By: Ariella Haviv

An ordinary afternoon—punctuated by the excited chatter of schoolchildren returning from a field trip—was violently transformed into a nightmare on the New Jersey Turnpike when an 8-year-old Jewish girl was struck in the head by a rock hurled through the window of her school bus. The child suffered a fractured skull and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, a horrifying episode that has sent tremors through Bergen County’s tightly knit Modern Orthodox community.

The details, confirmed in real time on Thursday by The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) through law-enforcement and school officials, have prompted an urgent investigation by the New Jersey State Police into what they are describing as an aggravated assault. At approximately 2:10 p.m. near exit 70A/B in Teaneck, the girl—whose name has not been released—was sitting on a northbound bus traveling in the right lane when a rock the size of a baseball smashed through a side window.

“Based on a preliminary investigation, a rock was thrown at a school bus traveling northbound in the right lane,” the state police told JNS. “The rock shattered a side window and struck an 8-year-old student, causing serious injuries.”

The bus was carrying students from Yeshivat Noam, a 25-year-old co-educational Modern Orthodox day school in Paramus, whose Hebrew name means “peace.” The symbolism of that name has not been lost on parents grappling with the emotional whiplash of the attack.

In a letter sent to families Thursday morning, and shared with JNS, school administrators wrote that the student is “alert and stable,” but “will require surgery to ensure the injury heals properly.” The operation was scheduled at Hackensack University Medical Center, according to a report at Yeshiva World News.

Rabbi Chaim Hagler, head of school at Yeshivat Noam, told JNS that the community is focusing first and foremost on the victim and her classmates.

“The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority,” he said. “Our focus remains on supporting the injured student and her family, as well as ensuring the emotional health of our entire student body.”

At this stage, authorities have not announced whether they are investigating the assault as a hate crime. When JNS asked the New Jersey State Police if that angle is being pursued, officials said only that the investigation is ongoing and that they are seeking public assistance.

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office told JNS that it “is aware of an incident that occurred yesterday on the N.J. Turnpike and is providing all necessary assistance to the New Jersey State Police,” before referring further questions back to the state police. The FBI has also been contacted for comment.

School officials have urged caution.

“We do not yet know the motive behind the incident, and it would be premature to draw conclusions,” a spokesman for Yeshivat Noam told JNS. “There were no visible markings on the bus identifying it as a Jewish school bus.”

That last detail has done little to quell fears in a county that is home to the largest population of Modern Orthodox Jews in New Jersey. From Teaneck and Englewood to Paramus and Bergenfield, Bergen County is a hub of Jewish life whose proximity to Manhattan makes it both vibrant and, increasingly, anxious.

The girl and her classmates had been returning from a trip to the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, an interactive museum that is a perennial favorite for school excursions. The irony is unbearable for many parents: a day meant to spark curiosity and wonder ended in sirens and blood.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), whose district includes much of Bergen County, said he has been in close contact with law enforcement.

“I’m praying for the student and her family and hope she makes a full recovery from this terrifying incident,” he told JNS. “I’m in close touch with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office as law enforcement continues their investigation.”

Katie Katz, executive director of Teach N.J., the New Jersey arm of the Orthodox Union’s Teach Coalition, echoed that sentiment.

“No parent should have to worry about their child’s safety on a class trip,” Katz said in a statement to JNS. “Our hearts are with the Yeshivat Noam student and family and with the classmates shaken by today’s incident. Teach N.J. is standing with the school and working with public safety partners to support the community.”

Though police have yet to establish a motive, the broader context is impossible to ignore. Jewish communities nationwide have reported a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents, ranging from vandalism and harassment to violent assaults. Even if this attack proves to be random, it unfolds against a backdrop of collective vulnerability that makes the distinction academic for many families.

As JNS has documented over the past year, Jewish parents across the country are quietly recalibrating their understanding of safety—on public transportation, in schools, even on routine errands. The idea that a child could be gravely injured by a projectile thrown at a moving bus on a major interstate only deepens that unease.

Investigators are now combing through traffic-camera footage and canvassing the area around exit 70A/B for witnesses. The New Jersey State Police have urged anyone with information to come forward, emphasizing that a rock large enough to fracture a child’s skull did not appear from nowhere.

While the bus was in motion, the angle of impact and the force of the blow suggest deliberation rather than accident—a point that has not been lost on detectives, according to sources familiar with the inquiry who spoke to JNS on background.

For the students who were on the bus, the psychological impact may linger long after the girl’s skull has healed. School counselors have been mobilized, and parents report that children are struggling to process what they witnessed.

Rabbi Hagler acknowledged to JNS that the school is working with mental health professionals to ensure that students have a safe space to talk through their fears.

The attack raises troubling questions about security on New Jersey’s highways. The Turnpike is one of the most heavily traveled roads in the country, patrolled regularly by state police. That someone could hurl a baseball-sized rock at a moving school bus in broad daylight underscores vulnerabilities that no amount of vigilance can fully erase.

As JNS has noted in its coverage, this is not merely a local story. It is a test of whether public infrastructure, law enforcement and community institutions can respond decisively when randomness collides with childhood innocence.

For now, the community waits—waits for surgery updates, waits for investigators to identify a suspect, waits for the reassurance that comes only when a perpetrator is brought to justice.

In the meantime, the name Yeshivat Noam—peace—has taken on a new resonance. It is no longer simply the brand of a school. It is the aspiration of a community wounded, frightened, yet resolute in its determination not to let terror define the lives of its children.

As one parent told JNS, standing outside the school Thursday morning, “We teach our kids about kindness, about dignity, about believing the world is good. It’s hard to do that today. But we have to keep trying.”