No matter which side of the highly controversial Chai Center zoning debate you’re on, and regardless of your religion, if you live in Millburn or Short Hills Oy Vey has probably become part of your vocabulary. By definition, the Yiddish term tsurris means trouble or distress and Oy Vey translates to… well Oy Vey.
But simply speaking Jewish isn’t going to unite the parties at odds about Rabbi Mendel Bogomilsky‘s request to overturn four variances and build a 16,350 square-foot synagogue and religious center on the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Old Short Hills Road in Short Hills. With 75 local families in the orthodox congregation — which has been gathering for prayer in private homes since 1982 — there is clearly a need for a formal house of worship. The township agrees, as do many residents. The BIG question, and the one behind the tsurris, is where.
For the third time, the Chai Center’s proposal will be the subject of expert opinion, presentations, debate and discussion, when the Zoning Board of Adjustment meets next Monday, July 26 at 7:00 pm at Millburn High School. At the last meeting, on June 21, the rabbi answered questions for most of the four hour session. For more than 130 concerned citizens, who call themselves Save Millburn (under the non-profit group,
The Concerned Neighborhood Association of Millburn Township, Inc.) there is one main goal; to uphold current zoning laws.
According to these laws, a house of worship requires a 3-acre lot (along with various other stipulations). The proposed property (shown here in a rendering with front trees smaller than actual height of more than 36 ft) is more than an acre shy of the legal lot size. However, the rabbi pointed out that of the 11 currently existing houses of worship in Millburn Township, only two actually comply with all the zoning requirements. “We tried to find suitable properties that would comply with all the codes, but it has proven impossible,” he explained. “There isn’t a single place in this town where all the stars line up and the planets align, but we think this location is the best of all the possibilities.” The Rabbi said that his congregation isn’t trying to do anything different from all the other houses or worship in town.
The Chai Center’s adversaries, however, beg to differ. According to the group’s web site, “This is not a neighborhood story or a religious issue but a fairness issue. If zoning calls for 3 acres to build a large house of worship or any other structure this size, why should an exception be made.” Their overriding concern is that if the rabbi is granted variances and allowed exemption from existing codes, it would open the door to other businesses and change the nature of the community. Here’s a quote from Save Millburn’s web site:
A house of worship is considered an inherently beneficial use according to New Jersey state land use law. Other structures considered to be inherently beneficial uses are: hospitals, nursing homes, daycare centers, community shelters, public interest housing.
The point here being, if we allow a significant Zoning Ordinance variance from the property at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Old Short Hills Road, what is to stop other individuals or organizations from asking for the same treatment in other parts of town?
Is this more NIMBY, or are there real worries that the town will be altered irrevocably by the proposed synagogue? In one of the nation’s wealthiest communities, where the rabbi estimates that approximately one-third of the 20,000 residents are Jewish, some say that it’s a fear of Orthodox sprawl, and a discomfort with the idea of lively prayer gatherings.
Rabbi Bogomilsky, who was raised in Maplewood and has deep roots in the Essex County community, believes that people just need to understand the reality of his proposal. “The development is completely in character with the neighborhood, and will be very discreet and low profile.”
Monday night’s meeting will focus on testimonies of two expert engineers, and will discuss traffic and other logistical property issues. It’s unknown how many more meetings there will be, but perhaps by the end, the tsurris can be replaced with another Jewish sentiment, one with universal meaning: Shalom.
The meeting will be on Monday, July 26 at 7:00 pm at Millburn High School.
Speaking Jewish? Who out there “speaks Jewish?” Who writes that people do, for that matter?
I thought Jews, at least those in Israel, speak Hebrew (along with a certain number of Muslims and Christians). And that some also still speak Yiddish (which can supposedly be readily understood by Dutch and German speakers). But “Jewish?”
My Yiddishe grandma used to call it “talking Jewish,” and tried to teach me to “talk Jewish” too.
MY dollar says that the article was not penned by a Jewish person, as such, we would state “speaking Hebrew” ~ as for myself, I might state “botched Hebrew” “)
You just lost a dollar, Sandy.
Some fun facts…
Jews is Israel, and many in the rest of the world, do speak Hebrew. Yiddish, the language the phrase Oy Vey comes from, is a dialect spoken mostly by Ashkenazi Jews that blends elements of Hebrew, German, and several other languages.
The term Yiddish comes from the Hebrew word Yid, meaning Jew, and the Germanic suffex “ish” which has the same meaning it does in english.
