With the housing crisis not dropping out of the headlines for over a week already, something that is highly unusual in Israel, it is worth pointing to a psak recently reported in Mishpacha newspaper.
Despite the objection of many rabbonim, many haredim are still renting out apartments to Sudanese refugees and infiltrators in Bnei Braq, mostly in the Pardes Katz neighborhood. At the end of the day, they can charge a lot of money to put 8 or 10 Sudanese in an apartment, and take home far more than they could by only renting to a single family that will live their long term.
According to the article in Mishpacha newspaper, a group of avreichim in Bnei Braq sent a representative to Rav Chaim Kanievsky to ask a shailoh if halachically it is allowed, or not, to rent out apartments to these refugees. And if it is prohibited, what can be done regarding someone who rents to refugees anyway?
Rav Chaim Kanievsky responded very definitively that it is prohibited to rent apartments to the refugees, and if someone does so, it is muttar to report such a person to the authorities.
Rav Kanievsky said this psak should be publicized because it is a very serious issue and these people are acting inappropriately.
why is this so uniquely severe an issue that it should be reported?
ReplyDeletebecause it causes great harm to bnei Braq's community.
ReplyDeleteon the other hand they criticized other rabbonim who signed a letter with a similar psak saying not to rent to non-Jews in other cities where the issue was a dati leumi community and rabbonim by calling such a letter to be a chillul hashem.
Dati - Leumi rabbonim?
ReplyDeleteIsn't that an oxymoron?
I didn't even know that dati-leumi were Jewish.
now you know
ReplyDeleteWhat was his reasoning that it is assur?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think he would say if someone rented to 5 or 6 students at TAU?