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NEWS
Passaic, NJ: A Profile of a Growing Torah Community
by Moshe Rockove

Northern New Jersey, near New York City just across the Hudson River, is perhaps best known for its crowded highways, traffic jams and shopping malls. It serves as a corridor to New York City from the South (through the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway) and the East (through Route 80). Many people are thus familiar with these areas only through the exit signs posted on the highways as they make their way to the big city.

New York shoppers venture off the highways to shop at the malls and take advantage of no-sales-tax on clothing in NJ, saving the considerable tax which they would normally have to pay in NY. Some drivers who get stuck in traffic at the tollbooths at the Lincoln Tunnel or the George Washington Bridge to enter Manhattan, take the local streets to get around the tie-ups and save a few minutes. Both are so focused on the roads or the shopping that they fail to observe the beautiful and tranquil towns all around them.

Had they taken the time to notice the communities they pass through, such as Hackensack, Teaneck, Fort Lee and Paterson, they would have seen large expanding cities and a peaceful quality of life right outside New York City.

Passaic, one of the cities in this area, boasts a frum community comprised of bnei Torah, baalei batim and baalei teshuva that have moved into the town over the last 20-25 years. They all take advantage of the town's united community that boasts a complete Jewish infrastructure including shuls, yeshivos for children and a world- renowned yeshiva gedolah, kosher stores and a mikveh. Its close proximity to New York and Monsey makes it convenient to other Jewish communities in the area.

The Jewish community today consists of over 1200 families with a net gain of 100 families each year recently kein yirbu. The yeshiva boys' school and girls' school have a combined total enrollment of over 1000 children and Yeshivat Hillel has almost 400 children. The boys' high school is opening an 11th grade this year and the girls' high school has already graduated two classes.

Early History

The Passaic Jewish community has been around for over a century. The first Jew recorded living in Passaic was Jacob Basch who moved there in 1867. He was in the wool business that was very prevalent in Passaic at the time and continued as such for years. The Botany 500 clothing company made its suits here for a while. In fact, the industrial part of the town is called Botany Mills; the nearby town of Clifton was called Botany Village.

The community grew after that, comprising mostly Orthodox people. The Bnei Jacob shul opened in 1897 and flourished through the seventies.

The town boasted many prominent rabbonim over the years. Rav Yosef Rosen, a Volozhiner talmid and a noted talmid chochom was rav through the '30s. HaRav Dovid Leibowitz zt'l, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim who was a Slobodke talmid and a contemporary of HaRav Yaakov Kamenetsky and HaRav Aaron Kotler, would send his talmidim to him for their smicha.

Rav Leizer Katz zt'l, the son of HaRav Reuven Katz from Petach Tikva, was a rav in town for many years until his passing two months ago. He was an outstanding talmid chochom and was mesader gittin throughout North Jersey.

As the years went by and the older people of the community died, their children, unfortunately, were not as Orthodox as their parents. In fact, in the early seventies there were less than 50 shomer Shabbos families, and only a handful of ladies who covered their hair. Nevertheless, they maintained a great respect for Orthodoxy. They recognized, that although they decided not to personally lead a religious lifestyle, they respected the Orthodox way of life as the traditional way of Judaism and wished to maintain it on a communal level as much as possible. Thus the seven frum shuls remained Orthodox with a mechitza intact, even though many of the members were not Orthodox in practice. Passaic has only one Conservative synagogue and one Reform Temple, which is minimal considering the amount of Jews living in the town at that time.

The Jewish cultural institutions in Passaic maintain an Orthodox semblance to their activities, unlike most other towns. The "Y" is closed on Shabbos and tries to accommodate the frum community.

The Jewish hospital in town has a mezuzah on every door. The senior citizen home, called Daughters of Miriam, serves as a convalescent home for seniors, as well as providing two buildings of residence homes. They provide top- quality health care and the staff is extremely attentive to the patients' needs. They serve glatt kosher meals and have a full- time rov on premises. The children in town visit the seniors, performing for them or just to keep them company, giving them a feel for chesed at a young age. The bikur cholim is active in the old age home, as well.

The chevra kadisha has written in its bylaws that everybody who uses its facilities must be given a proper tahara with tachrichim and so on, regardless of their Jewish religious affiliation. This policy has been in practice all the years.

These three institutions -- the hospital, old age home, and the chevra kadisha -- are all nonprofit entities that are owned by the kehilla.

The irreligious townsfolk respected the Orthodox rabbonim and the community in general was very receptive to the Passaic Yeshiva opening in the town in 1973. "We felt there was a foundation for a Jewish community already in place when we came here," said Rabbi Chaim Davis, who opened the yeshiva that year. "The town rabbonim were helpful to us and we maintained a good relationship with them over the years. In fact Rabbi Katz was invited every year to the yeshiva on his father's yahrtzeit to say a shiur in halacha and aggada, to the enjoyment and enrichment of us all."

