Will Tel Aviv Be The Next Bnei Brak? Haredim See Israel's First Secular City As Next Hot Haredi Housing Market

Many young haredi couples are having difficulty finding apartments in haredi Bnei Brak due to the city's overcrowding. This has led some haredim to extend their searches to Tel Aviv. However, "normal" buildings in the city are not adjusted for haredi residents, who require larger apartments and Shabbat adjustments. So haredi entrepreneurs are working to purchase dozens of synagogues, mikvehs and old public buildings in central Tel Aviv, tear them down and build new haredi-friendly housing in their place.

Specially designated buildings for haredim in Tel Aviv?
Haredi weekly says ultra-Orthodox entrepreneurs working on purchasing dozens of old, deserted Tel Aviv buildings in order to replace them with apartment buildings adjusted for young haredi families
Ofer Petersburg • Ynet

A group of haredi entrepreneurs is working on a plan to build apartment buildings in Tel Aviv as an affordable housing option for young ultra-Orthodox families, the haredi Mishpacha weekly reported.

Many young haredi couples are having difficulty finding apartments in Bnei Brak due to the city's crowdedness which has led some to extend their searches to Tel Aviv. However, "normal" buildings in the city are not adjusted for haredi residents, who require Shabbat elevators for example.

For this reason the entrepreneurs are working to purchase dozens of synagogues, mikvehs and old public buildings owned by haredim in central Tel Aviv which currently stand deserted.

According to the plan, these structures will be demolished and replaced by new buildings adjusted for ultra-Orthodox needs with the aim of turning them into cheap housing projects of a minimal construction standard. "Nothing would be better than turning these places into new haredi immigration incentives for Tel Aviv," the newspaper said.

One of the supporters of the plan is Rabbi Avraham Baruch Rakovsky, who told the newspaper that a Jewish-French family has already purchased several buildings in Tel Aviv in an effort to turn them into housing options for young haredim. Similar attempts were made a decade ago but were unsuccessful.

The newspaper reported that the plan is slowly coming into fruition. According to the report, a purchasing contract was recently signed with several owners of a synagogue in a well-known Tel Aviv building. The synagogue is being refurbished in order to make it suitable for haredi families.

"Tel Aviv has become popular among the haredi sector in the past year, mainly among the newly-religious based in Tel Aviv who wish to remain in the area," chairman of the newly-religious movement Yehosua Meiri said. "This is easy to do now, since there are five serious and well-funded yeshivot operating in Tel Aviv."

Rabbi and Attorney Uri Segev, chairman of the Hiddush foundation for religious freedom and equality said in response: "The State is investing a fortune in building affordable haredi communities in order to avoid conflicts, while elements in the haredi sector initiate conquest campaigns to 'populate the spiritual desert' in secular areas.

Comments

[Bubba Metzia]

This is a private firm attempting to redevelop a dilapidated area of Tel Aviv and at the same time try and reduce the housing shortage. I don't see the problem

[A E ANDERSON]

Oy! Haredim: stay away from Te Aviv. Mamash treif. Pritzoos in the streets, everywhere. Even the "kosher" in TA is treif. They will bugger and sodomise your tyere children, seduce your veib and make her a qadaisha, and you'll be transgendered into a post-op trannie faigel who likes bending over for sailors and heiloni politiicians. Qol ishah is everywhere, women's flesh is always on display, the homos are always erectus, luscious hayallot with equally luscious camel-toe are on display, and on offer! .... for thirteen pieces of silver, so-called Ortho developers will pimp your soul. God will not hear your tefiollot when said in Tel Aviv (probably 'cause he'll be perving at a Dizengoff cafe). It is a maqom tuma. The avir is metameh. GO FREI! GO TO TEL AVIV!

[IH]

"In all the events commemorating Tel Aviv's centennial, one unique chapter of the first Hebrew city's history was left out - for nearly half a century the city served as a center of the Hasidic world."

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/tel-aviv-centennial-forgets-city-was-once-the-capital-of-hasidism-1.276867

[Shmarya]

"In all the events commemorating Tel Aviv's centennial, one unique chapter of the first Hebrew city's history was left out - for nearly half a century the city served as a center of the Hasidic world."

