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Benjamin Wittenberg 3100814

PLAN4132 – Thesis

The Impact of Housing Stress on Young

Orthodox Jewish Families in Sydney

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Abstract In order to participate fully in Jewish life, Orthodox Jews need to live within walking distance of the rest of the community and its institutions. In Sydney, the areas with a strong Jewish presence are located in the eastern suburbs centred around Bondi and the north shore, primarily in St Ives. These areas have seen large increases in housing price in recent years, which has made paying mortgages or rent difficult for some in the Orthodox Jewish community. This is felt very acutely by young families who have entered the housing market only relatively recently. Many families have had to cut back considerably their household expenditure in order to pay for housing in these locations. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, in the forms of interviews and a questionnaire, this thesis aims to explore the impacts of rising housing prices and the resulting housing stress on young orthodox Jewish families in Sydney. The findings confirm that many young orthodox Jewish families are feeling the pinch, are making do with less, and are relying on support from the rest of their family, namely their parents, for help with payments for housing. The thesis considers what solutions may be possible. Key Words: Housing Stress, Jewish Community, Housing Affordability

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Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank G-D for making this thesis possible. With all the problems and issues that arose during the whole thesis process, the knowledge that You would never give me a problem that I could not overcome proved true and all the coincidences that worked in my favour for this thesis would never have happened if it wasn’t for Your guidance at every step of the way. The fact that I was able to write the thesis at all is a testament to the Blessings that You shower me with every day, and for this I am forever grateful. To Mum, Dad and Uncle Alex, thanks for all your advice for how to go about writing this thesis. Your ideas have been really helpful, and have helped shape my thesis into what it is currently. Uncle Alex thank you for putting me through university, I hope I’ve made you proud. Thank you to Professors Bruno Parolin, Ian Burnley and Robert Freestone for your assistance in getting me on the right topic and giving me advice along the way – I really appreciate it. Thank you to Amanda Goodman of the Jewish Communal Appeal (JCA) for your provision of the JCA statistics for Sydney – It was a big help. Lastly thank you to all the survey participants, both those who filled out the questionnaire and those who were interviewed – I could not have done it without you and I really appreciate you giving up your time to help me out.

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Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction 6

2.0 Snapshot of the Sydney Jewish Community 8

2.1 Jewish Population of Sydney 9

2.2 Location 9

2.3 Age and Gender 11

2.4 Marital Status 12

2.5 Education 13

2.6 Industry and Employment 13

2.7 Income and Poverty 14

3.0 Why Live in a Jewish Area?

Religious and social restrictions requiring living in groups 15

3.1 Jewish Religious Laws 16

3.2 Social Reasons 17

4.0 What is Housing Stress? 20

4.1 Current Situation in Sydney 21

5.0 Literature Review 22

6.0 Outline of Research 25

7.0 Results and Analysis of Questionnaire 27

7.1 Questions 1-4, 14-15 – Basic Statistics 28

7.2 Questions 5-9 – Home Statistics 30

7.3 Questions 10-13 – Financial Difficulties 32

7.4 Questions 16-20 – Impact of Rising Housing Prices 33

7.5 Conclusion 35

8.0 Results and Analysis of Interviews 36

8.1 Jewish Life 37

8.2 Housing Prices and Their Effects 41

8.3 Parental Help and Other Solutions 42

8.4 Conclusion 44

9.0 Other Previous Attempts at Dealing with Jewish Housing Stress 45

9.1 New Villages: New Square and Kiryas Square, Kiryas Yoel, Kiryas

Tosh 46

9.2 New/Cheaper Suburbs in Existing Cities 47

9.3 The North Shore 48

10.0 Possible Solutions 49

10.1 New Community 50

10.2 Subsidised Housing 50

10.3 Interest Free Loan Society – A Gemach 51

11.0 Conclusion 52

12.0 Bibliography 54

13.0 Glossary 58

14.0 Appendix A: Questionnaire 60

14.1 Appendix B: Questionnaire Letter 65

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List of Figures

Figure 1 – ‘Sydney Jewish Population – Location of Young and Elderly’

(Eckstein 2008, p.16) 10

Figure 2 – ‘NSW Population – Age and Gender’

(Eckstein 2008, p.15) 11

Figure 3 – ‘NSW Jewish Population – Age and Gender Compared to NSW

Population’

(Eckstein 2008, p.15) 11

Figure 4 – ‘Sydney Jewish Population – Marital Status’

(Eckstein 2008, p.20) 12

Figure 5 – ‘Sydney Jewish Population – Proportion of Income Levels for

Families by Geographic Location’

(Eckstein 2008, p.35) 14

Figure 6 – Example of Eruv Pole

(The Sydney Eruv, 2007) 16

Figure 7 – Eruv Boundary Map

(The Sydney Eruv, 2007) 17

Figure 8 – Welcoming of New Torah Scroll at the Jewish Learning Centre

(Jewish Learning Centre, 2007) 18

Figure 9 – Example of a Shiur (Jewish Class)

(Jewish Learning Centre, 2007) 19

Figure 10 – Aerial View of Kiryas Tosh

(Shaffir, 2008) 46

Figure 11 – Main Yeshivot (Jewish religious schools) in Kiryas Tosh

(Shaffir, 2008) 47

Figure 12 – Kehillat Masada Synagogue on the North Shore

(Kehillat Masada, 2007) 48

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1.0 Introduction

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1.0 Introduction The Orthodox Jewish community in Sydney is a small but vibrant part of the wider Jewish community and the city at large. In order to participate fully in Jewish life, Jews the world over tend to congregate in certain suburbs. In Sydney, the district with the lion’s share of Sydney Jewry is the eastern suburbs of Sydney, and to a lesser extent, the municipality of Ku-ring-gai on the North Shore. For the Orthodox community, this is concentrated in Bondi and the suburbs surrounding it. Not all families can afford to live in this area, especially young Orthodox families, and as a result many have to rely on their parents and others for assistance. Intersecting with this are increasing housing prices, resulting in a situation where many Jewish families are feeling the pinch of prices that forever seem to be out of reach. This thesis attempts to shed more light on this situation, examining the human cost of housing.