The Yeshiva

The Passaic Yeshiva, known worldwide for molding true bnei Torah, was established in 1973 by Rabbi Chaim Davis and Rabbi Gershon Weisenfeld zt'l, who joined as rosh kollel. When Rav Weisenfeld took ill right before the Yeshiva was to open, HaRav Meir Stern joined the hanhalla.

The yeshiva opened its doors with 10 bochurim and 10 avreichim. As the yeshiva's reputation grew it expanded to nearly 100 bochurim in the mid 1980s. HaRav Meir Stern's shiurim gained a wide reputation among the American bnei yeshiva and many came to Passaic to hear them.

In 1987, the Yeshiva undertook an ambitious capital campaign to build a campus suitable for a true mokom Torah. In May 1989, the yeshiva opened its beautiful beis medrash complete with dining room and dormitory facilities. The yeshiva is recognized today as one of the foremost yeshivos gedolos in the U.S.

Rav Nosson Weissman serves as mashgiach in the yeshiva. His father-in- law, HaRav Mordechai Schwab zt'l, mashgiach of Bais Shraga in Monsey, gave shmuessen on a consistent basis throughout the years. "It gave the bochurim a connection to people from previous generations," said Rabbi Davis. "He would say stories from Reb Boruch Ber, the Chofetz Chaim and HaRav Yeruchom Levovitz. He met these gedolim when he learned in Europe and served as a bridge between generations."

The yeshiva laid the foundation for the current growth. People looked at Passaic and saw a growing yeshiva revitalizing an old Jewish town. With communities such as New York and Monsey getting crowded and a far commuting distance from New York, people looked to Passaic as a viable alternative in which to settle and raise a family.

The Community Grows

The community started experiencing its current growth with the construction of the eruv 17 years ago and a large communal mikveh the following year. The eruv, which was built with the cooperation of all the local rabbonim and constructed by Rabbi Shimon Eider, the noted eruv expert, had a positive impact on the community way beyond the practical aspects of the eruv -- such as the wives being allowed to get out of their homes with babies and wheel their carriages down the block. It created a certain harmonious feeling among all community members.

People would eat at each other's homes and reciprocate the invitation to their hosts, thus creating a special bond among all the families in the community. This created an awareness of chesed and hachnosas orchim on a communal level, which ultimately led to the formation of a communal bikur cholim. The bikur cholim today tends to those in local hospitals and helps out in the homes of those who need it. Additionally, the bikur cholim offers financial assistance for basic Shabbos and yom tov needs like a tzedokoh organization.

The mikveh was built by a couple of dedicated individuals who realized the need. There was an existing mikveh which was not in use anymore so those who used a mikveh had to travel to West Orange, Monsey (1/2 hour away) or New York. With the help of these individuals and siyata deShmaya a most beautiful, modern mikveh was built to the benefit of the entire community.

The mikveh is located near the yeshiva, on what was an empty lot for many years. The askonim wondered if that property was suitable for the mikveh but didn't know to whom it belonged. An avreich in yeshiva who had just gone into real estate went to the township office to look at the records about available lots in town for businesses. He came across this lot and noticed that a lawyer had the rights to the property. He called the lawyer who told him it's not his property; he represents a client who died just a few days previously. The lawyer proceeded to say that this lady had once lived on the property. She got into a dispute with the township about property taxes and subsequently vowed that the township would never collect taxes from this lot! She moved out of the house, tore it down, and left the lot as is for all these years. He felt that as executor of her estate he cannot sell the property, for the township would then be able to collect taxes from the property, in defiance of her wishes.

The avreich had an idea: perhaps it would be great for the mikveh! The mikveh would be exempt from property taxes as a nonprofit organization. The lawyer agreed, having satisfied his clients' wishes, and sold the property to the mikveh committee at a minimal price. The community thus got themselves a mikveh on a choice piece of land, all because of a lady's vow, and an avreich's brainstorm.

The Advantages of Living in Passaic

Those who commute to work in New York City know all about those long hours sitting in traffic getting into the city. The entire New Jersey-New York area has experienced growth over the years, making traffic even worse with very few new roads built to accommodate the increasing flow of traffic. Thus people routinely spend up to three hours just getting to work in the morning and fighting the traffic once again on the way home.

For example, those who live in Lakewood spend at least two hours each way on the road; those living in Monsey spend at least one and a half hours each way. The train ride from Brooklyn is not much better, for it takes an hour as well (to midtown Manhattan). When one does this day in, day out for some time, it tends to get frustrating for one feels he is wasting his life sitting at a tollbooth or on the highway rather than utilizing the time more usefully.

Passaic is located just minutes away from the Lincoln Tunnel, one of the main entrance ways into Manhattan, and the train ride takes a total of twenty minutes! (One can actually see the New York skyline from various points in the town.) It changes life to be able to spend the time out of the office at home with the family, with a chavrusa, or get involved in communal projects with the extra time saved from commuting.

