[Reader-submitted] It is with a tear in my eye that I write these words. Despite a valiant effort by our friends and Askonim, we no longer have a residence in Lakewood. The house is being closed on and we are preparing to leave. Our belongings will go into storage. I look at my children’s faces and I see their pain. They are embarrassed to tell their friends that they don’t know where they are moving to.
My family will be split up among neighbors until such time as we find a place to rent or they get sick of us. That means we may not even spend shabbos together. We have tried many times to secure a rental and have had our hopes dashed time and again. The last place I looked at I was asked by the landlord “you know this is a young litvish development. Aren’t you concerned it may not be a good fit for you. I told him I don’t care, I love ALL Yiddin. He has stopped returning my phone calls. This is my story with trying to rent a home for my family. Too many kids, too old, too chasisdish, not chasidish enough, etc.
I humbly ask the tzibbur to be mispallel for us and if anyone knows of a Hud approved rental or someone who has one available please contact us asap at [email protected]. Looking forward to better times in the future.
P.S. I would be remiss if I didn’t say thank you to the wonderful askanim who have worked on our behalf, as well as everyone who has offered or supplied us with help, be it donations, delicious food, or even general chizuk and tefilos, we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. May Hashem reward you for your kindness.
(Note: The moneys collected online – with backing of Rabbonim – will be used to help the family).
RACHMANA LITZLAN everyone please help this family this is horrible they will be separated from there kids how can we see a family in this state amd not take action
It is illegal to discriminate in housing based on religion or familial status (children). Contact the NJ Division on Civil Rights or HUD to file a complaint.
is this legit
where is a letter from daas torah to support this
something sounds fidhy
can you veriffy
Don’t rate my comment. do something to save this family……..
this is insane! there has to be a better answer than this
David drukaroff
It’s only illegal to discriminate against the 5 classes. Chasidish or litvish isn’t one of them. Shows how much you know.
I hate to say it but something is missing to this sad story. One question I have is why are you looking in a development. 2nd question I have is , if you cant find something suitable locally then perhaps look out of town.
Someone please quickly help. Maybe lakewood could do with out a carnival this chol hamoed succos and the money could help. There are so many wealthy people. Why weren’t they contacted? I’m sure the bank would give the house back if the money is given first thing in the morning. I gave what I could. Just imagine if it was your family. Baruch Hashem there are plenty of wealthy people. Maybe 2-3 can split it.
oy vey! How can this happen in Lakewood,??! Maybee we should all pool our resources and buy them a house already. If they cant find a rental What are they supposed to do? This is an emergency that comes before many of the other causes we give to. 400 people that would commit to $1000 over the course of a year or two through head checks or credit card swipes would get this done nicely. Are there no builders that could be worked with that could provide a house at cost? Ask a posek. I’m sure you can use masser for this. The town could solve tent city but not this????? Time to wake up already.
Can’t they take the money and use it towards a down payment on the house ??
This article doesn’t sound true why while someone advertise to the whole world that he is being evicted
Just curious if you also object to Chassidish community rejecting Litvish too!
David Drukaroff: Obviously this family cannot easily rent an apartment as they have bad credit and eviction records. The landlord, trying to be nice and not have to say so in their face, tried convincing them that it’s not good for them. When that failed, he just gave them a plain No.
While this story is really sad I think many that are jumping on people to do more I think are forgetting one factor and that is sadly there are so many many cases in this town of people and families in similar or worse situations and are in need of rachmei shomayim that are not getting the same publicity. Again in no way am I minimizing this sad situation and the need to help out. I just think that many people that did their best to help are also helping out other situations and involved in other tzedakas. As such for people to suggest canceling the Chol Hamoed carnival as if to imply that one individual should be responsible for resolving this I think is wrong and unfair to many generous people in this town who have done and continue to help out many in this town.
To badsi and yankel. Why do you wish to hurt this family. They have been through enough. Yes the story is true. If you were following it all along you would have seen letters from the toshei yeshiva shliya. As to the question if the owner would object to chassidish neighborhoods not wanting to rent to litvishe the answer is yes. Hate is hate no matter what your minhagim are. That is why we are in golus. Also as to why the father is only looking in a development, the question is based on a false premise. That is where the rental was advertised. What sense is there in looking out of town? is that the way you treat people who are going through hard times, ask them to leave? This is middos sdom. Ask your rav. The comment wasnt helpful.
Anyone else here embarrassed they live in the same town as Bassi and Yankel?! My blood is Boling over at the viciousness and arrogance they displayed in their comment. Thanks intheknow for calling them out.
To all those that question the story or want to see a letter from the Rabonim click on the link below
https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/help-save-my-home–70
Plenty of families move from brooklyn to lakewood for example for a slew of reasons . If it means that this family will break up then try moving out of lakewood. Its not so far fetched. You do what u gotta do to save your family.
I hate to say it but something does not shtim with this story. A nice handful of families are in similiar situation yet most of them do what they have to do including moving out of lakewood if its necessary.
Can someone please explain if/how HUD works for owners and if this family would qualify?
While I feel really bad for this family, imagine for a minute if you were a landlord and were dependent on the rental income to pay your mortgage.