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2.0 Snapshot of the Sydney

Jewish Community

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2.0 Snapshot of the Sydney Jewish Community The data examined below has been derived from the Jewish Communal Appeal’s ‘Demography of the Sydney Jewish Community’, the research conducted by Gary Eckstein in 2006, based partially on census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics as well as data gathered from various sources within the Jewish community, including surveys and information provided by partner Jewish organisations in Sydney, for whom the Jewish Communal Appeal (commonly known in the Jewish community as the JCA) is a roof body together with the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. . 2.1 Jewish Population of Sydney According to the JCA, in June 2006 there were 42 232 Jews living in Sydney. There are more deaths than births in the Jewish community currently, largely due to the post war immigration of Holocaust survivors that came to Australia, however the community is still growing due to immigration from places such as South Africa, Israel, and other countries to a lesser extent, such as New Zealand and the UK (Eckstein, 2008, p.4). Sydney by far holds the lion’s share of Jews in New South Wales, and is the second largest in Australia, Melbourne coming first with over 60 000 Jewish residents. Compared internationally with other Jewish communities, the Jewish community of Sydney and Australia is growing, primarily from immigration and a rising birth-rate, in contrast with other parts of the world, including Western Europe the USA, where the Jewish communities are getting smaller (DellaPergola in Tal and Geltman, 2008, p.234) The Jewish community in terms of religious affiliation gravitates towards the Orthodox framework, with over 30 Orthodox synagogues and religious institutions in Sydney. There are two Reform/Progressive Temples in Sydney, and one Conservative service based at Temple Emmanuel in Woollahra. The strictly Orthodox Jewish community is much smaller, numbering about 2000 people spread across Sydney’s Jewish centres, however concentrations are found in the Bondi area, as will be discussed below. 2.2 Location 64% of the Jewish community lives in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, with the largest numbers located from Bondi to Vaucluse, numbering 8.8% of the general population (Eckstein 2008, p.4, 6). According to the methodology of Brimicombe in his study of ethnicity and religion based segregation in London, UK, Sydney’s Jewish community would fall under the bracket of enclave: focused within the general community (Brimicombe, 2007, p. 894). Randwick to Maroubra is growing in Jewish residents, while Lindfield and St Ives on the North Shore, the other area of major Jewish population in Sydney, have decreased (Eckstein 2008, p.4). Individual members of the traditional Orthodox community are found throughout the Jewish localities of Sydney, especially the less financially mobile and the elderly, partially being due to the fact that the Orthodox community has shifted over time in the eastern suburbs. Even so, generally the vast majority of the strictly Orthodox Jewish community can be found in Bondi, North Bondi and to a lesser extent in St Ives. Different segments of the Orthodox community gravitate to different suburbs, as became evident in the interviews, in that the Chabad-Lubavitch (Chassidic Jewish sect originating from Eastern Europe) segment of the Orthodox community tends to congregate in Bondi, around the Yeshiva Centre and Tzemach Tzedek Synagogue, the Addass community (descendants of non Chassidic Jews from eastern Europe) in

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Bondi and Bellevue Hill near the Addass Yisroel Synagogue, the Sephardim (Jews originating in India, the Middle East and North Africa) centred around the Sephardi Synagogue in Bondi Junction and Beit Yosef and Rambam Synagogues in Bondi, the religious Zionist community in North Bondi and Dover Heights around the Mizrachi Synagogue, Or Chadash Synagogue and the Jewish Learning Centre, and the South African Jewish community in Rose Bay, North Bondi, Dover Heights around the Jewish Learning Centre and South Head Synagogue, as well as in St Ives around the Kehillat Masada and Chabad of the North Shore Synagogues. As a general rule these synagogues and institutions established themselves in areas where there already was a significant Jewish population, and as these particular Synagogues gained in popularity, more families chose to live in close proximity to their “favourite” place of worship, due to Shabbat restrictions which will be explained in chapter three. Gadir explains in the context of Mizrachi Synagogue: “The Mizrachi Synagogue in Bondi was only a small congregation in the late thirties because the orthodox Jewish immigrants at the time preferred to settle in Melbourne, but it became an important nucleus for the post-war Orthodox migrants” (Gadir 1983, p.313), partially resulting in more members of the Orthodox Jewish community choosing to live closer by. Where young children are located is an indicator of where young families with children are located. Eckstein’s work sheds light on this, as shown in Figure 1, displaying the location of children aged 0 to 14 as well as the elderly in Sydney (Eckstein, 2008, p. 16). As shown in Figure 1, there are large numbers of Jewish children in Bondi, and a significant percentage if not majority would be Orthodox Jewish children, since this area takes up the main location of where the strictly Orthodox Jewish community lives.

Figure 1 – ‘Sydney Jewish Population – Location of Young and Elderly’

(Eckstein 2008, p. 16)

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2.3 Age and Gender The following tables sourced from the Jewish Communal Appeal’s ‘Demography of the Sydney Jewish Community’ by Gary Eckstein display clearly the current numbers for each age group in both ages in Figure 2, and in a general comparison with statistics from the state in the table marked Figure 3. Eckstein also makes note of the fact that there are significantly more women than men in the Jewish community from ages 35-49, due to Jewish men being more likely not to identify as Jews, at least for the census (Eckstein, 2008, p.14).

