Article by former Lakewood resident who finds it painful to visit. Again, like all communities things evolve for better or worse.
I grew up in Lakewood, before it was Brooklyn. When the trails around the lake were clean and empty, when Central Avenue always had parking, when I knew the store owners of Friedman’s and Gelbstein’s, when there was still a co-ed Day School and a Modern Orthodox shul, and when large swaths of forest outnumbered the homes. In the Day School, all of my Jewish subject teachers were Haredi, though I did not know that word back then. I knew there were women who wore wigs and that they were ‘more’ religious than my Orthodox cousins, and far more religious than myself (who was not very). And they were smart and bright and some had far more patience than others for my questions. In fact, Reb. Nechama Reich, Rav Kotler’s daughter, never let me get away with anything, but she never shied away from my questions either, and it was an honor to have her at my wedding so too, Reb. Shulamis Rozansky. When I walked down the street in Lakewood, walking the mile to shul, every Jew said “Good Shabbas,” man or woman, ‘Haredi’ or not.
This does not happen so much anymore. I don’t go to Lakewood anymore. It is too painful. It is the land of huge houses and $5,ooo sheitels. It is a place where kids are refused from schools and the individual can no longer be found. Do these things eclipse all the wondrous chesed done? No, but they do dull it to a point where it is not the thing that shines through any longer. Modesty is gone and I’m not speaking of skirt length… http://www.skjaskoll.com/yes-i-have-an-agenda/
I grew up in Lakewood, before it was Brooklyn. When the trails around the lake were clean and empty, when Central Avenue always had parking, when I knew the store owners of Friedman’s and Gelbstein’s, when there was still a co-ed Day School and a Modern Orthodox shul, and when large swaths of forest outnumbered the homes. In the Day School, all of my Jewish subject teachers were Haredi, though I did not know that word back then. I knew there were women who wore wigs and that they were ‘more’ religious than my Orthodox cousins, and far more religious than myself (who was not very). And they were smart and bright and some had far more patience than others for my questions. In fact, Reb. Nechama Reich, Rav Kotler’s daughter, never let me get away with anything, but she never shied away from my questions either, and it was an honor to have her at my wedding so too, Reb. Shulamis Rozansky. When I walked down the street in Lakewood, walking the mile to shul, every Jew said “Good Shabbas,” man or woman, ‘Haredi’ or not.
This does not happen so much anymore. I don’t go to Lakewood anymore. It is too painful. It is the land of huge houses and $5,ooo sheitels. It is a place where kids are refused from schools and the individual can no longer be found. Do these things eclipse all the wondrous chesed done? No, but they do dull it to a point where it is not the thing that shines through any longer. Modesty is gone and I’m not speaking of skirt length… http://www.skjaskoll.com/yes-i-have-an-agenda/