Would you want to take a tenant who may not be able to pay his rent???????
In addition, as others have said, this isn’t the only family in Lakewood loosing their home to foreclosure. Pulling out all stops and saving this family won’t save all of the other families in Lakewood loosing their homes.
I hope they find an appropriate rental soon and that he finds a job.
When there is a fire or tragedy rachmana letzlan everyone runs to help – its beautiful and inspiring.
This… Is a tragedy too! For this family and every family going through the same!
A family with no home and kids spread out across by neighbors is a living tragedy for anyone.
It is the achrayus of the community to make sure that this family has a home as well as all families here in same matzav or we will all be held accountable for it as in Eglah Arufa…
What will we answer when we are asked why we didn’t take on the achrayus as a city????
If you live here and own a home you can rent to this family, please reach out the same way you would if it was a famous fire tragedy….
I don’t get it aren’t there lots of mixed neighboorhoods? Even the more predominat chasidish neighboorhoods have litfish shuls too. Whispering pines, sterling forest, cheatu park etc all have both. So then how can a nieghboorhood be too chaisidsh or too litfish? Most are mixed. Unless you mean a bit more modern? That may be harder to find and landlords may be reluctant to sell to non tznuis nieghboors.
Dear oy. Your accusation that the family wont pay rent is rishus. They now have hud. Would you go in front of the family and a bais din and make that accusation. Lo yawnum shomer yisroel. You are way out of line.
I don’t understand
If they had hud, why weren’t the payments received by the landlord?
This is extremely legit. My husband is one of the men in the photo carrying a dresser. He, I and our 4 children live in Brick. My husband works for a rabbi who owns a moving co. In lakewood. Hes actually finishing their move today May 27th, 2015. This family really has lost their home!
I didn’t comment publicly on this article while there was still a chance of raising the funds to save their home, as I didn’t want my comment to possibly deter people from giving. However now that they are no longer in their home, and people are questioning others in the community for not helping, it is time to raise some points.
Yes, their are some wealthy people in Lakewood. However there are far more struggling people than those who are well off. Baalei tzedakah are confronted on a daily basis with similar stories, and buying houses for all of them is just not possible.
There are many Mosdos, schools, non profits that also need support, that service the entire community. there are neighborhoods that don’t have room for people to daven in shul, because there is not enough money to build them.
Even the most generous Baalei Tzedakah have limited resources. When deciding who to give Tzedakah to, they approach it like a business, how can the money they give be most effective. They may feel that spending $300k to buy one family a house, may not be as beneficial as buying 200 families food for shabbos (just an example).
There is also a concern when giving such a large sum to a struggling family without alleviating the underlying cause. If the family has no income, and own a house free and clear, it is likely they will refinance that house and use the money for living expenses, in that case, there is a good chance they will be foreclosed on again later down the line.
I was a little disturbed by the insinuation that they couldn’t rent a house because they were to Chassidish. I find that very hard to believe. Most neighborhoods in Lakewood are mixed Litvish and Chasidish, some more then others, and everyone gets along just fine.. It is likely, like another poster mentioned, that a landlord doesn’t want to put himself in a situation, where he has to pay his mortgage, and the tenants can’t afford the rent.
This is not to say that this is not a worthy tzedakah. But blaming the community, and an “evil landlord, is wrong and misguided.
While it’s sad that someone can’t find a place to live, don’t blame the landlords. It’s obvious that these people can’t really afford to rent. Nobody wants to go thru the hassle of not getting paid the moiney that was promised. What this family needs is a job, everything will come after that. Try PCS.
to “Intheknow”:
I don’t think I said anything out of line. Can I testify that they WON’T pay their rent? No.
Is there a possibility that they won’t be able to (the same way they couldn’t pay their mortgage)? YES
Why should a landlord take this tenant when they can take someone who has a job and a history of paying their rent? The landlord has to live too!!!! What if the guy can’t find a job and can’t pay and the landlord loses his house? Or comes to a point that he has to kick the family out and be called a rasha???
It’s reasonable to vet tenants like that. The same way a bank won’t lend to someone who had a recent foreclosure, a landlord who needs to take care of his own family can make a similar cheshbon to take a tenant who is financially stable.
All the wise men of chelm have now come out to comment. Fyi no one ever said the family has no income. There is a difference berween low income and nobincome. Google the meaning of working poor. Second as was previously listed the father lost his job due to health reasons and is in better health now. He is in fact training for another field. Dont judge others ir jump to conclusions without ALL the facts. Enough ofvthe boich svaras already. If you have a question on whether to help or not reread the roshei yeshivas letter And not the deah zuggers on this blog. They hok and do not represent daas todah. Actual names and a phone number was given to prove this is real.
Why don’t you try long branch it’s half hour from Lakewood has a small sfardi frum community I know personally a few families who moved there on HUD and enjoyed it. At least until they can get back on they’re feet
Did anyone try to contact Reb Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz? He is a tzadik! I don’t think he would allow this to happen if he knew about it!
Phoner1….Lakewood didn’t solve tent city they evicted tent city, they didn’t help any of those homeless people just kicked them off the land.
Only comment if u have something nice to say. These are real people with real feelings who are going thru a difficult time! Imagine if it was you.