Figure 2 – ‘NSW Jewish Population – Age and Gender’ (Eckstein 2008, p.15)

Figure 3 – ‘NSW Jewish Population – Age and Gender Compared to NSW

Population’ (Eckstein 2008, p.15)

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2.4 Marital Status Figure 4 displays the accurate statistics available for the Sydney Jewish community, compiled from the 2006 census. Eckstein sums up the data: “Of the total population 15 years or over, 56% are married, 26% have never married, 9% are divorced or separated and 8% widowed….. Divorce and separation are less common in the Jewish community, the peak age being 55-64 when about 1 in 5 women are divorced. The divorce numbers for men are less presumably indicating earlier remarriage.” (Eckstein 2008, p. 20)

Figure 4 – ‘Sydney Jewish Population – Marital Status’ (Eckstein 2008, p.20)

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2.5 Education While current education statistics are unavailable for tertiary education, Eckstein comments that of all the Jewish students enrolled in high school education, only 38 had left school early without completing the HSC or studying at other educational institutions such as TAFE (Eckstein 2008, p.26). In the similar Jewish community of England and Wales in the UK, it was found that “compared with the general population, Jews were 40 per cent less likely to be classified as having ‘no qualifications’ and 80 per cent more likely to have achieved degree-level (or equivalent) qualifications” (Graham, Schmool and Waterman, 2007, p.6). Importantly for young couples “55.7 per cent of Jews aged 25 to 34 had degree-level (or equivalent) qualifications compared with 25.6 per cent of Jews aged 65 to 74” (ibid). In the USA, almost 67% of Jewish adults in 2001 had a college degree (Tal, 2007, p.63).

2.6 Industry and Employment

Graham, Schmool and Waterman’s analysis found that the Jewish community of England and Wales was more likely to work in real estate and business than the general population (26.5% and 13% respectively), were more likely to work in finance (6.7% versus 4.7%) and education (9.4% against 7.8%) (Graham, Schmool and Waterman, 2007, p.91). It was also found that “Almost a third (30.5 per cent) of economically active Jews were self-employed, more than double the proportion in the general population (14.2 per cent)” (ibid, p.6). The main industrial categories Jews worked in were ‘real estate and business activities’, ‘wholesale/retail trade’, and ‘health and social work’, accounting for 54.2% of the Jewish workforce (40.6% of the UK population worked in these professions) (ibid p.7). In both the UK and USA, Jews were found to be more likely to be in managerial positions than wider general population (ibid, p.7, Tal, 2007, p.65). Internationally, while large numbers of Jews are found to be self-employed, growing numbers are shifting to work for large multinational and national companies and organisations (Tal, 2007, p.66). 59.7% of Jewish women were found to be economically active (excluding unpaid work), 52.4% in full time employment (79.9% were found to be economically active, 83.6% of them in full time employment) (ibid, p.6). Female dominated industries included health and social work (15.7% versus 6.5%) and education (14.5% against 5.3%) (ibid, p.7).

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2.7 Income and Poverty Eckstein provides data on the Jewish community’s income, based on 2006 census data, as shown in Figure 5. It should be noted, that Eckstein’s references to ‘North Eastern’ and ‘South Eastern’ refer to the northern eastern suburbs (Bondi to Vaucluse) and the southern eastern suburbs (Randwick to Maroubra) respectively. Eckstein notes that the vast majority of those with little income are the elderly, and some families from the former Soviet Union. Young Orthodox Jewish families do not feature significantly, however since they are such a small percentage of the Jewish community it is highly likely that their finances have not skewed the results significantly, but this does not mean that their finances are the same as the average.

Figure 5 – ‘Sydney Jewish Population – Proportion of Income Levels for

Families by Geographic Location’ (Eckstein 2008, p. 35)

Home ownership statistics were not available for the Jewish community of Sydney, however in London UK, a similar community, “76.7 per cent of Jewish households owned their own homes compared with 68.9 per cent of the general population” (Graham, Schmool and Waterman, 2007, p.5). It is unclear whether rising housing prices in Sydney would alter the results if the same research had been conducted in Sydney.

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3.0 Why live in a Jewish

area? Religious and social

restrictions requiring

living in groups

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3.0 Why live in a Jewish area? Religious and social restrictions requiring living

in groups A number of different reasons coalesce resulting in Jewish communities the world over living in close proximity to each other. Gadir in her work on the Polish and Russian Jewish communities in Sydney found that “the movement to better industrial areas was usually associated with a movement into the area of the Jewish concentration – the eastern suburbs. This fact explains the movement of occupationally non-mobile and downwardly mobile immigrants to more expensive eastern suburbs; clearly the immigrants’ cultural – ‘irrational’ need to reside in mutual proximity was stronger than the economic – ‘rational’ factor” (Gadir 1983, p.312). Many families are willing to sacrifice in order to live in this area, and all the more so in the orthodox community, for whom religious restrictions play a greater role than for the secular Jewish community. 3.1 Jewish Religious Laws

Orthodox Jews cannot drive on the Jewish Sabbath or on Jewish Holidays. Thus their only means of travel is walking, meaning that their homes must be within walking distance of the Synagogue, or any other activity they intend to do on the Sabbath. This may include their children attending a Jewish youth group if it holds activities on the Sabbath, attending a talk on Jewish topics, or visiting family and friends if they would like to be able to share meals together, a very important part of Jewish social life.

Figure 6 – Example of an Eruv Pole – the

while conduit with the orange tip attached

to the telegraph pole is the Eruv pole

(Sydney Eruv, 2007) Orthodox Jews are also given further impetus to live in certain areas, through other services, such as an Eruv. An Eruv is a boundary within which Jews can carry objects outside their home on the Jewish Sabbath, as shown in Figure 6. While there are methods of dealing with this restricthon, it is certainly much easier

to live within the Eruv. Currently there is one functioning Eruv in Sydney, stretching from Bondi to Dover Heights, and plans are already underway to extend the Eruv down to Maroubra, and to build an Eruv in St Ives. Recently Ku-ring-gai Council voted to refuse the building of an Eruv on the North Shore (Abitbol, 2008, p.1), however the Jewish community has decided to continue to work towards the Eruv being constructed, amending plans and resubmitting them to Council.

