Short Story:
We need $160,000 by September 18 or we lose the chance to buy an apartment in Jerusalem, Israel and escape the vicious cycle of 'most of our money goes to rent for the rest of our lives'.
Who: A family without financial support from anyone who won the chance to buy a very expensive apartment at a massive discount.
What's needed: 550K shekel / $160K for the required 25% down payment from loans, donations or connections to those who will provide these. We have about $40K in savings and no debt, thank G-d.
Why?!: Several of our rabbis told us to 1. take the apartment even though we didn't have the money 2. ask everyone we know to help in whatever way they can and 3. not be embarrassed even though we are absolutely mortified asking for this help.
Long Story:
We'll start by talking about miracles.
First miracle: We got married in 2010 and immediately began saving boxes in the basement so that we could pack to make aliyah.
Second miracle: We actually made aliyah in 2018.
Third miracle: After continuous suffering and heartbreak up until the point where our rav was using us as an example of "ארץ ישראל נקנית בייסורים" - "the land of Israel is acquired through suffering", things started getting much better a few months ago.
Then, three weeks ago, we won דירה למשתכן. This is a government lottery where you can win the rights to buy an apartment at a serious discount. Since we live in Jerusalem (where we need to live because of special needs issues, services, schools and other reasons), this is a discount from an apartment worth over 3 million shekel (about a million dollars) to 2,180,781 shekel - about $631,000. We need 25% of that to put down before we are granted a mortgage - about $160,000.
Rent doubles every ten years as does the cost of housing itself here. This is our way out of the painful "most of our money goes to rent' cycle without hope of escape barring a, well, miracle.
Fourth miracle?? It's up to Hashem whether or not we get this money.
We were told by our rabbanim and financial consultants to sign on this apartment even though we do not have the funds for the down payment.
We would not have taken this on otherwise.
And now, we were also told by three of our rabbanim to embark on a serious fundraising campaign.
Although we're uncomfortable doing it, we're asking for your help on several fronts:
1. Loans: After leaving the States and its tremendous financial burdens of Jewish day school tuition and healthcare, we at the ages of almost 50 years old have successfully and only b'chasdei Hashem (from the kindness of G-d) lived without debt in Jerusalem for the past 4 years. If anyone wants to loan us any amount of money al pi halacha (according to Jewish law without interest), we will bezrat Hashem (G-d willing) give it back as soon as possible. Please email us at weneedanothermiracle@gmail.com.
2. Donations: Anyone who wants to donate to us:
Chessed Fund Campaign
To donate in the US:
Zelle: fortwebsolutions@gmail.com
Paypal: fortwebsolutions@gmail.com
To donate in Israel:
בנק מזרחי טפחות - 20
סניף: 458
חשבון: 454314
פורט יוסף ואביבה
To donate in Euro:
Aviva Fort
BIC
TRWIBEB1XXX
IBAN
BE24 9671 9521 9738
Avenue Louise 54, Room S52
Brussels
1050
Belgium
3. Spread the word: Please let people know about this crazy story. We never thought this would happen and we are doing everything according to Daas Torah (including the writing of this letter). We don't have anyone financially supporting us, though we thankfully have family and friends trying to help us with prayer, logistics and other ways.
4. Pray: Please daven (pray) for us that Hashem grants us the money to fulfill this dream without being dependent on gifts from other people.
Again, we do not feel we have the right to ask for help in this manner. But this is what we were told to do by our rabbanim, so please consider being part of this hopeful miracle in some way.
Aviva Miriam Kaila bas Ita Ziesel
Yosef Yidel ben Yasa Leah
Yitzchak Zev Meir ben Aviva Miriam Kaila
David Yehuda ben Aviva Miriam Kaila
Asher ben Aliya
Please contact us directly at weneedanothermiracle@gmail.com with any questions. Thanks.