NEW JERSEY – As news spread of the arrest of Ahmad Khan Rahami, suspected bomber of the weekend’s incidents in Chelsea and Seaside Park, many in the New York metropolitan area breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the “armed and dangerous” culprit was no longer at large. Yet, for residents of his hometown of Elizabeth, the revelation that a plotting terrorist had been living in their midst brought with it a sense of unease, all the more so following the discovery of an explosive devise at the local commuter train station.
Nevertheless, life went on as usual for young and old alike, albeit amid an increased police presence. Like all of the neighborhood schools, the Jewish Educational Center’s (JEC) lower school, Bruriah Girls High School, and Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy remained open throughout a day when many eyes in the media were turned toward Elizabeth.
Bruriah High School of the Jewish Educational Center, Elizabeth, NJ.
“Baruch Hashem, the learning is taking place as usual; most people are brushing it off and going about their business,” Rabbi Eliezer Meir Teitz, Rav and Dean of JEC, whose father, Rabbi Pinchas Teitz, z”l,founded the town’s Orthodox community, told Hamodia. “My daughter who lives in Yerusahalyim called to see how we were. She said that we usually are the ones calling her after terror attacks, but now we’re getting the call.”