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Figure 7 – Eruv Boundary

Map – blue line indicates

Eruv boundary, stars

indicate positions of

synagogues 3.2 Social Reasons Rodger Hill, writing about the similar Jewish community of Perth, states in response to his survey: “The major advantages for Jewish families living in a Jewish area were social, and accounted for 74 percent of answers in Coolbinia and Menora, 60 percent in Mt Lawley, North Perth, Yokine and Dianella (suburbs with high Jewish populations), while in other areas social reasons accounted for only 7.5 percent of replies….It is

clear, therefore that social reasons are important for Jewish families, both in the initial decision to move to, or within, an area of Jewish settlement, and in the families’ value of the Jewish area in which they live at present. For Jews living outside these areas, the social attributes of the area in which they live are relatively unimportant” (Hill 1975, p.25). In an interview mentioned earlier with a young Jewish mother, “Sarah” (names have been changed) in 2007 on a similar topic, this need for social interaction, as experienced through religious life was demonstrated “we go to the Synagogue (on the Sabbath or Jewish Festivals) at night time, then we have a big meal with people, whether we’re hosting or often by my parents or with friends….and then we have lunch, which is also a big meal” (“Sarah”, 2007). Many Jewish families host the extended family or friends on Shabbat and Jewish festivals. In the Orthodox community, this means that one must be able to walk to and from the place dinner or lunch is being served, requiring relatively close proximity in order to fully participate in Jewish religious-social life. The main reason promoted by Hill in his work on the Perth Jewish community and Jewish proximity is the ability to strengthen Jewish identity through living in a Jewish area: “The voluntary concentration of Perth Jews is a method by which they can retain and perpetuate the primary social world which they have created for themselves. With the aid of this social world they seek to preserve Judaism and its associated values” (Hill 1975, p.26)

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The perpetuation of Judaism through one’s children is seen as a tenet that is universal throughout all branches of Judaism. Intermarriage between and Jews and non-Jews and assimilation is perceived to be a weakening of Judaism across all sectors of the Jewish community. Jewish parents on the whole see it as their duty to pass down their religious beliefs to the next generation, in the hope that they will to pass it down to their children. “Concentration aids the preservation of Judaism through processes related to the socialisation of the child, the promotion of marriage within the Jewish group, the strengthening of family ties and social and communal life.” (Hill 1975, p. 26)

Figure 8 – Welcoming of New

Torah Scroll at the Jewish

Learning Centre (JLC, 2007) Not only for the sake of children are parents choosing to raise their families in areas of high Jewish population. Family, including parents and other relatives living in an area, can influence the decision to move to a particular suburb. Hill in his study writes “As previously noted, 63 percent of Jews interviewed considered family life as being one of the most important features of Jewish life in Perth. The closeness of family ties is aided and reflected by Jewish concentration in Perth. Children

grow up in a ‘social area’ with their family and when they marry they often live in the same or nearby area in order to maintain close contact with their parents.” (Hill 1975, p. 28) This is compounded by the responses to a survey conducted by Hill on the topic “In answer to the question: What do you consider to be the advantages of living in your present suburb?, eighteen out of thirty-nine (46 percent) of families in a present or past major area of settlement, said that being close to relatives was one of the major advantages, while those living outside these areas, three out of thirty (10 percent) mentioned this as an important factor” (Hill 1975, p.28) Judaism sees a great focus placed on family, with most families designating the Friday night Sabbath/ Shabbat meal as being family time. At this meal parents bless their children, and all members of the family having roles to play (father of the house makes blessing over wine, mother lights and makes blessing over the candles). Families dress for the occasion, and a significant part of the rest of the week is spent preparing for the Sabbath and any upcoming Jewish festivals. In many Orthodox Jewish families songs are sung at the Sabbath table, and a short idea on the weekly portion of the Torah read in synagogue that week may be discussed.

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Figure 9 – Example of a shiur (Jewish

Class) given by a Rabbi (JLC, 2007) Friends also impact upon the location of Jewish homes, with Hill’s comment regarding Perth “The close-knit social relationships that exist within the Jewish community are undoubtedly reinforced by residential concentration. Of the thirty-nine households interviewed in one of the past or present major

areas of settlement, thirty-four (87 percent) said that the majority of their friends and/or relatives lived in the same area as them while of thirty households interviewed in other areas, only seven (23 percent) could say this” (Hill 1975, p. 28).

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4.0 What is Housing

Stress?

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4.0 What is Housing Stress? According to Randolph and Holloway, housing stress is commonly defined in Australian housing studies as when 30% or more of the gross income of the household is being spent on either rent or mortgage repayments (Randolph and Holloway, 2002, p.334). In Australia, the prevalence of this problem has meant that “both affordability and homeownership rates in Australia are in decline” (Yu 2005, p.437). Across Australia “over the past decade, Australian household debt has also risen from 55% to 130% of personal disposable income” (Economist, 2003, cited in Yu 2005, p.437), with housing representing 83% of all household debt (Birrell and Healy (2003, cited in Yu 2005, p.437). 4.1 Current Situation in Sydney Sydney, being a city on the international stage, is affected by the global economy more than other Australian cities. Internationally, the story has been much the same, with housing prices rising beyond growth in incomes, with “the recent worldwide rise in house prices is larger than the global stock market bubble in the late 1990s (80% of GDP) or America’s stock market bubble of the late 1920s (55% of GDP). Thus, it is the biggest bubble of history” (Economist, 2005, cited in Yu 2005, p.437). As such, housing prices have risen significantly, and only now with the recent sub-prime mortgage crisis are housing prices starting to drop. However, dropping prices are not true for all of Sydney, with housing prices being largely maintained in the eastern suburbs or have decreased slightly in comparison to the drop in prices in Sydney’s western suburbs (Creagh, 2008, p.23). Housing prices have risen on average by 1.2% in Sydney per quarter between 1986 and 2005, the highest growth rate in Australia together with Brisbane, leading to significant differences between cities in Australia (Otto, 2007, p.228). Sydney’s rising house prices are having repercussions elsewhere in Australia, with findings suggesting that a 1% increase in housing prices in Sydney results in a 0.75% increase in housing prices in Brisbane (Otto, 2007, p.233). Already in 2002, “housing stress is widespread across Sydney, but particularly in suburban Western Sydney” (Randolph and Holloway, 2002, p.352). As early as 1996, 80% of low income households in Sydney were experiencing housing stress (Beadnell, 2004 and National Research Consortium, 2001, cited in Yu 2005, p.437). Housing stress is not as common in the eastern suburbs, since most of low income earners have left over the last few decades (ibid). The largest concentration of households with housing stress in the eastern suburbs is the local government area of Randwick, especially in terms of rental (Randolph and Holloway, 2002, p.340, 348). In Australia generally, “house prices…. appear to have become overvalued more than 31% relative to their long-term trend over the 1975–2002 average” (Economist, 2003, cited in Yu 2005, p.437). Young families in particular are under housing stress, especially renters and immigrants (National Housing Survey 2001, cited in Burnley 2005, p.336).