I know.

But TA was founded by secular Jews as a modern secular city, and hasidim who eventually lived there later moved to Bnei Brak in doves.

[Garnel Ironheart]

Same old, same old. Listen, if Israel is a free society then it's a free society for everyone. If the Chareidim want to fill up Tel Aviv, let them. If the Chilonim don't like it, let them buy the buildings and keep them empty.

[IH]

It is more complicated than that, Shmarya. In any case, there was also more tolerance between the communities then -- in part because they comingled.

My parents were jointly married by Shlomo Goren, then Chief Rabbi of TA, and the Sadegura Rebbe (they alternated signatures on the documents).

Hard to envision that happening today (or tomorrow)...

[IH]

Correction: Goren was Chief Rabbi of the IDF at the time.

[David]

So haredi entrepreneurs are working to purchase dozens of synagogues, mikvehs and old public buildings in central Tel Aviv, tear them down and build new haredi-friendly housing in their place.

Where are they getting the money for this as most of them refuse to work?

Will they demand separate men's and women's beaches?

[David]

What happens whent the Charedim take over everywhere and there is nobody left to work or fight?

[Eliezer]

Do you people realize that your anti "Haredi" rants really and truly make you sound like nazis?

[george]

Hide the women, send the children off, the dreaded Charedi are coming!

[Шнеерсон]

this is no different than if a group of jews4jesus got together to develop housing in tel aviv suitable for j4j members.

[Bill]

Eliezer,

Haredim are Jew-imposters.

So try not to go all Hitler-apeshit on us.

okay, bubeleh?

[george]

There's no difference between J4J and Charedi? Do people here really believe that? Wow!

[Bill]

Not really, George.

Haredim are undermining judaism a lot more than J4J.

[harold]

Good for them! Maybe they will displace the gays!

Woops, not politically correct! Oh well.

[seymour]

it is ok as long as they do not try to take over and tell the people no movie theaters and other stuff that they demand

[Jason]

Actually, I think this is a good development. Better to have the Haredim and seculars in the same place than in separate cities. It will hopefully lead to more understanding between the groups. And if you are really concerned that the presence of some Haredim in TA will turn that city into Bnei Brak, well, then, perhaps the Zionist experiment is in worse shape than I feared.

[Shmarya]

Actually, I think this is a good development. Better to have the Haredim and seculars in the same place than in separate cities. It will hopefully lead to more understanding between the groups.

If that's how it usually worked, I would agree with you.

But what most often happens is haredi drive out non-haredim in any way they can, and there is little, if any, fraternization between haredim and non-haredim.

Haredi riots against the Edison Theater in Jerusalem during the 1980s are a good example of this.

[IH]

There is no easy answer, but giving up on coexistance is a terrible outcome for The Jewish State.

Even the shtetlach were mixed communities.

[David]

But what most often happens is haredi drive out non-haredim in any way they can,

True - because of their lack of respect for rules (e.g. insane driving habits, occupancy violations), rubbish in the streets, and strange or anti-social behaviour, they tend to drive down property values or at least cause non-Charedim to leave the area..

[harold]

rubbish in the streets

We need more garbage bins :)

[Maalox]

By 2050 the Chillonim will be in the minority in all of Isreal.

By 2100, the Chilloni will have become totally extinct. ALL Jews worldwide will be observant, as they were 250 years ago!

Chilloni birthrate is NEGATIVE!
Haredi birthrate is a relentless 6-20 children per family!

[David]

By 2050 the Chillonim will be in the minority in all of Isreal.

By 2100, the Chilloni will have become totally extinct. ALL Jews worldwide will be observant, as they were 250 years ago!

Chilloni birthrate is NEGATIVE!
Haredi birthrate is a relentless 6-20 children per family!

Posted by: Maalox | August 09, 2010 at 10:12 PM

Charedim survival is dependent on a viable host/parasite relationship. The charedi population is self-limited by the ability of the host to support them. This limit is rapidly approaching.