Stop the Rent Cheat !

B"H

Every year many Jewish visitors face the same problem. As soon as the high holidays are coming up and religious Jews decide to spend some time in Jerusalem, prices are climbing up. Especially chassidim want to spend the holiday near their Rebbe but a husband cannot just dump his family in order to be with the Rebbe. Instead a family has to make certain arrangements including looking for a place to stay.

Many houses are being offered for rent. But in case that you are religious, especially chassidic, and you are looking for a real good location such as Mea Shearim, Ge'ulah, Bucharin, Makor Baruch or Beit Israel, you might be broke after the holidays. Various apartments and houses are offered from landlords who just want to squeeze as many Dollars out of you as they can. It is also the fault of the people renting such places because they are willing to pay anything and thus increase the landlord's greed.

This year, Rosh HaShana and Shabbat go together. Three days stand for even more rent and the landlord demands at least 1000 Dollar or more. People are just sick of paying so much and getting cheated anywhere. That is why different chassidic groups founded a committee. And it was this committee asking two rabbis of the Edah HaCharedit (Rabbi Meir Brandsdorfer and Rabbi Ullman) to interfere. Stop the exaggerated rent demands !

The Edah reacted and made the decree that landlord's in the above mentioned areas, including the Belz area, cannot ask for more than 450 Dollar for those three days. Posters (Fakshivilim) with the decree were hung up in all chassidic neighbourhoods.

Unfortunately, many Israeli landlords, it doesn't matter if religious or not, think that all tourists are wealthy. They simply don't want to realize that the whole trip might ruin a family's budget because they only think about one thing: about themselves.

If anyone is still keeps on trying to cheat you, just remind him of the latest decree of the Edah HaCharedit. In case this doesn’t help and greedy landlord is asking you for a fortune, say NO. It is better for your wallet and for us locals, as you guys from abroad also hurt us. After you leave, landlords might demand the same amount from Israelis, and the average Israeli is never able to pay more than a 1000 Dollar rent.