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5.0 Literature Review

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5.0 Literature Review Explanations for why housing prices have risen so high over the past decade has been a topic of research in the past, with researchers such as Otto (2007) finding a number of factors with direct links to housing prices. These include rises in the mortgage rate which unsurprisingly, creates a negative effect on housing prices in all capital cities (except for Darwin, due to the low cost of housing), significantly so in Sydney (Otto 2007, p.230, 232). Ratios between rent and price of buying property also effect property prices, with renters and buyers doing their sums accordingly, however the impact of Sydney’s prices on other capital cities can make this ratio insignificant in terms of its impact on price (Otto, 2007, p.233-234). Population growth has had a negative effect on prices in Sydney, an anomaly in comparison to Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart whose prices rose correlating to population growth (Otto, 2007, p.231). It was also found that in “Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart and Canberra markets, increases in real equity returns are associated with statistically significant declines in the growth rate of real house prices. This suggests that there is some willingness by individuals to substitute between housing and equity as a form of investment” (Otto, 2007, p.231). Otto’s work confirms the research performed by Bewley, Dvornak and Livera (2004) that a strong correlation exists between how the Sydney housing market performs and how the rest of the Australian capital cities will perform in the future (Bewley, Dvornak and Livera, 2004, cited in Otto, 2007, p.232). Others (Williams, 2003, p.166, cited in Beer and Faulkner, 2008, p.14-15) have attributed at least some of the changes to the housing market as being the product of a changing society, where more people are having children later in life, divorce is common, the elderly and disabled are living at home for longer, and women are working outside the home more than ever before. The traditional concept of living in your parent’s home until marriage, marrying and then subsequently buying a home, and having children is not happening as much as it used to, and is having an impact on housing markets (ibid.). Yu (2005) named a number of factors as contributing to the current situation, citing housing price spirals, affordability and ownership decline, shortage of low cost housing stock and increase in social segregation, however blaming three main factors, these being government policies, private property investment and demographic change. Migration patterns have also been linked to housing inflation (Burnley and Murphy 1994, cited in Burnley, 2005, p.333), with many immigrants choosing to live in Sydney. However, “while overseas migration impacted house prices, the stronger effects came from economic growth and investment” (Burnley 2005, p.333). Housing stress has been documented amongst older Australians (Temple 2008), with the possession of assets, high income and low debt or the lack of these as being indicators of housing stress (Temple, 2008, p.24). Immigrants are also finding housing affordability difficult, with a longer length of time needed to save to purchase or commence renting (Burnley 2005, p.338), resulting in more immigrants, especially former refugee and humanitarian migrants, living in public housing (Hassell & Hugo, 1996, cited in Burnley 2005, p.338). In Victoria studies have shown that housing affordability has been in decline for some time, and has especially impacted upon the rate of home ownership for those under 35 (Wood and Stoakes, 2006, p. 325).

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Glaeser and Gyourko (2002) determined that in the USA, evidence suggested that zoning and other land use controls influenced the cost of housing more than anything else. Value of housing has been correlated to hypertension in black women in the USA, that with increasing values in housing, the cases of hypertension decrease, however this is more likely due to crime and poverty rather related to housing affordability, since the USA was not facing widespread problems with housing affordability (Glaeser and Gyourko, 2002, p.21). Matlack and Vigdor found that in the USA, housing markets with high demand and little supply (similar to Sydney’s situation) generally result in the rich getting richer, and the poor tend to be worse off (Matlack and Vigdor, 2006, p.27). Canada however is experiencing housing affordability concerns, with most households suffering from housing stress in the inner suburbs of the city, but not in the inner city, similar to the situation in Sydney. What has not been addressed in previous studies is the issue of housing stress for those with incomes that could live more cheaply elsewhere, however due to extenuating circumstances, must live in an expensive location. The Orthodox Jewish community is an example of this. In addition, none of the studies examined the qualitative impact of housing stress on communities, and how communities such as the Jewish community, pull together to ensure survival. This thesis attempts to explore these avenues, as well as propose and evaluate potential solutions to these problems.

