When Peter Applebome filed a story on Teaneck last month that depicted Orthodox Jews as jaywalking land-grabbers, eager to take over the commercial marketplace but uncaring about the town’s schools, he left not only hurt feelings and distrust between various groups of Jews, he may have unwittingly bestowed a gift on a young Democrat who will be challenging the incumbent State Senator.

In June, the Democratic Primary for NJ’s District 37 State Senate seat will pit the incumbent, Loretta Weinberg, 72, against her challenger, Michael Wildes, the 42-year-old Mayor of Englewood. Mrs. Weinberg’s quotes in Mr. Applebome’s article as well as some of her other activities have been viewed by many members of Teaneck’s Orthodox community as anti-Orthodox. Mr. Wildes is a member of the Orthodox community.

In addition to Teaneck and Englewood, the 37^th District includes other towns with sizable Orthodox communities, such as Bergenfield, Englewood Cliffs, and Tenafly.

Mr. Applebome’s piece, part of his paper’s "Our Towns" series, was entitled "Proudly Diverse Teaneck Is Forced to Re-examine Its Assumptions." Its subhead was entitled "The Rising Political Fortunes of Orthodox Jews Make Other Residents Feel a Bit Uneasy."

The article noted that Modern Orthodox Jews, as opposed to hareidim, were the "most conspicuous and fastest-growing group in town" with 18 Orthodox synagogues and the downtown shopping district on Cedar Lane "dominated by glatt kosher meat markets and delis and Judaica shops."

That this was not something in which Mr. Applebome felt the town should take pride, was evident from his description of "the heavily Orthodox northwest side" of Teaneck where "residents are put off by Orthodox Jews’ habit of walking to shul on the Sabbath in the middle of the street, as if to say: ‘Don’t drive here. This is where we make the rules.’"

He implied it was the Orthodox Jews’ fault that Teaneck schools "no longer play a unifying role because the Orthodox tend to send their children to religious schools."

Proof of Teaneck’s trouble with the Orthodox was confirmed by Mr. Applebome when he noted that, last May, four young Orthodox-Jewish men, including incumbent Councilman and now Mayor Elie Y. Katz, successfully ran for town council, making them the majority of the seven-member panel.

While Mr. Applebome found one non-Orthodox Jewish woman to imply that the council’s efforts to bring more revenue into the town was merely one more way for the Orthodox to leave "a lot of Christian people and non-Orthodox Jews" feeling "slighted, marginalized, disrespected, not treated in a neighborly fashion," he allowed Mrs. Weinberg to characterize the town’s problems as having more to do with the "style and manner of council members" than anything else.

In fact, the "style and manner" of the young Orthodox councilmen, who range in age from 26 to 33, is pure Americana. Three of them, Mr. Katz, 32, Michael Kevie Feit, 33, and Adam Gussen, 33, are Teaneck born and bred. The fourth, Elnatan Rudolph, 26, moved to Teaneck from Brooklyn, but his wife has lived in Teaneck since she was a child.

They are all married and professionally successful. Mr. Katz, a local businessman, is credited with transforming the entire area surrounding West Englewood Avenue into an exciting Kosher Restaurant Row. One of the many stores is his own Chopstix kosher Chinese take-out.

Before winning their seats on the Town Council, Messrs Katz and Feit had long records of service with the Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

In their campaigns for town council last May, each of the councilmen ran on a platform advocating increased ratables in an effort to control Teaneck’s skyrocketing property taxes.

Nevertheless, Mr. Applebome reported that "to many in town, both the style and content of the [council] majority’s actions felt like one part of the community imposing itself on the rest."

Asked to explain what she meant by the councilmen’s "style and manner," Mrs. Weinberg quickly denied that she intended to imply anything about their religion. "I meant the things they were doing, such as pushing development and their views on taxes and schools," she said. "That has nothing to do with their religion."

She maintained that she has positive feelings towards the Orthodox community and, she said, during the last Teaneck Town Council elections, she had endorsed Mr. Katz, although not the others.

In what may be an indication of the weak relations between Mrs. Weinberg and the Orthodox community, many Orthodox Teaneck residents believe she not only had something to do with formulating the article, but has also been prompting criticism and verbal attacks on the Orthodox members of the town council.

Mrs. Weinberg characterized both accusations as untrue.

In an open letter addressed to Mr. Katz, a blogger calling himself "Dan" blasted Mrs. Weinberg and said the article in the Times was "clearly not only about you, but the entire Jewish and Orthodox community, and there is cause for concern and a need to take action."

"Who do you think had the clout to bring the NY Times to Teaneck to write such a disgusting article? I can only guess," said "Dan," obviously implicating Mrs. Weinberg.

Responding to "Dan," Mrs. Weinberg did not deny that some of her "friends" were among those who have disagreed with some actions taken by the council, and she ridiculed "Dan’s" implication that her behavior amounted to "heresy."

"I also number among my ‘friends’ people who agree with the goals of this council," she said, stressing that "the issues facing Teaneck should not be reduced to religious differences."

She said she knew nothing about the article before Mr. Applebome contacted her, asking for an interview, and she denied that she had played any part in arranging for its publication.

