Don’t be fooled by the beautiful kitchen you see in the picture above. Living in Israel is for the most part nothing like this. We (those in Israel) live in most simple and humble apartments with barely enough space to swing a cat. There are of course some truly beautiful apartments for the super wealthy – and for some 7-10 million Shekels one can get quite a remarkable apartment! But when we speak about the “average” apartment – we mean pretty much the average box-like area most people will live in their entire lives.
But this is supposed to be the Land where Jews should flock to live in. We live here because this is supposed to be the land for the Jewish people to live in – in peace. Aside from living in a relatively small area, there really should be more to the Land of Israel!
One imagines it should be a place of brotherly love – a place where Jews connect and share with each other to support each other through life – together. It’s our past and it would seem to be that from the political activities that took place over the past 72 years at least – it would be our future too. I think it’s why so many Jews make Aliyah to come and live here.
It’s a big question of course – should we abandon our “home lands” to come to live in a country where we often feel so different from who we are? Whatever answer one comes up with, it doesn’t help when one finds one has made the decision to live here and find the battle of living here on a daily basis such a great test. One sits back and wonders where the Jewish unity really is…
Those who come to Israel with financial security (read: millions of dollars) have a place they can call home. But those who come with nothing find just that – nothing. There is a war on for ownership of property and if one lacks the means to own an apartment (at least 1.5-2 million shekels for the smallest of places in the most basic of areas) one finds oneself dominated by a type of money-god who will be one’s landlord for life. There’s no law about rental charges here and landlords can set their prices to any amounts (which everyone will pay no matter what!) and can raise the rent each years by any amount they choose. There’s almost a certain sense of being in prison just because one lacks the means to live – even though one can move about. But one’s freedom is really highly compromised.
Basic salaries in Israel (minimum wage) are no more than just 25 shekels per hour giving one just over 5000 shekels per month. Don’t be fooled by the “good news” released every so often that “average salaries” are now at “x” amount (today it’s rated at 11 000 Shekels!) This is a pure average figure based upon taking all salaries, adding them up and dividing them by the amount of people earning them. It tells nothing of the real average. It tells only of the statistical average – which for all intents and purposes doesn’t tell the truth at all!
For those who lack financial freedom in their lives, they will understand well the following equation. Landlords in Israel certainly don’t. I’m sorry to say that I have not yet met even one land lord who has understood the difficulty of coping with renting when earning this minimum amount (as above.)
Let us look briefly at owning versus renting. Taking that amount of money (that minimum wage) and plugging it in to an apartment worth even 1.5 million shekels means that unless one can starve oneself, do without transportation, medical necessities and clothing, and of course live on the streets for at least 5-10 years straight (remember you’ll be doing this without any food or water for this amount of time), one will not even be able to gain the amount of money necessary to put down a deposit on a home… Never – ever… Of course, you’ll still be paying taxes, pension, national insurance and accounting fees – all obligatory (the accountant to testify that your situation is actually what it is!) In fact, even when you have nothing, these amounts will be due irrespective. In fact, it becomes quite a frightening situation for someone not earning a regular amount each month or someone earning minimally.
But that’s not the least of the problems. Landlords put their rentals up yearly and that means if one is stuck with earning a certain amount of money each month – then one will be forced to move the next year when rents go up again. The process is agonising. Agonising! Let’s be clear though, just saying the word “move” does not mean one just goes ahead and does it. Movers in Israel are highly expensive and moving just one’s basic things can cost as much as 13000-15000 shekels for a relatively simple move. In our personal situation, I don’t know how we can handle this either any longer. What must we do? Have we reached a point of giving up everything of our lives so that we can just move our bodies?
Having already moved 7 times in just 12 years, it’s clear, if anything can break a person, stress them beyond anything – it is the call of the landlord – never on any other day but an Erev Yom Tov (just like today!) – to let them know their time is up. They must decide if they will be staying with the new rental contract and amounts due – or whether they will be moving. The call will come irrespective of whether one still has a couple of months left or a week. For some reason Erev Yom Tov (Pesach, Shavuot etc.) is the day they wish to get their work done! Why they call on Erev Yom Tov makes no sense – especially when they are Torah observant of Mitzvot and must surely know the stress they are about to cause their tenants.
We’ve had it on every Erev Yom Tov that precedes the end of our contract (even though there is still time on the contract!) It throws us completely out of the Simcha we should be preparing to celebrate. In fact, it pushes us over the limit of simply being able to cope.
So here we are again. Lacking a support system of people who will ever understand our predicament – we must pick up everything we have and make a new start to our lives somewhere else. Will we be on the street for our next move with the things we own thrown about, or will we be able to make a new start somewhere?
This Yom Tov, we realise just how much we cannot go on any longer. Every year, we have had to add to our rent amounts just to keep up with the desires of landlords who think that adding only a few hundred shekels each time won’t do much to us – yet we cannot raise our own fees for the work we do, because people tell us we are not entitled to – but must remain stuck in a minimum wage mentality with nobody prepared to support us so that we can live as human beings. I wonder if they have ever heard about the straw that broke the camel’s back. One really doesn’t realise how easy it is to break the back with an imaginary idea that just a few more hundred shekels will make no difference (except of course to the account of the landlord who actually receives the money.
Are you reading this article today? The Baal Shem Tov teaches that everything we see or hear is a message for us. Somehow we are supposed to do something with the newly gained knowledge.
If you’re reading this, we’d like to let you know how much we need assistance to be able to move forward. We just cannot move forwards – because no matter how much we earn – the new income will simply end up going on bank interest for another loan or alternatively to the landlord for the next year’s rental cheques. How can one ever get out of this vicious spiral if there is nobody who will come to aid one?
If you’re here and reading this, we appeal to you to make a difference in our lives by becoming members of our site. Of course, there’s a lot more that we do and you could just as easily support us properly in the things we do – but for the most part, it is not easy especially if you are living in another country.
But you can still help us by becoming a member through a monthly payment to us to help us to get out of this quicksand which we are in.
We know the landlords aren’t going to have compassion of us. The banks certainly won’t either. Only the bus driver who slams the door on one as one gets onto the bus can understand the intolerance of the other two categories. If nobody supports what we do – in greater measure and by paying more for the services we offer – we will not get help from them either.
Please help us if you can. We cannot go on like this any longer. It’s another move. It’s another year of rental fees. We’ll never get a start to our own home. We could barely put together our wedding. Please support us by becoming a monthly member with a generous amount.
Thank you.
