Good afternoon 12345,
I moved to Passaic in order to commute to Manhattan. It’s obviously closer to Brooklyn than Monsey is, although the commute (especially during rush hour) can be a pain.
sorry, no personal email addresses
- Concerning the commute, to get to Manhattan there are three options, GW, Lincoln, Holland, as well as going through Staten Island. The three bridges range from 6-8 miles each, although during rush hour the GW is usually either 20 minutes or 1.5 hours (it either moves or doesn’t). The Lincoln and Holland are usually around 45 minutes (I know there’s no usually) each. However, late at night (after 10pm), I often can go from Brooklyn to Passaic in 45 minutes, as there is often no traffic. Each Bridge/Tunnel is around $13 (although it is cheaper if you have it registered as carpool, and there’s a place outside the gw where you can usually pick people up). When I need to go to Brooklyn from Passaic, I will often take the GWB, and then the FDR to the Brooklyn Bridge, although Staten Island may be faster at times.
- Concerning shuls, as people have mentioned, there are quite a lot of Nusach Sefard Shuls, some are more heimish, such as R’ Berkowitz’s & R Weinberger’s, some are more official, such as the Agudah, and some are a drop more modern, such as Tiff. (again, send me an email to call me, and I can go in more details).
- One plus of Passaic, is there is a bunch of classes and gym lessons (such as gymnastics for girls) for children, which are usually listed in the Jewish Local Times. I have passed by a Ladies only gym which is pretty close, but not in the Jewish neighborhood per say. There is also a Lucille Roberts (Women only Gym) right near by.
- One thing to take note. Passaic is not as open spaced as Monsey. There’s street cleaning weekly (tickets are $75), and even to go to the Supermarket you need to either look for parking or pay meter. The schools which are close and which many people walk to, do not have real parking. And it is definitely squishy. (And as mentioned earlier, you will be either Jewish or Latin American).
- Neighborhoods: There are kind of three or four housing neighborhoods. You have Passaic which has some old regal houses, where everyone keeps up their tree/bush gardens, although is squishy, and somewhat middle-aged. You have the Clifton North and West neighborhoods which has more of the younger, slightly more comfortable people, with bigger lots, and you have the south area which is a drop more suburbia, although they only have a single (large) modern-yeshivesh shul. There is also the east neighborhood (on the other side of main) which has many new Jewish families moving in, which is the more affordable. Note: when I say neighborhoods, I don’t mean in the Monsey way, more as in a close demographic way. It is basically all one neighborhood with different sections. Passaic, is quite close together and small, as walking from one end to the other would be under 40 minutes, and driving in under 5.
I hope this helps,
Bitul