"I disagreed with Applebome’s premise when he came to visit me. That is why I said it had more to do with the ‘style’ of this Council," she said, adding that she found it strange that people would take that comment as a criticism.

"It is a comment on my view. The Council wants to move ahead quickly as is their right and ability to do so, and it is the right of Teaneck’s residents to react accordingly in either agreement or disagreement," she said.

Asked if she supported Mr. Applebome’s complaints about the Orthodox community in Teaneck, Mrs. Weinberg said she could understand why some members of the community would find his article upsetting. She did not, however, write a letter to the Times protesting the piece or challenging any of its sentiments.

As proof of her ties to the Orthodox community, she recalled that, in the 1970s, she and her late husband participated in the legal efforts to establish Congregation Beth Aaron on Queen Anne Road as Teaneck’s second Orthodox shul, even though they were not congregants and did not worship there.

Asked about the Times article, Mr. Katz said he found it "disappointing." He said Mr. Applebome gave him no indication that the piece would be about Orthodox Jews and their "poor relationships" with other members of the Teaneck community.

"Councilman Feit and I have been involved in the Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps for many years, and we have never responded to an emergency call based on race or religion. The same holds true for our tenure as council members. There have not been any biased or slanted votes. Nothing we—or anyone on the council—have done has been to benefit one segment of the community over another," he said.

He said he found Mrs. Weinberg’s comments in the article "surprising."

"I have been a very big supporter of Senator Weinberg, and I was very surprised by her public comments about our ‘style and manner,’" he said.

Asked if he thought Mrs. Weinberg’s remarks in the article would hurt her in the Orthodox community, Mr. Katz said, "No comment," which was the same response from the other Orthodox members of the town council.

A source close to one of them, however, said, despite Mrs. Weinberg’s protestations, she was not surprised by Mrs. Weinberg’s comments in the article.

"Her views of the Orthodox community have not been positive," said the source, who asked for anonymity. "Right after the elections, she told the new members of the council that while they might not think so, she did not need the Orthodox community to win re-election. We were just appalled. Here our guys had just won, and this is how she responds? Loretta really doesn’t share the views of our community."

Asked about this conversation, Mrs. Weinberg denied that it or anything like it had ever taken place.

An older member of the Orthodox community said he believed the Orthodox influx into Teaneck had left Mrs. Weinberg "and other old-time Jewish liberals flummoxed."

"They always thought the Orthodox would be quiet old men davening and sweet bubbies baking challahs. All of a sudden, they’ve been confronted with hundreds of young men proudly wearing kippoth and their tzitzit out, and young stylishly dressed young women, whose jobs and professions take them to the highest echelons of society. The Orthodox community in Teaneck is young, well-educated, affluent, extremely charitable, and ambitious. Of course they’re going to run for town council, and of course they’re going to be successful, and that is something the Loretta Weinbergs are just going to have to get used to," he said.

The perception of strained ties between Mrs. Weinberg and the Orthodox community gained further credence last month when she hosted in her office the first homosexual couple to take advantage of New Jersey’s new civil union law, which she co-authored.

The law gives homosexual couples all the legal rights of marriage, except the name.

The first homosexual couple to take advantage of the new law were Daniel Gross and Steven Goldstein. Romantic pictures of the couple, which were splashed across the country, showed Mr. Goldstein, a rabbinic student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, wearing a colorful kippah.

On television, a broadly smiling Mrs. Weinberg enthused that their civil union ceremony was "a lot easier than my daughter’s wedding."

In Teaneck’s Orthodox synagogues, Mrs. Weinberg’s open support and endorsement of the new law was met with, at best, widespread distaste.

Although, Mrs. Weinberg said she was unaware that the Orthodox community viewed her policies with disfavor, almost immediately after the news reports showing her with the homosexual couple were aired, she sent out an email on the Teaneck Shuls list, trumpeting a series of bills she said would be "of interest to our community."

In the email, she said she had introduced these bills "along with Assemblyman Gary Schaer, who introduced them in the Assembly." But a source in Mr. Schaer’s office said it was he who had written all the bills with the intention that they be introduced in the State Senate by Paul Sarlo.

"Loretta saw Gary’s bills and adopted them as her own," said the source. "In her email, she makes it sound as if these were hers all along."

Her email lists Mr. Sarlo (D-36) as a co-sponsor with Mrs. Weinberg in the State Senate.

The bills, written by Mr. Schaer (D-36), a member of the Passaic-Orthodox community, are part of his initiative to promote religious tolerance. The first six are rather straight forward. They would make it unlawful to discriminate against employees because of religious practices; require alternative testing arrangements for students or those seeking licenses if the regular test dates fall on religious holidays; require health-care representatives to make health-care decisions for incapacitated patients in accordance with the patients’ religious beliefs; insist that nursing home residents have the right to food that meets the residents’ religious dietary requirements; and make certain that health-care facilities are prohibited from requiring patients or family members to sign admission papers at those times (such as Shabbat or Jewish holidays) when their religious beliefs prohibit them from signing.

