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29 Kislev 5760 - December 8, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Kiryat Bnei Torah in Modi'in Ilit

by N. Katzin

A group of avreichim has organized to build Kiryat Bnei Torah in Modi'in Ilit (also known as "Brachfeld"). The new housing project, which has received the blessings of gedolei Yisroel, will constitute a Torah solution for the chareidi community's serious lack of housing and will guarantee maximum economic stability. The new project will result in a significant lowering of the prices of apartments, since it will bring together a large group of buyers to secure especially low, final and secure prices.

The basic goal of the new project is to guarantee that the project's neighborhoods will be Torah-true and that no unwelcome families get into the project. Potential buyers will be scrutinized by a committee which is not linked to any sect or group and which will function in accordance with the guidelines of rabbonim, who will approve each prospective occupant.

Rav K., one of the initiators of the idea as well as its chairman, told Yated Ne'eman that the project was founded in order to correct the painful situation which has often occurred when avreichim purchase apartments, only to discover later that the neighbors do not maintain the lifestyle of the community within which they had hoped to live.

"Avreichim who invested their money and energy in finding housing are sometimes severely disappointed. These facts are well known. Those who bought such apartments have undergone much suffering," Rav K. notes.

In Kiryat Bnei Torah the hope is that the large group can assure the qualitative makeup of its residents and guarantee that the educational institutions suit the Torah-true character of the residents.

The new group has the blessings of HaRav Shlomo Zalman Ullman, rav of the Kehillos Yaakov neighborhood of Bnei Brak and a member of the beis din of HaRav Nissim Karelitz; HaRav Tzvi Friedman, rav of the Or Hachaim neighborhood of Bnei Brak and a member of HaRav Karelitz's beis din, and HaRav Shmuel Yaakov Borenstein, one of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshivas Hevron, Geula.

Kiryat Bnei Torah's coordinators have learned from many previous projects. Initiators of the nonprofit project say that they have seen that other chareidi groups have focused on completely different aspects of the community. "Chassidic groups which joined together worked on the atmosphere of the project and the types of schools, synagogues, etc. built there. In addition, they worked to secure preferred material conditions."

In addition to the advantages in ruchniyus says Rabbi K., the group will work to ensure that prices quoted are final to the purchaser, as well as that the fixtures are of high quality, that there are no bad apartment locations, that expansion options are promised which in the end are not approved by the authorities, and more. Similarly, payment terms in other projects are often difficult, with buyers sometimes having to pay large portions of the purchase price even before building begins, while occupancy is two to three years later. Reportedly, purchasers pay 10% of the price upon signing and another 10% is a final payment upon getting the key. The balance is spread out in even installments over 18 months.

The apartments will hopefully be ready for occupancy within 18 months, but the signing of the contracts will take place immediately so that buyers will still be eligible for grants, which may soon no longer be available.

As a consolidated group, group members will benefit from significant discounts (at least 3-4%, more if there are more buyers); spacious apartments with an expansion option which has been approved in advance; the setting of a final price and most important of all, a qualitative lifestyle and a Torah community whose residents have been carefully scrutinized.


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