Although the community has grown to nearly 1200 families bli ayin hora, the town still has a close-knit feel to it. Many speak about the warmth and genuine concern people have for each other in the community. Passaic is considered part of suburban New York, yet it still has that special out- of-town feeling that people consider so unique and cherish. The townspeople speak highly about the "oneness" that is felt within the community. There is one bikur cholim group, and one community mikveh that everyone in the community feels a part of and participates in. This enables everyone to feel connected at a communal level.

The community itself is a diverse crowd: bnei Torah, baalei battim, and baalei teshuva alike live and daven together in harmony. Rabbi Menachem Zupnick, one of the rabbonim in town, noted that both Rabbi Nachman Bulman and Rabbi Dovid Gottleib of Ohr Somayach, were amazed at the homogeneous community that exists in Passaic. "Rabbi Bulman said that at Ohr Somayach they didn't believe such a community could exist in chutz la'aretz, with baalei teshuva and other frum people living together so harmoniously," said Rabbi Zupnick. "He was very impressed with what he saw here in Passaic."

Rabbi Mordechai Becher, formerly of Ohr Somayach and a current Gateways lecturer, who resides in Passaic, noted, "At one table in the shul, at a shiur or in a chavrusa, one can find graduates of Brisk, Mir and Telz, learning or davening with graduates of Machon Shlomo, Ohr Somayach and Aish HaTorah."

The members of the community possess a strong desire to grow in their Yiddishkeit. They lead relatively simple lifestyles and focus their attention on the finer, more serious aspects of life. Rabbi Zupnick remarked that over the years he has brought in many lecturers to speak in his shul. "Nearly all of them said to me afterward that they felt the people who came were really interested in what they had to say and receptive to their insights, something they did not feel in many of the other communities they had visited," said Rabbi Zupnick.

Learning as an Integral Part of One's Life

If one looks at the list of shiurim that are given on a daily basis, the amount of learning that takes place every day is quite amazing, as well as the range of different topics. Luach.com, the Website that posts all the shiurim in Passaic, lists at least 16 shiurim daily; on Sunday there are 20 and on Shabbos, 27!

Rabbi Zupnick gives one shiur, on Chovos Halevovos, in his shul immediately after ma'ariv on motzei Shabbos for an hour! The shiurim are given mostly by the rabbonim in town, such as Rabbi Zupnick, Rabbi Schachna Weinberger, Rav Yonason Sacks, Rav Ron Yitzchok Eisenberg, Rav Shlomo Rybak, Rav Shlomo Weinberger, Rav Aaron Cohen, and Rav Shlomo Singer. Rav Shlomo Issacson has a chassidishe shteibel in town which is active in the community as well. The topics include daf yomi, parshas hashovua, and other stimulating topics from a broad range of Torah.

Partners In Torah, the popular chavrusa program run by Torah Umesorah across the country, has its biggest branch in Passaic in which 80 to 100 people learn together once a week.

Every morning at 6:00, some 40 people gather in the yeshiva library to take part in the Kollel Boker. The Kollel attracts those who work most of the day, yet wish to have a meaningful and constructive seder limud where they can learn uninterruptedly and with great cheshek. Both rebbeim and those in the work force participate in the program. They are currently learning masechta Succah, and they hear chaburos from Rav Shmuel Kaplan, a ram in the yeshiva. They daven at 7:15 and then proceed to their daily activities.

"It feels great to start the day with an intense learning program," said one of the organizers. "At night, one is busy learning with the children or tending to social obligations, aside from being exhausted, so he has no time to learn when he comes home. With such a kollel one can learn when his mind is fresh without any other obligations to disturb him -- provided he gets to sleep on time."

The Passaic Yeshiva has a full-time kollel under the leadership of Rav Osher Meir May, son-in-law of Rav Stern. They are learning inyanim usually covered by kollelim, such as Chulin.

The Passaic Community Kollel, under the leadership of Rabbi Davis, provides shiurim for baalei battim in the evening, aside from its regular learning schedule. It houses an extensive tape library with tapes from speakers all across the Jewish spectrum.

Another full-time kollel under the leadership of Rabbi Eliezer Breslauer, an accomplished talmid chochom from Lakewood and a son-in- law of Rav Stern, is opening in Elul with 8 avreichim to further bolster the ruach haTorah in town.

Individuals Changing Communities

The renaissance in Passaic makes it a model for other communities across America trying to revitalize their cities. What stands out in Passaic's success is the fact that most of its yeshivas, school buildings and mikva were built by individuals who were motivated to help the community they lived in. "It always comes down to individuals galvanizing the community to accomplish these goals," said Rabbi Davis. "Rav Nosson Wachtfogel zt'l, the Lakewood mashgiach, would mention in his shmuessen about the `koach of the yochid' -- how each individual can positively turn his life around and those around him."

This formula can be applied anywhere.

 

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