Fair Lawn, NJ

Posted: Wed, Oct 26 2011, 8:47 pm Post subject: Fair Lawn, NJ

A recent thread about smaller MO communities mentioned Fair Lawn, NJ. Can anyone tell more about the community? It looks like there are a few shuls, kosher food establishments and is relatively affordable. Are young families moving in? where do most send their kids to school? how is the commute to Manhattan?

Diamond Member Joined: Dec 28 2005 Posts: 4693

Posted: Thu, Oct 27 2011, 12:55 am Post subject: re: Fair Lawn, NJ

We were there for Shabbos once and stayed by the Yudins. They are very nice and everyone there is extremnely friendly. However, I must mention that a possible downside, is on the one hand , its very modern, Fairlawn isnt Pasaic or Monsey by any stretch of the imagination, OTOH, it doesnt have the infrastructure or social life or excitement of Teaneck and W Orange.

So I found it to be 'nisht aheen, nisht aher' ... Very blase place...

Posted: Wed, Nov 16 2011, 12:07 pm Post subject: re: Fair Lawn, NJ

OP here. Thank you for the replies.
Tova- I haven't gone to Fair Lawn to look at houses, but when doing a little investigating on line, it looks like one could get more for thier money than in Teaneck.
another amother- I'm looking for a community that is hasgafically like Teaneck, just not so big. Passaic or Monsey would not be a good fit for my family. Did you find people in Fair Lawn had to travel far to get what they need? Isn't most of the shopping on route 4? Were there many young kids in the neighborhood?

Posted: Wed, Nov 16 2011, 12:25 pm Post subject: re: Fair Lawn, NJ

It's close enough enough to Teaneck that you send oyur kids to all the North Jersey yeshivas. There's a few local kosher options but, again, Teaneck is a 10 minute drive so your options are greater than what's down the street. So really you need to decide if the circle of younger couples is for you and whether you like the shuls. It's not really a growing community. I will tell you that we consider ourselves YU modern yeshivish and we felt that Fair Lawn was much more modern than that.

But FL is a very nice middle class town, close to NYC, with housing that is more affordable than the surroundign areas. It has an out of town feel (though I hate that term) and is overall very welcoming. But hashkafically I didn't find a huge range so you have to see if you fit in.

Active Poster Joined: Dec 30 2010 Posts: 39

have you checked out Elizabeth? they seem to meet all of your credentials, and unlike bergen county stores are open on sundays!

Posted: Mon, Nov 21 2011, 12:45 am Post subject: re: Fair Lawn, NJ

thanks for the replies!

Active Poster Joined: Aug 07 2006 Posts: 71

Hi. We live in Fair Lawn, NJ and are very happy here. Yes, it is more affordable than Teaneck, but real estate taxes continue to climb. When we moved here 10 years ago (in our 20s) taxes were about 6K compared to teaneck's 12K. Now we pay about 10K in real estate taxes.
There are several yeshivas here- Yeshiva of North Jersey, Yavneh, Ben Porat Yosef and Yeshivat Noam. There is also a fantastic preschool run by chabad from newborn through pre-k (people from all over use this school- monsey, bergenfield, teaneck, etc.)
There are a few shuls too- rabbi Yudin's Shomrei Torah (has the mikvah and a preschool there too), a sephardic shul, a russian shul- bris avrohom, a young israel (isnt very vibrant), ahavat Achim & Darchei Noam.
People tend to send their kids to gan izzy camp in Fair Lawn, or camp 613, regesh and ma-tov.
In Fair lawn itself is a kosher supermarket (food showcase), Zaidy's bakery (yum!), a pizza store, a bagel store, a pita & shwarma place & a chinese place. But it is just a 10 minute drive to Teaneck or a 15 minute drive to Passaic where you can get a lot more.

People don't tend to be in other's businesses and nobody judges. The side of Fair Lawn that has Rabbi Yudin's shul tends to be a bit more right winged- more people cover their hair etc. We find everyone to be so friendly and so helpful.
You can contact both shuls (which is what we did when we were looking) & they will set you up with hosts for shabboses so you can check out the community.

To get to the city- there is a bus that goes directly into the city, some people take the PATH train.

Good luck!

Posted: Mon, Dec 12 2011, 9:58 pm Post subject: re: Fair Lawn, NJ

thank you so much tinker-belle! really useful information. Can you tell me more about the shuls? are there groups for kids? how big are they?
perhaps I should team up with the amother from the other ny moving thread and check out Fair Lawn for a shabbos together...

Active Poster Joined: Aug 07 2006 Posts: 71

I know there are groups for kids at shomrei torah and ahavat achim for sure. Those are the two main shuls. Ahavat Achim is about 100 families- shomrei is probably closer to 300.
www.ahavatachim.org and www.shomrei-torah.org www.flchabad.com

You can get more info from above shul's websites and also set up coming for shabboses. Young Israel isn't a very big shul at all, doubt they have groups. I've sent my children to gan Izzy of Fair Lawn www.fairlawncamp.com which also connects you to the russian shul. I don't know much about the sephardic shul or darchei noam.