TLS Speaks with Rav Yitzchak and Shaindel Cohen as they Make Aliya after 50 Years in Lakewood

Lakewood is a town of Torah a city that has grown exponentially through the Torah that has been the very basis and Foundation of all those who choose to live in this wonderful town but it's changed very much so Rabbi yok and rabbitson Shandi K are well aware of that fact having lived here for more than four decades coming in when the Shiva was in its fledgling State and really looked entirely different than it does now they share their thoughts with us on the verge of their making Aliah to her Israel which they feel is an extension of the wonderful experience that they've shared here growing and living in Lakewood so we're talking to Rabbi yak and rabbitson con RAB Yak from Lakewood he's been a veteran in Lakewood for a long time he's going to tell us how long and they're now making Aliah to ER Isel let's learn about what Lakewood used to be like and why we should appreciate what it is now RIT how long have you been in Lakewood and tell us what it was like when you first moved here it um can I know it come out come out 40 50 years that have been the Lakewood I came here as a b and um I was interested um in want I felt you know a drive to do something to uh to to move forward and there were you know the older people there there was it was uh it was what was it 70 70 youngite and 140 uh bam something like that and you came to theiva and you you wanted to do something wanted like this is I mean looking back the the hippies they that was their Rebellion against what their what their lifestyle was and here was a bunch of people who were most fish um I remember there was one young man he had like a potato for supper it's like it's like it's you know potato for supper but it wasn't that it was that you you do something you were learning like you cut down to this is you had a life had a had a meaning to uh when you went there and the hitz he should be G gave me my fa I was not as capable as lot of other guys but uh you know I sort of like uh Blended in with the rest of the the rest of the guys they were very fine people very fine they give it a shirt of the uh there was uh a shirt of the the of the back of of his uh of the back there was there was five cars in the whole Yeshiva now I like they had room to park what you had room to park there was it's not there was room to park it was if somebody had to go somewhere another you know somebody else help you out you were old brothers and like you know it's um that was that was in the Yeshiva in that world but just on the outside I was just uh a few years later I was learning how to drive and um a lady a little older lady started to walk across the street and you waited you waited till she crossed the street you know it was it was a throw it wasn't if it were now she might still be waiting it wasn't it wasn't that it was it was a combination besides you weren't The Cutting Edge of everything you wanted to be there you wanted to learn you wanted you saw how uh the duras all all the um the people who were there for longer how who was there then who who did you say I said there of um of um I saw re no definitely I definitely I definitely I came two and a half years after was so you obviously saw right I saw and I used to give a Shear every every week or something like that and just as a you know want to see what it is to go up to the uh to the head right in front of the arot and he would give the shear and then it would touch the side the you know he would hold the the where you kept the SW and it was worn down the you know gave the shear they say that he was part of raar so he was like he would when he gave the she he was like he was living that and um like uh it was more more of an extended family than than it is like a Yeshiva I mean it was Yeshiva there was a formal thing um after yipper or or during this during beyond toim the people danced it was real the your whole your whole your whole self was was in it what was the town itself like outside the dollar OFA you knew every single person this lady limps and I always saw her whenever I went into town I mean after 9:00 there was like there was no lights out the town closed but that's it but you knew everybody in town whoever was there I had a friend cman Adams and he he would um he would go around and a fix it man and the police would stop and what what are you doing here oh it's calman don't about it was like an it was like a Middle Town in you part you know pardon family but in the in the Shiva part it was uh there's a so all the cars went of course every went to dance where did they make a of them they went in um what's the name of the uh no who was the family what family was it that what the um the very did you make the costs here in Lakewood or they went out to New York no New York there was nothing here there was no there was no I mean one time I think I think wanted to make a so they emptied out part of a new building and they had it inside the little sort of chairs on the side and it's like um out of town what do you think has been the biggest changes in Lakewood between those 40 50 years ago and now and what should the people who are moving in and people here now really appreciate about about living in Lakewood wow well you know a spade is a spade they you know you came here to learn and that's what you did like um there was when the air conditioning came in the the the the the in the base Mish was air conditioning and the dorm was no air conditioning so n the Mish said this is how intense it was that um a person who stayed in bed they used to be after the first Seda robn said everybody has to go to sleep rest up so you'll be strong for the second SAT but if you stayed a little longer what are you doing over there it was boiling hot in in in the dorm and in the Shiva was air conditioning so of nothing said you had to beak if you would if how did you leave it's you know the the