Rabbis in the Ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak said apartments in a newly build neighborhood should only be rented to Haredi tenants. Rabbi Israel Wiesel and Rabbi Avraham Zechuta published their call in a letter to homeowners and said that G-d would reward those who rented homes to the right people and was testing others to see if they would preserve local customs.
The neighborhood is located north of central Bnei Brak and is separated from it by a road, leading the Rabbis to worry that it may be considered appropriate for people seeking apartments in central Israel, who would not normally want to live in an ultra-Orthodox area.
In their letter, published on an ultra-Orthodox website, the rabbis wrote: "Those who rent to Torah observant individuals will be partners in meriting the public. Those who haven’t yet moved in and currently can’t find suitable tenants should know this is a test from G-d to see if they are to be faithful partners to the community, or God forbid, in its way. Those who stand the test will be doubly blessed by the holy Shabbat and the public," they wrote.
Some 800 residents received keys to their new apartments in the new Ayelet HaShachar neighborhood, which is expected to include over 3,000 new homes. The neighborhood is primarily intended for the ultra-Orthodox sector, but about 10% of the buyers are secular and another 10% are religious but don’t live a Haredi lifestyle.