luck and welcome!
7 Wishes -- thanks a million for this. Very helpful. From your experience is the neighborhood pretty tigthknit overall, regardless of religious affiliations?
The area is extremely Jewish, but some Christians live there. If you're looking to be part of a tight-knit community, this is not the place for you. The Jews stick together.
7 Wishes -- thanks a million for this. Very helpful. From your experience is the neighborhood pretty tigthknit overall, regardless of religious affiliations?
I was single/childless and living in an apartment then and wasn't too into my neighbors so it's hard to tell but......
I don't know if this helps, and it's a tiny bit south of where you are talking, but I've been with my kids more than once to the huge playground on the corner of North Ave. and Eastchester Road by the small "Hugenot children's branch" of the library (I do not live in New Rochelle, but kind of near it) and it is literally the most "diverse" playground I have ever seen......a small but significant number of (Orthodox) Jews, but at the same time a ton of kids of literally every color/creed there, and evenly split in that sense (granted, I'm sure like us many others there didn't live "walking distance" from it either).
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