I started a Lakewood subreddit to build bridges between Jews and non-Jews in the area. Share tips for Chol Hamoed!

I recently created the r/LakewoodNJ subreddit for people living in Lakewood, New Jersey, which has one of the largest Jewish populations in the world! It is meant to be a place for positive and constructive engagement that includes both the Jewish community in Lakewood and the non-Jews living in the area. Hopefully it will be a counterbalance against all the rampant antisemitism about Lakewood all over Instagram and Reddit, and also to build bridges and calm tensions. But it will only be useful if it is actually used, so I encourage anyone who lives in the Lakewood area to join and participate.

You can see examples of antisemitism in some of the replies to posts about Lakewood in the r/newjersey subreddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/newjersey/comments/166svvn/happy_to_see_rnewjersey_come_together_today/

https://www.reddit.com/r/newjersey/comments/166dgbu/most_disliked_citytown_in_jersey/

https://www.reddit.com/r/newjersey/comments/168prkw/its_ok_to_hate_lakewood_but_the_dehumanization/

https://www.reddit.com/r/newjersey/comments/1d7nmf7/how_did_lakewood_happen/

There are fair criticisms of ultra-Orthodox communities, but so many of the replies are just pure stereotypes and hate based on ignorance, and hopefully my subreddit will be a place for more constructive discussion.

If you are looking for some place to start participating, I just made a post asking for your favorite places for family trips, which is topical today now that it is Chol Hamoed Sukkos https://www.reddit.com/r/LakewoodNJ/comments/1o1uy70/what_are_your_favorite_family_activities_and_trip/

Here is my post explaining the purpose of the subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/LakewoodNJ/comments/1o1tvlu/why_a_lakewood_subreddit/

If you don’t have anything specific to add, you can help by just liking the posts.