Sandy, you are right. If one were talking about Hebrew the phrase “speaking Jewish” would not make much sense. However, when talking about Yiddish it is a perfect literal translation. I think you may be down a dollar
and cathar, I concur with concernedmother, she is absolutely correct, “Yiddish” is fact the Yiddish word for Jewish.
BTW the expression ” a Yiddishe kup” (Jewish smarts) is a fine example in a similar vein.
but your might want to expand your point to include the language Ladino, spoken by many Sephardic Jews.
I am not “down a dollar” Because….
There is NO language called “Jewish”
Saying (or writing) “they were talking Jewish?”
How does one TALK Jewish ?
It’s either “proper” Hebrew -OR- slang Yiddish…
But… My Grandmother used to “Speak Jewish”
She would say:
I got to schlep mein shopping cart to da grocery chop and do sum chopping. Your grandfadder takes
hees big stinkin’ Lincoln to dee oy-ffice und it shits dere all day long, und mine feet ees killing me volking back and forth, schlepping des stuff.
Oy Vey es mee. I axe da butcher for two kiskas und he holds up a pork loin. Vhat do I look like? A schuck?
That’s a real life Talking Jewish example.
BTW, she lived to 101 !!! She shoveled the snow up until age 84. Walled all over, never liked cars (unlike me).
Sorry Sandy. You’re still down a dollar.
Regardless of whether Erica is Jewish, people who refer to “Jewish” as a language are probably the same people who refer to every synagogue as a “temple”. And anyone with a Jewish education knows that Temple is an appellation used only by Reform Jews. Most non-reform Jews I’ve met cringe at that. And most Jews I’ve met correct (or wish they could) a non-Jew when they use the term “Jewish” to identify either Hebrew or Yiddish. Of course, Erica may have used it colloquially, for style. But to these Jewish ears it sounds like fingernails on a blackboard.
Sorry, Dane – you’re down a dollar, too. I grew up in a conservative congregation and we always said “I’m going to temple.” Even my orthodox grandparents went to temple. So there!
We go to TEMPLE Israel of S.O. & Maplewood.
They use the word TEMPLE in their name. They do not call it Synagogue Israel of S.O. & Mplwd.
Either or, IMHO is okay.
In some contexts, it could also be called a “church” with a small “c”. church used in that manner denotes a place of worship. Almost never seen, but it would be okay when used properly.
I didn’t even get a word past the “speaking Jewish” part of this story and I’m glad to see it hit others as hard, judging by these postings! Here’s how this Brooklyn born Ashkenazi member of the tribe sees it: It’s a BIG tribe that was forced to spread throughout the world, many times over, hence the diaspora. There are many nuances in practice as a result. You say “temple,” I say “synagogue,” my father says “schul,” — do we “call the whole thing off?” Oh, wait, I digress.. sorry!
However, in no corner of the globe is it proper to ever refer to someone as “speaking Jewish!” It just sounds plain ignorant. There is no language called “Jewish,” and Yiddish is NOT the slang version of Hebrew!! It is it’s own completely separate language spoken by the Ashkenazi in diaspora, just as Ladino was spoken by the Sephardic Jews who were eventually forced into diaspora from Spain when the Christians conquered the Moslem rule (yes, Jews and Moslems lived peacefully in Spain for hundreds of years which was referred to as a golden age for these Jews).
Yiddish and Hebrew share the same alphabet only, due to the fact that it is what the Jews knew from their religious studies. In fact the early creation and continual use of the Hebrew alphabet is theorized as a contributing factor in the longevity of the Jewish culture (unlike the Philistines who had the strength but apparently not the brains). And although the alphabet may be the building blocks of one or more Jewish languages, one can not be referred to as “speaking Jewish.”
Shein!
Thank You !!
Soon they will tell you that you too, are down a buck
As an Ashkenazi Virginia-born Jew I’ve heard the expression “speaking Jewish” plenty. My husband, an Ashkenazi Bergen County-born Jew says his Polish-born grandmother used the expression all the time. So I guess it extends to certain corners of the globe.
The funny thing is, nobody’s talking about the controversy of the synagogue, the zoning and the protestors.
To me, that’s what’s shocking.
To put an end to the speculation, I’m authentically an American-born Ashkenazi Jew with Hasid roots in Lodz, Poland (prodounced Ludge in Yiddish), a Holocaust-surviving mother and a Grandmother who spoke Yidglish and Yiddish till she died. My kids even went to Workman’s Circle Jewish school in Bergen County to learn to speak and sing “Jewish,” and carry on the tradition. The term is literally correct, not at all derogatory or inflammatory, though I guess that’s in the eye of the beholder. As Debbie says, the issue isn’t in the semantics, it’s in Millburn. Maybe we can hear from some neighborhood folks about the Chai Center’s proposal. To all, I say Gay Gazunt!