reality of it how people just sat down L you know just like anybody else this is business this is our business you're on the version now of moving ter Israel in a very short time by the time people see this you'll probably be on on your way how do you feel about leaving Lakewood and do you feel there's a strong connection between the the Legacy that is here in Lakewood and the connection teren is do you feel there a continuation of your having spent all this time in in Lakewood wow I mean uh who is it uh uh Mish um who is it um um who is the Mish in common R raes Einstein IR Stern said that this city is a city outside it's what do you call it's not a city outside of er Israel this is like part of er Israel it you know and the brother you know everything the learning the the straightness you know without any pretentions any you know you know that's you live that life you really lived it today there are a lot of younger light here that in addition to those who are in Co also are are working and still attached themselves very much to the S mood that that they have here what what what do you think that you would like as you going towards for the people that are building their lives here now maybe starting off where you know a little bit after where you were when you first got married what would you be your advice to them Karine it's everything is there there are more yeshivas more uh Bas yakos just whatever it is any place where there is just take advantage if you will if you if you uh here's here's the catering hole eat as much as you want so what do you mean eat as much as you want I mean like you know hey I got to get back to Satan now Mrs con you also a part of this Legacy in Lakewood tell us what what you remember as what Lakewood was like then what it is now and what you think people should learn as you Embark upon this newu from the life moving Terror Israel okay so when we came here I think the edge of town was the Yeshiva apartments and it was not the Yeshiva Apartments it was a hotel uh there were very very very few businesses that were owned by from yeen uh gilstein was not kosher yet we didn't have I remember I was teaching art in the the had just started and they told me that I'm going to have a very very challenging class it's going to be made up of 12 whole children and they thought that was a challenge the real challenge was that every single child was named Aon after R Aron that's all except for one and I refus to call them by their last name um nobody had families we we uh we were all like my husband said we were all each other's brothers and sisters uh now barash so many people have families here even parents and there were no parents here uh the parents that have come to Lakewood have added tremendously and it used to be I remember one time I wanted to ask advice from a very seasoned mother about my child my baby and this mother has she had been married for six whole years years and she was the mka because that's what it was um at that time people didn't stay in Lakewood it was a transient town and if somebody learned let's say five or six years that was considered very remarkable um women didn't work as long and as hard there was virtually nobody that worked past 2:00 um there's I think one or two newlyweds who went to New York to work life was much simpler and much more um basic and we didn't mind it at all we all supported each other and if somebody found a good find in the flea market we all applauded her and um it was just a different world there were um theer itself and the there were no schools there's no mfta when we came and then when the mfta came it was the only mfta and it didn't offer English so we all had to send our children away for high school if we wanted English uh the schools were scattered all over town in basements in uh garages I remember Mrs Epstein going you always saw her in the streets going from one class to another and the same with theer and there was no option there's you know it's just theer and um I remember when basa was built it was such a Sim and very soon barem it outgrew itself so the choice of schools is a tremendous very big change there's so many missas there's so many bakos there's so manyar which is a huge huge change and there's even you know um not just the BMG there's other schools other yeshivas also so these are tremendous tremendous changes um as I see it I I personally love the growth I come from a very tiny coal mining town Pennsylvania where you barely saw a ye so when I see tons of kids and tons of schools and tons of buses my heart sings I really love it and you don't mind the traffic not at all in fact if I have time I try to get behind all these buses well what would be your advice or words of encouragement to both K wives and to wives of babaton people that are moving here living here now because they want a Tor life really just to first of all cherish your neighbors you know uh we had such wonderful neighbors and I as much as I think I appreciated them I don't think I appreciated them enough and they gave so much to me and taught me so much and besides being a t town it's a town of tremendous tremendous that I don't think you'll find anywhere else and to be able to appreciate that and to know it's a very very special place I remember um years ago when I had a baby um the neighbors brought me Ys and my mother Allah shal was here visiting and she said uh you know she was very impressed she said it reminded her of Europe of theid in Europe but then she said in they're not going to do your laundry for you at that minute there was a knock at the door and a neighbor said you know I have a half an hour can I do your laundry my mother was just blown away but there's so many kinds of so many gim so many ways that people want to help out it's just so incredible and um just a caliber of the neighbors I don't think you're going to find this so readily out of town and to appreciate it and to you know embrace it