As Anglo immigration grows, developers rethink ways to cultivate communal roots |
When The Times of Israel reported in December that a Jewish community in New York had purchased two entire residential towers under construction in central Jerusalem, many in the local real estate industry raised their eyebrows in shock.
For developers specializing in projects for English-speaking buyers abroad, however, the acquisition of 200 apartments for a tight-knit Sephardic community was a logical step in a market increasingly driven by foreign buyers.
Even as Israel’s domestic housing market cools amid rising costs and ongoing security concerns, demand from overseas has soared in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught and a global rise in antisemitism.
Now, with growing numbers of Diaspora Jews seeking a foothold in Israel, market players are rewriting the rules of real estate, reimagining community around rabbinic leadership, municipal planning and group purchasing models designed to their needs.
“Since October 7, a lot of North American Jewry clicked one notch closer to Israel,” said Marc Rosenberg, vice president of Diaspora partnerships at Nefesh B’Nefesh. “People who were thinking about moving or buying a home here in the distant future have started to come. But for many, making such a big move is outside of their comfort zones. Joining a community that they feel part of is one way to anchor themselves and feel connected.”
Despite the ideological attractions of moving to Israel, many American Jews harbor deep fears about exposing themselves to the challenges of life in Israeli society. Differences in language and cultural norms — from navigating bureaucracy to casual conversations— are frequent sources of anxiety that leave newcomers overwhelmed.
That’s why, for many new immigrants, the most appealing option is to live alongside others like them.
Some areas — including parts of central Jerusalem and towns like Beit Shemesh, Efrat and Modi’in — have long been known as immigrant “bubbles,” where newcomers hear English on the streets and interact with neighbors in familiar accents. But with 40,000 new immigrants arriving from North America over the past decade, the landscape of the English-speaking world is quickly expanding, said Esti Moskovitz Kalman, director of the Orthodox Union’s new Anglo Engagement department.
In recent years, mid-sized immigrant communities have developed in places such as Rehovot, Netanya and Ashdod, alongside smaller pockets including Nahariya, Zichron Yaakov and Pardes Chana, Moskovitz Kalman said. Neighborhoods like Carmei Gat, unheard of a decade ago, are now home to hundreds of English-speaking families with their own communal structures.
For a demographic that values ideals like unity and integration, it might seem counterintuitive for immigrants to fence themselves off into English-speaking “ghettos,” but the benefits are clear, many say.
“Some people will say that creating US-style communities here in Israel is too insular, but making aliyah is challenging, and having a base for a softer landing can be very helpful,” noted Rabbi Alex Israel, a popular teacher to the English-speaking community in Jerusalem, using the Hebrew word for immigration to Israel. “There’s always been this interesting tension between integrating into Israeli society and enjoying American-style comforts, and I think developing new models of tightly-knit communities will help drive a new wave of English-speaking immigration.”
As curated communities gain popularity globally, with more neighborhoods deliberately planned around shared lifestyles, Israeli builders are increasingly looking to the synagogue pulpit to market their developments. In recent months, there has been a surge in North American rabbis being selected to serve as spiritual and cultural anchors for the communities they will be joining.
“In the United States, rabbis are shepherds of their communities,” explained Shelly Levine, founder of the Tivuch Shelly real estate agency. “It’s a different mentality from Israeli rabbis, who see themselves as government employees. American rabbis get involved in their congregants’ lives; they offer counseling. It’s a totally different concept.”
The right rabbi can help “brand” a development and attract buyers looking for a like-minded community, Levine said. It’s a lesson she says she learned decades ago when Rabbi Avishai David founded his synagogue in the Sheinfeld neighborhood of Beit Shemesh, helping to cement the Anglo population there.
Arguably, the most famous example of an English-speaking rabbi bringing part of his community with him to Israel is that of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, who is the driving force behind dozens of members of his Lincoln Square Synagogue from New York’s Upper West Side making aliya to the Israeli settlement of Efrat, just outside of Jerusalem. Riskin also founded the Ohr Torah Stone Institutions, which include high schools — many of which have suffered heavy losses in the ongoing wars — colleges, graduate programs, seminaries and rabbinical schools, as well as an innovative women’s college, Midreshet Lindenbaum.
Last summer, Levine tapped Rabbi Daniel Korobkin of congregation Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto, also known as the BAYT, to establish a new Orthodox community in the Soho New Katamon project in Jerusalem. Korobkin and his wife plan to move to Israel in 2027 and into the project when it is completed in 2030, he said.
“I’d always planned to move to Israel, and now, about 10 years before retirement age, it’s time for my wife and me to begin the next chapter of our lives,” Korobkin told The Times of Israel. “I wasn’t planning on opening my own synagogue, but the company reached out to me and said they had a development that would be just right for me.”
Korobkin would not disclose the terms of his agreement, but said he was not being paid any money to promote the development or do any sales.
