Photo by Wikimedia Commons
- 504,450 Jews live in New Jersey, representing 5.7% of the population.
- New Jersey officially afforded Jews religious tolerance in 1665.
- Organized Jewish communities exist in all 21 New Jersey counties.
- Newark, once home to Philip Roth, used to be the center of Jewish life in New Jersey, containing 80,000 Jews.
- Contrary to popular opinion, hometown favorite Bruce Springsteen is not Jewish. But his drummer is.
- 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.”
- Frank Lautenberg, U.S. senator from 1982-2001, was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia.
- Henry Orenstein, Holocaust survivor and toymaker, best known for creating Transformers, lives in Verona, N.J.
- After fleeing Nazi Germany, Albert Einstein worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.
- Daughter of Rudolph and Esther Sussman, author Judy Blume was born in Elizabeth, N.J., which is celebrating its 350th anniversary this year.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Make a Passover Gift Today!
Dive In
-
Culture In Pope Francis, a voice for interfaith dialogue and against antisemitism
-
Culture How an Israeli dance company shaped a Catholic school boy’s life
-
Culture How Abraham Lincoln in a kippah wound up making a $250,000 deal on ‘Shark Tank’
-
Books What is ‘Zionism without Zion?’ New history asks, but can’t answer
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward FSU shooting suspect used neo-Nazi imagery on social media, ADL finds
-
Fast Forward Pope Francis’ final speech called for ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza war
-
Opinion Shackled, imprisoned and subjected to false accusations, Kilmar Abrego Garcia recalls the fate of Captain Alfred Dreyfus
-
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.