Although we are based in Suffern, NY, we spent a few days in the nearby towns of Hillburn, Sloatsburg, and Tuxedo.
People told us that there are few if any Jews living in those parts, but we decided to try our best. After meeting a few Jews in stores and other places of business, we went searching some of the homes in Hillburn where we had old contacts, but it seems that almost everyone had moved away.
This past Friday, we decided to find a certain manufacturing plant that belonged to a Jewish person. But the address we had didn't even show up on our GPS!
After driving up and down the same highway a few times, we found a little unnamed road and bridge. We followed it for a while, but the only thing we found was an old landfill and recycling plant, which actually had some Jewish employees.
Happy but not satisfied, we were determined to find the manufacturing plant. Just before crossing the bridge, we turned onto a little side road, and there was the plant! But it turned out the owner wasn't around.
As we walked back to the car, we noticed a small, rocky, unpaved road off to the side.
Intrigued, we decided to see where it would take us. We saw some old country homes. One of them had a mail box with a Jewish-sounding name on it. We knocked on the door and were greeted by a woman who told us that she was born Jewish, but she was put in foster care at a young age and had never learned much about her Jewish heritage or been part of synagogue. All she knew was that her children needed to marry Jewish.
The only thing Jewish that she remembered from her childhood was lighting Shabbat candles as a young girl. We gave her some candles to light that night. Then we asked if she knew what a mezuzah was, and she said that she did. So we asked if she would like one for her door and she willingly agreed.
Later, we came by and gave a large challah for her and her family to enjoy that night after lighting the candles.
Adam & Mechi
So Near, So Far I have a married niece who lives with her husband and children in Suffern, NY. I had always thought that Suffern was considered part of the larger observant community of Monsey, New York. It is sad to note that so close to the major Orthodox Jewish communities of Spring Valley and upstate New York that there are small pockets of Jews who know nothing about their Jewish heritage. Then again, only blocks away from the main centers of Jewish life in Crown Heights, Flatbush and Boro Park, Brooklyn, one can still find unconnected not-yet-observant Jews. In this case, it is not so much physical distance as it is a much larger spiritual and emotional divide.