Big-city access.
Small-town warmth.
Elizabeth and Hillside offer a rare balance: an established Orthodox community with the institutions families rely on, and the personal feeling of a place where people know one another.
The area’s Jewish roots stretch back to the late 1800s. Its modern Torah community was profoundly shaped by Rav Pinchas Mordechai Teitz zt”l, whose vision joined education, tefillah and communal responsibility. Today, new families continue to add energy to a community built across generations.
New residents are attracted by comparatively attainable homes, neighborhood streets filled with children on Shabbos, and easy access by car, bus or train to Manhattan and the wider New York–New Jersey region. Read the Jewish Link profile →
A full pathway for learning and growth.
The Jewish Educational Center anchors local education with early childhood and lower-school programs, followed by the Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy for boys and the Bruriah middle and high schools for girls. Families benefit from a local continuum that combines Torah learning, general studies and extracurricular life.
The result is more than a convenient commute. School, shul, classmates and community overlap, giving children a strong sense that Jewish learning belongs at the center of daily life.
Several shuls. One connected community.
JEC Elmora Avenue Shul
At the heart of the Elmora neighborhood, the shul offers regular minyanim, a Sephardi minyan, Torah learning and a youth department with weekly Shabbos groups and programs through the year.
Visit the shul website →Congregation Adath Israel
Serving Hillside and North Elizabeth, Adath Israel is a welcoming center of Torah, tefillah and connection, with daily minyanim, learning, youth activities and an active calendar.
Visit the shul website →Congregation Beis Hillel
A close-knit Orthodox shul on the Union–Elizabeth border, Beis Hillel welcomes families looking to daven, learn and connect.
Visit the shul website →The essentials are already here.
A community becomes home in the details: where children play, where families shop, how neighbors help, and whether daily Jewish life feels easy and natural.
Kosher close by
A kosher grocery and butcher, dairy and meat restaurants, takeout, bakery choices and a kosher Dunkin’ make ordinary errands refreshingly local.
Family infrastructure
The area includes an eruv, mikvaot, youth programs, parks, Hatzalah coverage and neighborhood institutions that support family rhythms.
Chesed that connects
Jewish Family Service, Tomchei Shabbos and local volunteer networks turn communal responsibility into practical care for neighbors.
Union YM–YWHA
The nearby Shomer Shabbos community center offers early childcare, day camp, senior programming, a fitness center and pool.
Exceptionally connected
Newark Airport, major highways, NJ Transit rail lines and commuter buses put jobs, family and destinations across the region within reach.
Room to belong
Different shul communities, age groups and styles coexist within a broader neighborhood culture known for warmth, hospitality and achdut.
“A strong, inclusive Orthodox Jewish community” built around Torah learning, shared institutions and responsibility for one another.— The Jewish Link, reflecting on the continuing legacy of Rav Pinchas M. Teitz zt”l
Spend a Shabbos. Meet the neighbors.
The best way to understand Elizabeth–Hillside is to experience its scale and warmth in person. Choose a shul, arrange hospitality, walk the neighborhood and see how naturally its many parts fit together.
Plan a community visit ↗