Other community leaders are following similar routes. Rabbi Kalman Topp, senior rabbi of Beverly Hills’ Beth Jacob Congregation, recently announced he will help create a community in Jerusalem’s new Givat Hamatos neighborhood.
Rabbi Larry Rothwachs of Congregation Beth Aaron in Teaneck will serve as the spiritual leader for a new development in Ramat Beit Shemesh, and Rabbi Shmuel Silber, of Baltimore’s Suburban Orthodox Congregation, is slated to lead the Kol Dodi congregation being developed in the Berger Towers in Jerusalem’s Katamonim neighborhood.
What about non-Orthodox immigrants seeking a similar type of communal anchor?
“I actually don’t think there is a secular equivalent out there,” Rosenberg said. “There’s a certain binding sense of community that many new immigrants find in the Jewish calendar, whether they are religious or not, and people might be drawn to a certain passion or school system. But to my knowledge, there isn’t an institution that serves as an anchor the way a synagogue does.”
Religious affiliations vary widely among immigrants, and often correlate to their family status, Rosenberg said. Nearly 70% of families immigrating from North America define themselves as Orthodox, but among singles, 65% identify as non-Orthodox, according to data collected by Nefesh B’Nefesh.
For Levine, who claims to have helped bring the first immigrants to Beit Shemesh and Modi’in during her 35-year career, the market skews only one way.
“We’ve sold over 7,000 apartments to new immigrants, and I can count the number of clients who are not religious on one hand,” she said.
Building from the ground up
Meanwhile, as housing prices in Israel’s major cities soar beyond the reach of many immigrants, some are looking to build lower-cost immigrant communities from scratch in the country’s north and south.
“The majority of people who want to move to Israel are not the ones who can afford to buy an apartment for $2 million,” said Ariel Friedman, founder of Mishkan Israel, a firm helping overseas buyers purchase homes in Israel. “They need more affordable solutions than are currently available on the market.”
Friedman is a real estate lawyer, and he founded Mishkan Israel as a way of honoring his nephew Shachar Friedman, an IDF paratrooper who was killed in battle in Gaza shortly after the October 7, 2023, massacre.
“After his death, I thought a lot about how to use my talents to help others, and I eventually built a team dedicated to helping Jews in the Diaspora find homes here,” he said.
One of the services Mishkan Israel offers is helping groups buy undeveloped land tendered by the Israel Land Authority for new projects.
“We have the expertise to source land for group purchasing in periphery areas to create affordable housing projects,” Friedman said. By acquiring undeveloped land, buyers can design entire communities from the ground up at lower cost, he said.
“In Israel, the most expensive part is the land,” Friedman said. “Construction costs are pretty much the same all over. What varies between a NIS 3 million [$960,000] apartment in Jerusalem and a NIS 1.5 million [$480,000] apartment elsewhere is the location.”
Friedman said the company is already in advanced discussions for several projects, including a community of about 20 secular Jewish families that want to build private homes together. “It’s affordable housing with a Zionist agenda,” he said.
The main drawback with that concept is the long timeframe, Rosenberg said.
“If you are building something from nothing, realistically, you are probably talking about at least seven to 10 years before the first buildings are ready,” he said. “Getting permissions here takes a long time, and there are a lot of obstacles along the way.”
A more immediate approach is to work with local planning committees themselves, he said. Nefesh B’Nefesh and other organizations are in talks with several municipalities, including Sderot and Kiryat Shmona, to create Anglo-friendly communities clustered in groups of buildings, usually new developments located near new rail lines or hospitals.
Both cities are looking to recover after being ravaged during Israel’s recent wars. By developing “top-down” strategies to optimize their immigrant absorption, including policies like tax incentives and schools designed to serve their needs, these cities can create more powerful hubs than real estate developers can on their own, Rosenberg said.
“We are currently speaking with several mayors about making this a strategic goal for their cities,” he said. “We expect that five years from now, when we hold our Israeli real estate fairs in cities across the United States, cities like Sderot are going to be featured prominently.”
Today, many municipal leaders see that immigrants from English-speaking countries provide a boon to their cities, Moskovitz Kalman said.
“They understand that bringing Anglos into a community is a blessing that strengthens it and enables financial growth,” she said. “Because they’ve come to Israel as an ideological decision, there’s a lot of passion and commitment, and they bring great value.”
Getting new communities off the ground isn’t easy, Rosenberg said, and many immigrants are reluctant to be early adopters in places that may not take off. But once a community succeeds, demand surges and prices can quickly jump.
“Carmei Gat is a great example,” Rosenberg said. “A decade ago, it was just a Google group of people that wanted to build a new community. Now, it’s a thriving community for young families, and prices have already tripled. It’s a great sign for what can be.”
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Real estate in Israel
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immigration to Israel