Aberdeen Residents Fight Proposed Yeshiva in Cliffwood

Aberdeen, NJ - Residents in Aberdeen are fighting a yeshiva proposed for Meinzer Street, a quiet, tucked-away area in the Cliffwood section of town, reports the Asbury Park Press. The big blue signs you might have seen that read “Cliffwood Matters! Save Our Town!” reference the yeshiva fight.

The yeshiva owners, Ruach Chaim Inc., will request a variance from the Aberdeen zoning board next Wednesday, Sept. 7, because the land is currently not zoned to allow a private educational academy to operate there.

Those who live on and around Meinzer Street say their main concerns are traffic and density. They say as the yeshiva grows, it could attract more than 300 people to the sleepy area, and the roads aren't equipped to handle that kind of traffic. Cliffwood Avenue Elementary School is two blocks away.

“Essentially, it’s a density issue,” said Cliffwood resident Michael Canberg, who is leading the opposition. “There are concerns for fire safety, traffic safety, evacuation safety. The land is definitely not zoned for that kind of density and not strategically positioned to handle that.”

“My biggest thing is, it’s not about them being Orthodox Jews,” Keirsten Chevalier, a lifelong Cliffwood resident and mother of two, told the APP. “I don’t care who it is. Whoever is trying to build something like that on a little piece of land, I think it’s crazy. When I do dropoff and pickups (at the school), it’s always a mess. Something like this will cause even more traffic.”

According to the Asbury Park Press, Canberg has filed a formal objection and retained the law firm Curcio Mirzaian Sirot.

The yeshiva would be a four-building Orthodox Jewish academy run by Ruach Chaim Inc. It would consist of a synagogue/educational center/cafeteria, a rec center, a 160-bed student dormitory and a 42-unit married-student apartment building.

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