Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Culture

10 things about Jewish New Jersey

It’s where Albert Einstein lived, but so much more
  1. 504,450 Jews live in New Jersey, representing 5.7% of the population.
  2. New Jersey officially afforded Jews religious tolerance in 1665.
  3. Organized Jewish communities exist in all 21 New Jersey counties.
  4. Newark, once home to Philip Roth, used to be the center of Jewish life in New Jersey, containing 80,000 Jews.
  5. Contrary to popular opinion, hometown favorite Bruce Springsteen is not Jewish. But his drummer is.
  6. In a short humor piece for the New Yorker, Woody Allen wrote, “The curtain rises on a vast primitive wasteland, not unlike certain parts of New jersey.”
  7. Frank Lautenberg, U.S. senator from 1982-2001, was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia.
  8. Henry Orenstein, Holocaust survivor and toymaker, best known for creating Transformers, lives in Verona, N.J.
  9. After fleeing Nazi Germany, Albert Einstein worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.
  10. Daughter of Rudolph and Esther Sussman, author Judy Blume was born in Elizabeth, N.J., which is celebrating its 350th anniversary this year.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.