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6.0 Outline of Research

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6.0 Outline of Research In order to determine the effects of rising housing prices and ultimately housing stress on young orthodox Jewish families, a survey was conducted of the target group, using a questionnaire to be given to those married or a parent aged under 35, and a series of interviews as well, of which five interviews were conducted, four with young Orthodox families and one interview with the parents of a recently married orthodox family who had helped their children significantly in obtaining a lease on an apartment, and thus could provide a unique insight into current housing prices. In addition, a previous interview on the subject from 2007 was also used, with permission granted from the person interviewed. Pseudonyms are used for all interviewees to protect their identity. The questionnaire consisted of 20 questions for young orthodox Jewish families, these being either married or a parent aged below 35, with an extra five questions for the parents of married children, with the married children aged below 25. A different standard for parents, including those with married children 25 and below, was done taking into account that as children get older, they generally become more independent from their parents, and thus including the parents of older children was unnecessary since it was assumed that they would not be as involved in supporting their children’s finances as would the parents of younger married children. A copy of the questionnaire questions can be found in Appendix B. After contact with several of the major synagogues Sydney where young couples are known to attend, emails were sent out to the synagogues’ database, explaining the nature of the survey and what it entailed. I also used personal contacts of my own, including married orthodox friends who fitted the description needed for the survey. A total of 17 responses to the survey were received from young orthodox couples, with or without children. Only one parent filled out the survey, and I am aware that this is at the request of her son who filled out the other 20 questions with his mother filling out the other five. This was largely due to the nature of the questionnaire, being directed towards young orthodox families, and the means by which it was publicised, that being email, which some parents would not have received due to not being on the synagogue email list or not using email regularly/at all. In addition, it is common in the Sydney Jewish community to find children who are strictly orthodox whereas their parents are not. These parents would most likely attend other synagogues that attract a less strictly orthodox congregation, and as a result, would not have received the email. While there were only 16 responses, given the size of the strictly orthodox community in Sydney, this is a significant segment of the young orthodox families in Sydney. I estimate that this would be more than 10% of the young orthodox families living in Sydney, and thus is still representative of the Sydney Jewish community’s young orthodox families. Some sub-groups have been underrepresented or not at all in responses, including the Addass community (Non-Chassidic Jews originating from Eastern Europe), the Sephardi community (Jews originating in India, the Middle East and North Africa) and the North Shore community. This was largely due to the difficulty in publicising the survey to these communities, as these communities either do not have a weekly email, do not speak fluent English, or are a very small percentage of their community. Some communities have only 3-4 families in their community at the required age, due to many moving overseas or to Melbourne to join larger Jewish communities.

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7.0 Results and Analysis of

Questionnaire

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7.0 Results and Analysis of Questionnaire A number of patterns emerged from the results of the survey, as will be explained below. The survey was hampered by the lack of responses from certain areas, particularly the north shore. Nevertheless, the information garnered from the survey is valid and of use. As mentioned earlier, 17 responses were collected, with a total of 56 people (young parents and their children) represented. 7.1 Questions 1-4, 14-15 – Basic Statistics All participants were married, ranging from 10 months to 16 years of being married. The divorce rate amongst the strictly Orthodox Jewish community is very low, which may explain the lack of divorcees, but there may have been some confusion about what counted as a family for the purposes of the survey, even though it was explained in the information presented with the survey (see Appendix B – Survey information letter). Average marriage was approximately four and a half years, however many respondents had been married only one or two years. There is a gap in respondents for those married four to five years, possibly due to the fact that many young Orthodox Jews have moved overseas in search of a spouse, especially to Israel, thus depleting numbers left in Sydney. Social groups also tend to influence numbers, in that school years at some of the major Orthodox Jewish high schools where there were a significant number of strictly Orthodox Jewish students tend to maintain their presence in the Sydney Jewish community, due to the ability to form a social circle of like minded strictly Orthodox Jews. Failing this, either these members generally move overseas or interstate (always to Melbourne, the only Jewish community in Australia larger than Sydney), or stop practicing strictly Orthodox Judaism over time, in order to better fit in. In addition, I went to school with many of the participants aged 22 to 24, and it is quite likely that knowing me encouraged them to participate more than others who don’t know me. Half of the respondents did not have children. Of the respondents who did, three had one child each, one had two, three had three children each, and two had four children each. Children’s ages ranged from five months old to 13 years old, the average age being approximately four years old, with only whole ages (except for those below one year old) used for the calculation, due to the discrepancy between parents who only listed whole ages, and those that listed “six and a half” instead of “six”. Respondents worked in a variety of professions, with teaching and the finance industries featuring strongly, with six people in each profession. Health-based employment was also well represented, with four, however one is currently on maternity leave. Four are full time mothers or on maternity leave, and four respondents are currently students. Most families have both parents working outside the home, with all full time mothers currently having a child aged one year old or less. This may be an indication of the need for more money in the home, as most of the mothers with three and four children are in the workforce outside the home at least part time. However this may just be a sign of current trends, in that women choose to work outside the home, not necessarily for financial reasons.

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Ages of the respondents and their spouses ranged from 22 to 36, the average being 28. Six couples were the same age, the rest being within two to three years of their spouse’s age, with only one couple being five years apart. This may be partially due to the fact that most members of the strictly Orthodox Jewish community marry young, and this has also been proved true here, since most couples responding married when they were approximately 23 when they married on average (deducting number of years married from their current age). Marrying young could influence the current financial standing of the respondents, since it is uncommon for a married couple to live in the parent’s own home in the Jewish community, thus forcing the young couple to deal with housing prices earlier on in life than their unmarried peers still living in their parents’ home. The birth of children is also a factor, due to the added expenses involved. The vast majority of the families with children had their first child during their second or third year of marriage, the average age for parents at the birth of their first child being 25. This may contribute to a lower financial position than those marry and having children later in life. Presumably most of the people their age would be working soon after finishing high school, university or TAFE, thus earning and have the ability to save their money for the future should they choose to get married or have children or any other expenses. Couples marrying and/or having children early have not been working for as long and thus would not have the ability to save their earnings to the same extent as a person doing these things later in life. Questions fourteen and fifteen were placed further into the questionnaire, closer to the other questions relating to Jewish observance’s impact on current finances. Almost all of the responses to synagogues the attended were synagogues located in either Bondi or North Bondi, where many of the synagogues of Sydney are located, either due to historically the Jewish community living in this area in the post World War Two years, when many synagogues were founded, or due to cheaper land in these areas. These areas contain the majority of the synagogues attracting a strictly Orthodox membership. Some families put down more than one synagogue, reflecting the current trend of frequenting different synagogues each week. The most popular synagogue by far was JLC (Jewish Learning Centre), located in North Bondi, popular with the Religious Zionist and ex-South African segments of the Jewish community with eight families mentioning them, followed by The Central Synagogue, an Orthodox synagogue with a large, mostly traditional or secular Jewish congregation, located in Bondi Junction with four responses. Tzemach Tzedek, Nefesh and Yeshiva synagogues (Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic synagogues), Kehillat Masada (in St Ives), Or Chadash, Bnei Akiva and Mizrachi (Religious Zionist synagogues) also featured. All respondents with children listed Kesser Torah College as the place where they went to school/ kindergarten. This may be due partially to the fact that Kesser Torah has a long day care centre, which other Jewish schools currently do not. Kesser Torah College is known as the strictly Orthodox Jewish school, and while there are strictly Orthodox Jews at all the other traditional Orthodox schools in Sydney, the vast majority at least in the primary school years attend Kesser Torah College.