If you really need to know my pedigree check out this NY Times piece:
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/26/world/lodz-survivors-meet-and-remember.html?pagewanted=all
Artist, I’ve heard lots of people use the term “temple” when they meant synagogue in both Conservative and Reconstructionist shuls. Just because they use it doesn’t make it correct…anymore than say if they all used the term “ain’t”. Just because you and your friends to do it doesn’t mean it’s correct.
And Sandy? According to their website, Temple Israel is a Reform Congregation. If you read my original post, I said it’s the Reform Jews who use the term.
Jews other than reform, refer to The Temple as the building that was destroyed in 70CE (AD for the Goyim amongst us).
Finally, Artist? Go ask your rabbi. Then you can mail me the buck you owe me.
Yes, I know it’s Reform, Dane I did not try to represent it as something else. Yes, I am Reform.
I also knew that Erika is Jewish, as well as Debbie.
Finding out Erika’s heritage does change things — slightly. Like when someone making an anti-semitic joke or comment is actually a Jew themselves. So perhaps “speaking Jewish” is something said in her family. If that’s the case I think it should have been written as such — with quotations. I maintain that most people of non-Jewish faith, and obviously even some of us Jews, find the phrase to be problematic. So much so that it did detract from the actual controversy for which the article was written. Admittedly, I’m not finding that issue as compelling.
Check out this academic book (on Amazon) “Speaking Jewish — Jewish speak: Multilingualism in Western Ashkenazic Culture” By Shlomo Berger, A. Pomerance, Andrea Schatz and
Emile Schrijver.
http://books.google.com/books?id=nLTfXTAziPMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=speaking+jewish&source=bl&ots=JhNSiityX7&sig=5yCfXTWnTZIcbQSoHJXIaXLZvDI&hl=en&ei=0CZMTPS9I4G78gaK5cE0&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEIQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false
A word or two about the original topic (if for no other reason than to please Debbie): no one, other than the folks who are going to use it, ever wants a new synagogue built in their neighborhood. Even when it fits within the zoning regulations. Look at all the flak Bnai Keshet encountered some years ago in Montclair. The original story doesn’t surprise me. Not at all.
Whatever your ancestry, Erika, it was a bad, and fairly misleading at that, piece of writing, and an extraordinarily dumb-sounding phrase. Deal with that.
The “Chai Center” is a very complicated issue. (This week’s Millhburn “Item” has a justifiably long look at the matter.) And it is only complicated by the involvement of a rabbi who is historically quick to play the “anti-Semitism card” when his schemes are stymied even when many of his opponents are Jewish. In fact, he even once loudly played said “card” when he tried to get a permit to have a carnival for his group in a Millburn park, but was informed that for the specific day he’d requested it was no go.
It also might have helped if the Baristas had chosen an actual photo of the intersection in question (which is nowhere near as wide nor so majestically landscaped), as opposed to a highly idealized artist’s rendering.
And I suspect we should wait until the just-concluded Census publishes its results before making any assertions as how Millburn residents self-identify ethnically and/or religiously. The rabbi’s claim was thus only so much hot air; he really has no idea at this point.
Lastly, one believer’s “lively prayer gathering” is often one agnostic’s raucously loud agape-type feast. I note this as someone whose best friend once lived next to a Hispanic Pentecostal chapel where “speaking in tongues” was common several nights a week.
Is this more NIMBY, or are there real worries…
Note how radically this item differs from the recent one about Seton Hall Prep. Both are cases of a dispute between neighbors and developers. This one, to Queen Barista’s credit, analyzes the issue in an even handed way. The other one doesn’t even bother to take the developers’ side seriously.
I am Jewish ans I know that immediate area very well. If I lived in that immediate area, I too would be against it. Why? Because it is a extremely high priced area, of million dollar + + homes and a very serene, quiet area. This Rabbi wants to make a big Retreat type of “resort” there.
What he would make, I am sure would be very nice, “top shelf” all the way. But… It does NOT belong on that piece of land. With all the attractions he will be planning, he will attract many, and I mean MANY Orthodox out from NYC and it will be a mini “Berkshires” out in Livingstein. A small little prayer center inside of the large property would be fine, but e’one knows – in the end- it’s going to be a big place, crowded, busy all the time and alot of cars, (sadly most of them German.)
