Comparing Inwood to Passaic/Clifton

amother

Wed, Aug 10 2022, 12:16 pm

Hi,

I know Inwood very well. We've considered it for a while. The crowd is a good fit for me hashkafically, mostly JPF & out of town yeshivish type. In terms of materialism, I think there's a bit of a range and I would likely be somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, though probably more on the simpler end of it. I like that it's a friendly community. Anyway, housing is very limited and overpriced and it's not going to work for us.

Would I fit into Passaic/Clifton? Anyone have any idea how these communities compare?

imacoolmom

Wed, Aug 10 2022, 5:37 pm

Passaic and Clifton are quite different at this point
Passaic is more yeshivish out of towny also the town itself isn’t that pretty houses tend to be older or run down
Clifton is getting more of an in town feel, lots of Brooklyn people. The people I know who live there are on the fancier side
This is all general of course, it’s not everyone.

amother

Apple

Wed, Aug 10 2022, 6:14 pm

From how you described yourself religiously you definitely could find your niche in Passaic and would probably be happy in YBH. Another option you should look into is Edison/Highland Park, which may be a better fit in terms of religion and gashmiyus, but I don't know if its geography works for your commutes.

amother

Wed, Aug 10 2022, 10:54 pm

Oh wow, so are the two communities (Passaic & Clifton) kind of separate?

Which one is more similar to what I described? Like I was saying, I'm JPF/out of town yeshivish, on the simpler side, I have some sense of trends but overall dress pretty chilled. Is that more Passaic or more Clifton or does it vary by area within these towns?

amother

Wed, Aug 10 2022, 10:56 pm

amother [ Apple ] wrote:

OK, you think Edison/Highland Park would be aligned with the type I described? It would be a bigger commute for my husband though. Hmmm.

amother

Whitewash

Wed, Aug 10 2022, 11:37 pm

Where does your husband work?
I've lived in both Far Rockaway (right next to Inwood) and Passaic. If you're commuting into Manhattan I don't recommend the Far Rockaway 5 towns area. It's a terrible commute. It's much more doable from Passaic.

amother

Wed, Aug 10 2022, 11:45 pm

amother [ Whitewash ] wrote:

Yes, Manhattan....

Do you live in Passaic now? Do you think it would work for someone who would fit into Inwood type-wise?

amother

Seashell

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 12:12 am

I’m not familiar with Inwood, but live on the Passaic/Clifton border. It’s a wonderful community. Unless you live on the far end of either , it really is one big community.
Yes, there are homes going up in Clifton that are huge and in your face and stand out , but it does not effect the overall vibe of the community. We send our kids to YBH, and while no school is perfect, we feel so fortunate to be a part of the school!
I grew up in monsey, which is aesthetically so much nicer than Passaic, but it is really a special, grounded community.

amother

Whitewash

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 12:13 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Yes, Manhattan....

Do you live in Passaic now? Do you think it would work for someone who would fit into Inwood type-wise?

I don't live in either right now. We ended up moving oot.
Passaic/Clifton is large enough that you'll find a place where you'd fit in. I'd start finding out about the different shuls and then try to find a house walking distance to the one that you want to join.

amother

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 2:33 pm

Thank you!

What about the schools? How do they compare to what I would have in Inwood?

amother

Apple

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 3:14 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Thank you!

What about the schools? How do they compare to what I would have in Inwood?

What schools (boys and girls) would you be sending to if you lived in Inwood? And what is most important to you in a school - Hebrew education, English education, student body religiosity, student body gashmiyus, ...?

amother

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 3:25 pm

amother [ Apple ] wrote:

Probably Darchei or Yeshiva Ketana for boys

Probably TAG for girls but I'm not sure.

I want a strong English and Hebrew education but don't want crazy pressure.

amother

Amaranthus

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 7:03 pm

There are fewer school choices in Passaic than in the 5T area. From how you describe yourself, you would probably like YBH more, but there are people like you who send to Yeshiva Ketana (more yeshivish) they are just the minority.

amother

Amaranthus

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 7:05 pm

Are people moving into the Nutley area? I know that people were trying to establish a community there (adjacent to Clifton) before COVID. Wondering if it ever took off. Might work for OP.

amother

Amaranthus

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 7:12 pm

OP, if you are looking for simpler, Passaic is the way to go. Even if you are simple and live in Inwood, your kids will have classmates from other towns that live very extravagant lifestyles.

amother

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 8:02 pm

amother [ Amaranthus ] wrote:

Thank you so much for that info!

The Five Towns definitely has amazing school choices.....but housing options are abysmal.

So Yeshiva Ketana is quite yeshivish, not as diverse/ chilled as the 5 Towns schools? And YBH is more diverse/ chilled?

Thanks so much.

amother

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 8:03 pm

amother [ Amaranthus ] wrote:

OP, if you are looking for simpler, Passaic is the way to go. Even if you are simple and live in Inwood, your kids will have classmates from other towns that live very extravagant lifestyles.

That's true....

amother

Whitewash

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 9:35 pm

If you're comparing Passaic to 5 towns schools I would say tag and darchei are more similar to yeshiva ketana and YBH is more similar to south shore.

amother

Clover

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 10:40 pm

There's another great school option you should check out. It's called The Clifton Cheder/Bais Yaakov of Clifton. I think you might be very happy there.

amother

Amaranthus

Thu, Aug 11 2022, 10:49 pm

amother [ Whitewash ] wrote:

If you're comparing Passaic to 5 towns schools I would say tag and darchei are more similar to yeshiva ketana and YBH is more similar to south shore.

But wouldn’t you say that the crowd that goes to BBY/Siach is also in Yeshiva Ketana? I might be mistaken, but my sense is that the population of Yeshiva Ketana is more similar to BBY than to TAG. There will be overlap because there are fewer schools so the populations in the Passaic schools will have more of a range.