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7.2 Questions 5-9 – Home Statistics Respondents were asked where their home was located. With one exception from the north shore (St Ives), all respondents were from an area stretching from Bondi to Rose Bay. Suburbs such as Rose Bay (4), Bondi (4), Bellevue Hill (3), North Bondi (3), Bondi Beach (1) and Bondi Junction (1) featured, with all of the suburbs known o have large numbers of young orthodox Jewish families living there. These suburbs, including the one on the north shore, are within walking distance of the synagogue put down in question 15, as well as a number of other synagogues, an important factor in Jewish social life, since many lifecycle events in Jewish families occur in the synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath, when strictly Orthodox Jewish people do not drive, meaning that in order for the parents in children to attend family and friends’ milestones, such as the synagogue ceremony the Sabbath before the wedding and Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies, they must live within walking distance of the synagogues where family and friends attend, even if they don’t regularly attend these synagogues. Seven families own their own home, all of which with a mortgage. Some made comments that they wanted to move to a bigger place but can’t afford it, or that it is a major burden and want to pay it off as soon as possible. Eight families are renting, two in homes owned by their parents at a reduced rate, others independently. Three expressed an interest in buying, and one stated that they can’t afford to buy, implying that they would like to also. Two families live in either in their parent’s own home or in a home owned by their parents without paying rent. The majority of the sample seems to want to want to own their own home and understandably so, but is unable to, due to their current financial position. The percentage of earnings spent on housing each year varied significantly, 20% to 80%. There were also families that did not spend at all on housing, because they lived with their parents or in a home owned by them. Of those spending a significant percentage of their money on housing, the average was 34.5%. The respondent who wrote 80% is a stand alone case, the next percentage listed being 50%. Including those not paying for housing currently, the average is 30.5%. Even when taking out the 80% response, but including the 0% families (who don’t pay rent etc), the result is 29%. When interviewing “Sarah” last year, she described how run down the apartment she and her family was when they first started renting it, to the point that the agent had to come half an hour before showing Sarah to air the place, due to a leak. Sarah and her family have renovated the apartment, but they are still only renting, albeit at a cheaper rate, 20% of their earnings. The two families renting from their parents at a reduced rate were paying 28% (after tax) and 20% of their incomes for their homes. For those paying for their housing independently of their parents (not living in dwellings owned by them), the average was 38.5% and 35% (not counting the 80% figure in the second percentage). Most studies conducted on housing stress rely on the definition of a household being in housing stress when the percentage of gross household income spent on housing (either rent or mortgage repayments) is more than 30% (Randolph and Holloway, 2002, p.334). Based on the figures above, it seems that a significant percentage of the sample in question is under housing stress or very close to it. Five respondents estimated spending between 40% and 50% of their earnings on their rent/mortgage, 10% more than the basic standard for housing stress. How these families manage to

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stay financially viable is dealt with later in the questionnaire. A trend has emerged in that four respondents lived in accommodation provided by their parents. More on the impact of the parents of married couples’ housing will be addressed further in the questionnaire as well as in the interviews. Participants were asked to prioritise their housing needs in from one to five, one being most important and five being least. The five categories were Financial Considerations, Walking distance to Shules (synagogues) in general and other Jewish institutions, close to family and friends, quality of housing and proximity to work and other secular institutions. One respondent placed four categories in equal first, skewing numbers slightly. Walking distance to Shules (synagogues) and other Jewish institutions was ranked number one by 11 out the 17 respondents, and either number one or two second by 16 out of the 17 respondents. Even the one respondent who did not rank this as highly as the others wrote a note stating that being located close to a synagogue was a given: “The place we chose would inherently be walking distance to a shule, as it needed to be walking distance from both parents. Which shule it was close to wasn’t a deciding factor.” (Questionnaire Respondent 7, 2008). Close to family and friends came in at number 2 in priority for most respondents, with four respondents placing it in number 1, and nine placing it in either number 1 or 2. Financial considerations were ranked number 3, with 15 ranking it number 3 or above. 12 Respondents ranked Quality of housing in number 4 or above, leaving Proximity to work and other secular institutions at number 5, with nine respondents labelling it such. It is interesting to note that in his study of the Jews of Perth in 1975, Rodger Hill found that the most important factor was being close to family and friends, whereas here this category has been surpassed by proximity to synagogues and other Jewish institutions. Possibly this is due to Hill’s study encompassing Jews of all religious outlooks, rather than just the strictly Orthodox, who are much more likely to value being in walking distance to the synagogue, a necessity for attending services on the Sabbath, than would secular Jews who drive on the Sabbath. When asked where they would choose to live if they were not Jewish, all participants mentioned a place other than where they are currently living. It is possible that the question itself may have implied that respondents should write places other than their current location. Many participants listed suburbs within 5km of their current home, listing suburbs such as Coogee (mentioned 3 times), Bronte (2), Tamarama, Woollahra, and Randwick and 10km of their home, the Inner west (3) and lower north shore (2). All of the suburbs listed here within 5km of current locations have significant Jewish populations (the suburbs within 10km have smaller but still significant Jewish populations), however these suburbs do not have the Jewish infrastructure needed for a vibrant Jewish community presence, and thus are lacking in strictly Orthodox Jews, who would have to walk up to an hour on the Sabbath to reach the rest of the community. In response to why they wanted to live in the area, nine participants mentioned the new other location being cheaper, with one participant stating “I commute 45 minutes each day currently, an hour commute sufficiently allows for affordable accommodation” (Questionnaire Respondent 16, 2008), displaying a willingness to forgo the transport opportunities provided in the participant’s current home location to live in cheaper housing. Five respondents mentioned being close to the city or to their workplace and three mentioned that the other location was a pleasant area to live or that it had a nice atmosphere or lifestyle.