I go past his place in Millburn often, and expecially at Chanukkah, and I love his 13 Ft. high Menorah. It’s nice to see, and his place in Millburn is neatly kept and is very acceptable. BUT, it’s in a mixed use area, with schools, residences, and retail. This locale in Livingstein, it strictly private residences.
These folks are paying $30,000 @ year in property taxes. They want security, and quiet.
At $30-$35,000 @ year, you would want that too.
When I saw the thread title, I thought I was going to be reading about a controversy over a teahouse. Oy vey, did I ever get that wrong!
I’m with you on this one cathar – some orthodox rabbis are quick to play the anti-semitism card on a regular basis when they are involved in similar zoning applications.
I am familiar with such a situation, in your hometown, cathar, on Dwas Line Avenue, and I also recall a similar situation just as vividly on Riverside Drive in Manhattan many years ago.
I do not think that in this case it’s anti-semitism – as some 60% or higher are the property owners of those homes.
Personally speaking, IF IF IF (next lifetime) I
could afford such a house, I’d ONLY buy in Llwellyn Park section of West Orange. It’s a private park
- a club, or sorts.
cathar, you seem to have a chip on your shoulder …
To my knowledge, the rabbi never claimed anti-semitism, not in this case, and not in the park incident, which I believe happened more than 10 years ago! (How’s that for holding a grudge) If you know differently, please post.
Sandy, lol, you say you know the immediate area very well. Well, for starters it’s not Livingston, it’s Short Hills. And pray tell, what is a “big retreat type of resort” and exactly how do you know that that is what the rabbi is planning? I guess you can tell that I am a supporter of the plan, along with many of the neighbors, and I will tell you that uninformed comments like yours add fuel to a fire that need not be burning at all.
My Jewish Polish Holocaust surviving grandfather came to this country speaking one language — Yiddish (his family never spoke Polish). All my life he would call it “speaking Jewish.”
He taught me to “speak Jewish” too. That said, when I studied the language it was officially called “Yiddish.” To this day though, I still I call it “speaking Jewish” (to honor him).
cathar, you seem to have a chip on your shoulder …
He carries them in a backpack
I’d side with cathar on this one, walleroo.
It’s silly for mkayn to accuse cathar of such behavior when Orthodox Jews completely believe the whole world is out to get them. (Just check out the liturgy) Talk about chips on a shoulder….
I do know differently, mkayn. Honest. And the good rabbi may indeed be kin to Browning’s Ben Ezra, but he may also be a rather manipulative sort who knows how to work the media.
Spiro, while I thank you for your support above, my “hometown” is East Rutherford, where, as far as I know, there has never been a street called “Dwas Line Avenue.” But you might be amused to hear that ER’s lone synagogue, in some proof of the ongoing vagaries of civilization, closed sometime back when I was in grade school. Then it became (for the longest such span, 25+ years) a Masonic temple, a Greek or Russian Orthodox church and then an Egyptian Coptic Christian church and, very briefly, an Ethopian Amharic Christian church. Last I heard, however, the area Copts had all moved out and to a new, much larger and well-appointed hq; perhaps these are the Copts who now seem clustered around Holmdel. At any rate, the Star of David on the front of the edifice, no matter how many times the building was repainted or even extensively (as in the case of the addition of the nine requisite rooftop crosses) “re-worked,” never quite faded. I much like that.
An additional point I just remembered for you, Spiro: as you drive Rte. 3 through Secaucus, you can see (anyway used to be able to see) on a side street an old synagogue building which some “gypsies” have very nicely converted nto their living quarters and corporate hq for their prognostication business (perhaps too for their aluminum siding installation company, for all I know). There, too, the Star if David has never quite faded, and I especially like the resilience of this one.
actually Cathar, I was referring to Clifton -haven’t you posted that you live there now? Therein you will find Dwas Line Avenue.
I understand exactly what Sandy is saying.
I moved into a neighborhood with a large Orthodox population and synagogue. I was told there was only traffic on certain holidays, Friday nights and Saturdays. What I have found is a very different picture. I have learned that the Orthodox consider their synagogues like a community center, this particular one is used from 7AM to late evening depending on holiday, Sabbath and other events that may be happening. Buses to schools are a huge nuisance. The people of Short Hills/Millburn have every right to be concerned, once this place is built the traffic will increase exponentially
Yes, Spiro T., I reside in Clifton. But it in no way constitutes my “hometown,” meaning to me where so many of life’s formative experiences occurred.
Dwas Line Avenue? What an odd-sounding name. Now I’m going to have to look it up, maybe even drive down it.