The last bill, which provides for religious accommodation regarding donations of anatomical gifts is a little more complicated. It would require organ procurement organizations or the person requesting an organ donation to refrain from asking for the organ if there is reason to believe that organ donations were contrary to the wishes or religious beliefs of the deceased patient.

Although Mrs. Weinberg had originally adopted that last bill along with the others, when an organization which promotes organ donation approached her, saying the bill would make it too difficult to procure organs, she dropped her sponsorship.

Mr. Sarlo is continuing as a primary sponsor of that bill in the State Senate.

In addition to listing Mr. Schaer’s bills, Mrs. Weinberg’s email announced that she had recently co-sponsored with Senator Robert Singer (R-30), a Senate resolution commending the NJ State Investment Board for investing in Israel Bonds and urging the continuation of these investments.

Several members of the Teaneck Shuls list characterized her email as "pandering," especially after her performance with the homosexual couple and her statements in Mr. Applebome’s article.

"I find it incredible and the ultimate in hypocrisy that Weinberg would first lend her support to these civil unions, have them publicized all over the media, and then come on Teaneck Shuls to tell us, members of Teaneck shuls who seek to uphold traditional values and pass them on to our children, that she is doing anything for our community," said one Teaneck resident who requested anonymity.

Mrs. Weinberg’s civil union law, which was written to satisfy the requirements of the NJ Supreme Court, stipulates that while public officials are not compelled by law to solemnize civil unions or marriage, those who officiate at marriage ceremonies must also be available to perform civil unions. The penalty for refusing to perform civil unions while still officiating at marriages could be a fine of up to $10,000 and possible legal action for violating New Jersey’s Law against Discrimination.

Clergy, on the other hand, even if they officiate at marriages, may legally decline to perform civil unions if pairing a homosexual couple would conflict with "sincerely held religious beliefs."

While Mr. Katz, as mayor, is empowered to perform weddings, business and municipal demands on his time are such, he said, that he does not do them, making it simple for him also to eschew performing civil unions.

Mr. Wildes has, in the past performed marriage ceremonies, and, he said, if he continues officiating at these, he will abide by the new civil union law as well.

Some political observers say Mrs. Weinberg’s troubled relations with the Orthodox community may be a factor in the outcome of June’s State Senate Primary.

"But only, of course, if the Orthodox community comes out to vote. If they sit out the primary, they will have no reason to complain later," said one of Mr. Wildes’s supporters.

Mr. Wildes is running as the Bergen County Democratic Organization’s candidate. Mrs. Weinberg was offered the organization’s backing for what she hopes will be her second term, but she declined in order to run with Assembly incumbents Gordon Johnson and Valerie Huttle, who do not have the organization’s support.

Last fall, Mr. Wildes won his mayoralty election, despite a major effort by Mr. Johnson and Ms. Huttle, who were supporting an independent challenger. Although Mr. Wildes won, the race was rampant with rhetoric which many Englewood residents believed took on an anti-Orthodox hue.

Mrs. Weinberg was elected to the NJ Assembly in a 1992 Special Election Convention. She won a 2005 Special Election Convention for the State Senate following the resignation of Byron Baer. In a bitter primary race, she defeated Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa by one vote, following an extended legal battle over a handful of ballots.

In the June 2007 primary, Mr. Wildes will run with Mr. Zisa, who served in the Assembly from 1998 to 2002, and Bergen County Improvement Authority Commissioner Cid Wilson of Leonia, the president of the Dominican-American National Roundtable.

A formidable fundraiser, Mr. Wildes, a former Assistant US Attorney who was elected mayor of Englewood in 2003 after five years as a councilman, will be entering the race with a substantial war chest.

During their election campaign last May, the Orthodox members of the Teaneck Town Council each said they viewed Englewood, under Mr. Wildes’s leadership, as a model for Teaneck to emulate in terms of formulating business-friendly development.

Supporters of Mr. Wildes said they had no doubt he would make inroads into various Democratic strongholds throughout the district. But these supporters, who are not official members of Mr. Wildes’s campaign team, said they also hope Republicans in the district who are not happy with Mrs. Weinberg will consider flipping their party registration in order to be able to vote for Mr. Wildes in the Democratic primary.

Asked why members of the Orthodox community should vote for Mr. Wildes, one of the supporters said it had to do with respect.

"Weinberg is still stuck in the melting pot mode, which means homogenizing everyone and having them all come out the same. Michael believes in the beautiful mosaic. Each piece has its own integrity, but together they come together to build something beautiful," said the supporter.

He pointed, as an example, to Mrs. Weinberg’s statement in the Applebome article in which she said that, after the fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white policeman in 1990. it was apparent that Teaneck was guilty of not paying sufficient attention to community relations.

Mrs. Weinberg went on to say that, today, Teaneck is once again guilty of not "nurturing" community relations.

"You can’t live in a community like this and let it go unnurtured," she said.

Mr. Wildes’s supporter said he believed Mrs. Weinberg was accusing the Orthodox town council members of not being sufficiently supportive of community relations.

"She might just as well have said it was their ‘style and manner,’" said the Wildes supporter.