“Exposing New Jersey’s Jewish Invasion” seems to be the latest trend. So-called investigative journalists are working hard to portray Orthodox Jews, who have lived in Lakewood since the late 1800’s, as foreign born invaders draining millions from American taxpayers. They frame families who have lived in this country for generations — my own great-great-grandfather arrived in 1903 — as though they are first generation intruders.

These content creators roam neighborhoods hoping to provoke on-camera confrontations, then selectively edit the footage to cast interviewees in the worst possible light. Through carefully clipped sound bites and misleading framing, they shape a narrative designed more to inflame than to inform.

But thanks to easily searchable data online, it is easy to debunk the hateful nonsense. In fact, we can go claim for claim and see what the facts are…

Claim: Orthodox Jews have many children which they support on the taxpayer dime.
Fact: When analyzing what a child costs the taxpayer, one has to look at the entire picture. So one can’t just look at whether the child receives government subsidized healthcare, you need to also look into other factors, such as schooling costs, crime, etc. You also have to look at other factors and benefits of having a young population, such as avoiding government sponsored healthcare for seniors (Medicare).

A quick search indicates that each child sent to public school costs taxpayers around $30,000. This includes the direct educational cost, costs for buildings, upkeep, etc. Since there are approximately 52,000 private school children in Lakewood, total taxpayer savings for the fact that not one of them attends public school is $1.56 BILLION. Even if we add back in the cost of state mandated private school busing of $33 million, Lakewood Jews still save taxpayers over $1.5 BILLION.

Now, the cost of government funded medicaid is $4000 per child and while there are a higher number of children on medicaid in Lakewood than in other towns, the overall benefit to taxpayers when considering the fact that we pay for our own education and buildings for 52,000 children is tremendous.

So why do a higher than average amount of Lakewood children receive NJ family Care? Because state law allows income for a family of 8 (and a typical Lakewood family has 6 children) to make up to $197,000 and receive NJ Family healthcare. Why? Perhaps the state knows that we are among the highest taxed states in the country, with insanely high property taxes and it is almost impossible for the typical middle income family to afford healthcare. The question Youtubers might want to ask is why are families expected to cough up a third or more of their income in various state, federal and local taxes on top of property and sales tax?

While Youtubers are aghast at Lakewood Jewish family sizes, a quick search will note that it was quite typical in 1960 for Catholic families (of which all three youtubers “exposing” Lakewood belong) to have 6 children. In fact, in 1960, it was more common for Catholics to have 6 children in a family than 1. 1 out of every 7 American households of two generations ago had 6 children. Are Jews the people who have deviated from the past? Or maybe the rest of society stopped making family a priority in pursuit of base pleasures?

Furthermore, as anyone who has followed Elon Musk knows, the greatest threat to mankind today is population collapse, not explosion. Because economies with a large percentage of old people without a younger population to sustain them cannot survive. So maybe, Youtubers should ask themselves what they can be doing to be more like the Orthodox and have more kids? Not ripping them for it.

But there is more. The average percentage of seniors in a NJ town is 18%. Each of these seniors cost taxpayers $15,000/year for Medicare. However, Lakewood has only 9% of seniors per the overall population. And the majority of these seniors are non Jews in local senior developments. The savings for not having to pay the standard cost of Medicare is likely over $200,000,000. Once again, this represents massive taxpayer savings.

Claim: The Jewish population explosion hurts the taxpayer. Fact: Lakewood is ranked as the 5th safest big city in America A simple gemini search demonstrates that this saves taxpayers almost $200,000,000 in average city crime costs that would otherwise go to law enforcement, jails, courts, etc. Interestingly, one of the other safest cities in that report was Ramapo, NY next to Monsey, where the youtubers are also “exposing” the Jews.
Claim: Jews recently “Invaded” Lakewood. Fact: A simple search shows that Jews have been living in Lakewood since the 19th century. By 1904, the first Congregation, Sons of Israel, was established. It’s still on 4th St. By the 1930’s and 40’s there were 60 – 80 hotels, the vast majority of them kosher (owned by and catering to Jewish clientele). So Lakewood was a Jewish town in the 1940’s already. But we’re the invaders….

Claim: Hatzoloh volunteer ems services and other Jewish volunteer services in Lakewood are bad and part of the Jewish “Takeover”.

Fact: I asked Gemini how much Hatzoloh volunteer EMS, funded exclusively by the local Jewish community, saves taxpayers. Gemini responded: “Hatzalah is the largest volunteer EMS organization in the United States. In most NJ cities, EMS is either a paid municipal department or a third-party contract billed to the town and patients. Direct Budget Savings: A municipal EMS department for a city of 140,000 would typically cost taxpayers $10M–$15M annually in salaries, benefits, and equipment. Call Volume: Lakewood Hatzalah responds to roughly 25,000+ calls per year. In other cities, a single ambulance transport can cost a patient (or their insurance) between $800 and $2,500. Because Hatzalah is funded almost entirely by private community donations (with a 2024–2025 revenue of over $7.5M), the township does not have to carry the massive overhead of a 24/7 paid paramedic and ambulance fleet. Beyond the dollar amounts, these organizations often have faster response times because volunteers live in the neighborhoods they serve. In Lakewood, a Hatzalah medic is often on the scene in under 2 minutes, which is significantly faster than the national average for municipal EMS. This speed saves lives and reduces long-term medical costs for the community.”

I can go on and on, but the point is, it is easy to debunk the nonsense. Simple searches show that Lakewood is a net positive to the taxpayer by a margin of millions. We should be proud and not be ashamed from the click-bait grifters who need to prey on innocent bystanders in order to make a buck. They are the leeches, not us.

Rabbi Meir Goldberg is the Director of JX campus network. He can be reached at [email protected]