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| Lakewood Mayor, Menashe Miller - We should follow his example |
The truth is that I know very little about the village of
Lakewood, New Jersey. Other than the fact that it is the home to Beth Medrash
Govoha (BMG), the largest Yeshiva in America. Perhaps even the world. It
has grown from its origins in the 1940s as a handful of elite students recruited by
its founder Rav Aharon Kotler to over 6,000 students today. And it is still growing.
Exponentially with each generation it seems.
I am not here to discuss
the legitimate question about whether this kind of growth was ever the intent of its
founder… or whether it is even a good idea. Although many argue that Rav Kotler never
intended for that kind of growth – preferring it to remain a Yeshiva for the
most elite of Talmidei Chachamim, I will leave that for another day. I am here
to discuss the sociological fallout of
the community that has grown around it.
When a population grows at the rate Lakewood’s Orthodox
community has, it has an impact on its non Orthodox and non Jewish residents.
Many of whom have been living there for decades. By virtue of its growth, the
entire character of that village has changed. It has been transformed from
being a quiet little summer vacation hamlet to a town its majority residents
call ‘Lakewood - Ir HaTorah’ (City of Torah). Orthodox Jews have become so
dominant in that town, that its democratically elected mayor is an Orthodox
Jew.
I do not see anything inherently wrong with that. People can
live wherever they choose. If a community has an attraction for a specific
demographic, why should it not be able to grow in that direction? So God bless
the Jews who have chosen to make Lakewood their home.
This does not mean that the large Orthodox Jewish community
which Lakewood has become no longer needs to be sensitive to its non Jewish or
non Orthodox neighbors. On the contrary. I think it obligates them to be more
sensitive to their needs than ever. One cannot just move into town and take over
at the expense of the minority.
I often read stories where this seems to be a problem in communities that have had a rapid increase of Orthodox Jewish residents and have become the majority. There is
a backlash of resentment by some of the non Jewish residents at the
direction a town has taken. They claim their issues have been ignored
because of their town’s new makeup. Frankly, I don’t know enough about the specifics of those claims to say whether they are legitimate or not. On the other hand, I
have heard that the Mayor of Lakewood is very sensitive to his town’s minority
non Jewish and non Orthodox population. Thus making a Kiddush Hashem.
It appears that not every Orthodox Jew or organization
in Lakewood is following the Mayor’s example. Which can make the Kiddush HaShem
at the hands of the Mayor be overshadowed by a possible Chilul HaShem. I am
referring to an article in JTA that accuses Orthodox residents of Lakewood
seeking to expand their borders by means of a ‘blockbusting’ tactic:
A New Jersey township is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate haredi Orthodox community leaders for alleged “blockbusting,” or trying to pressure large numbers of longtime homeowners into selling their property to Orthodox Jews.
The incident is the latest example of tensions between a large and growing haredi Orthodox community in the Lakewood area and its non-Orthodox and non-Jewish neighbors.
For months, numerous residents in communities near Lakewood, in southern New Jersey, have accused real estate agents representing haredi Orthodox clients of aggressively pressing non-Orthodox homeowners to put their property on the market. Members of the Orthodox community have denied the claim.
On Tuesday, the Jackson Township Council said it was alarmed by videos circulating in which Orthodox leaders at the haredi Agudath Israel of America’s November convention encouraged Orthodox Jews to buy property in communities near Lakewood, the Asbury Park Press reported.
“Those videos very strongly indicated what I think many of us had feared or have attempted to prove, and that is there seems to be a cohesive attempt to blockbust our neighborhoods, to look at Jackson as a place to be taken over,” Rob Nixon, the council president, told the newspaper.
I don’t know exactly what kind of tactics are being used.
But surely urging people to knock on doors asking them to sell their homes is a
bit more aggressive than looking for homes that are already for sale.
I’m skeptical about the ethics of doing that kind of thing. Just because the need is
there by virtue of rapid growth does not make such tactics ethical.
In my view, if this aggressive tactic is being countered to
the extent that the Federal government has been asked to get involved - then I
think it should stop. Might (via a large
and now powerful religious group) does not make right. It might instead be making a
Chilul HaShem.
It is never good when Orthodox Jews are seen
to be disadvantaging its minority population. At
the very least, the optics are terrible even if those tactics would not be technically unethical. Orthodox Jews are seen as bullies
using heavy handed tactics to get their way at the expense of others, not
caring where their chips may fall.
The pressure to expand Lakewood’s boundaries must be
enormous. I understand the need. But before one acts on those needs, one must
consider the consequences. It is just not worth getting what you want in ways
that foster the enmity and hatred of your neighbors.
What about the sorely needed housing by the ever growing
Orthodox population? For one thing, those looking for homes should seek only
those that are already for sale. For the rest, perhaps they should look to
cities that do not have this kind of congestion. I know a few places outside of
the East coast that have a very nice and friendly Orthodox atmosphere with
existing Orthodox infrastructures that would welcome new residents. And they
will not have to resort to blockbusting tactics to find good homes.
