Teaneck, NJ - First Frum Mayor

Teaneck, NJ - In a 6-1 vote, the Teaneck Township Council voted in its first Orthodox Jewish - and also its youngest - mayor, 31-year-old local businessman Elie Katz.

Every two years, the town council selects a mayor from its own ranks. The council used secret ballots to elect Katz, who won his third term as councilman in May, at the council’s reorganization meeting July 1. The meeting was held after sunset to accommodate the council’s several Orthodox Jews.

Although Katz is not the first Jewish mayor of Teaneck, he said that he is the town’s first Orthodox mayor. But the lifelong resident hopes that people will look beyond his religion and focus on his past as a volunteer and longtime member of the town’s business community, and on his future actions.
"I’m hopeful that as an active member of the community, that people recognize that I have a tremendous amount of experience that should supercede peoples’ judgment of my religious beliefs," he said.