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It has become apparent that households are either already suffering from housing stress or are close to it. Young Orthodox Jewish families know that they could live more cheaply elsewhere, even within the wider Jewish settlement area, but choose to remain in the Jewish community which they are a part of and within which they are most comfortable.

7.3 Questions 10-13 – Financial Difficulties In response to the question of whether the participant found it difficult to find a home in the location that they wanted, 12 stated that yes it was difficult, and five stated that it was not. Many respondents wrote explanations as to why this was so. In 12 responses (not necessarily all those stating yes to difficultly) high housing prices in the area was mentioned. Those answering yes to difficulty explained why: “As prices are so high and what you get for it isn’t much!” (Questionnaire Respondent 14, 2008), and “We looked for a year to find 2 and a half bedrooms in our price range” (Questionnaire Respondent 10, 2008). Respondent 1 put it well: “The Eastern Suburbs is very expensive. With high demand and low supply, we were priced out of the majority of properties we thought we could afford. The choice of house becomes and affordability decisions rather than a decision based on the qualities of the house. This is made more difficult given the combination of demand by Jewish families in walking distance to Shules and the demand of non-Jewish families interested in the area because of its location” (Questionnaire Respondent 1, 2008). Those answering no to difficulty when finding a home also explained: “Because I had some help from my in-laws” (Questionnaire Respondent 5, 2008) and “We were given a reduced rent by my wife’s parents, based on how much we could afford to pay. Were

we not given this opportunity, I would find it extremely difficult” (Questionnaire Respondent 7, 2008). One also mentioned that while there was no difficulty when the participant first started renting based on prices then, prices have risen such that “current rentals are out of my affordability range” (Questionnaire Respondent 16, 2008). Once again the issue of parental assistance has become apparent, with a number of participants stating both here and in later questions that without their parents’ financial assistance their current housing situation would be significantly poorer. None of the participants applied or received any loans from Jewish institutions. While in the past Jewish organisations have provided loans to young Jewish families for housing, currently no Jewish loaning system exists in Sydney on a large scale to provide loans of the size needed for a deposit on a mortgage. Small scale loans are available for monthly mortgage repayments and rent for those undergoing financial strain, due to issues such as illness or unemployment. None of the participants utilised these facilities. International loaning charities exist, but these generally deal with the finance of Jewish institutions such as schools and synagogues, not individual homes except in extreme circumstances In 16 out of 17 responses, parents were listed as having helped their children’s households, either financially or non-financially. Financially young families (14 respondents) were helped through the occasional paying of rent or other bills, or the payment of lump sum mortgage repayments. Out of the seven families who own their own home, four stated that their parents had assisted with the deposit for the mortgage. Non-financial help (to eight families) included allowing the young family

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to live with the parents rent free for varying periods of time depending on the family, or in a dwelling owned by the parents at a reduced rate or rent free. Day to day assistance included help with domestic duties, free babysitting of the grandchildren so that the parents could work, buying of clothes for the young family and meals at the parents’ homes. Some participants mentioned that they received help when their children were born. The attitude of a least one parent describing the housing market may explain why parents are so willing to assist their children in the current housing situation: “(Describing the current housing market) Impossible, because no one has that type of money unless they are given it” (Questionnaire Respondent 4, Parent Section, 2008) Young Orthodox Jewish families seem to rely heavily on their parents for support in order to live in the Orthodox Jewish community. The question arises, what if a young Orthodox Jewish Family has parents that can’t help, either due to lack of funds, or not being in the country, as in the case of the young family being immigrants. Young Orthodox Jewish families would certainly find housing more difficult, as some families are experiencing, and will be examined further in the interviews section. 7.4 Questions 16-20 – Impact of Rising Housing Prices Most families stated that even though finances may be difficult, they were not delaying having children due to this and not limiting the size of the family due to financial considerations. As such, 10 Stated “No” to this question, some of these participants writing that it was too early in their marriage to tell, while four stated that they were delaying having children or limiting the size of their future family due to financial constraints, one of these participants explaining that while they had delayed having children initially, it would not limit the size of their family. Three participants wrote “N/A”, misunderstanding that the question only applied to those already with children. Strictly Orthodox Jews tend to have larger than average families generally, and Judaism views having children as one of the 613 commandments that an Orthodox Jew is obligated to follow. Because most Orthodox Jewish families attend the same or similarly located synagogues and send their children to the same schools, the social aspect also plays a part, in that families are used to the idea of getting by with less for the sake of a larger family, because that is what is seen at synagogue and school. Participants were then asked if they had had to cut back on any luxuries due to housing payments or payments to the Jewish community in two separate questions. Responses for luxuries given up for housing were 13 families replying yes and four replying no. Luxuries given up due to Jewish expenses had 10 participants reply “yes”, one “no” and four “N/A” answers, possibly due to the misunderstanding that the question only applied to parents paying Jewish school fees, and one participant replied that in their family they don’t really use luxuries anyway. Luxuries listed as being given up most were holidays, eating out, driving a smaller/cheaper car and general cost cutting with five respondents each citing them. Buying new clothes (3 respondents) was also mentioned as were not going to movies (3), along with a large number of individual cost cutting measures written by each participant giving up luxuries, including saving less.

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One participant stated of Jewish expenses: “As Jewish people, we recognise the importance of belonging to, and supporting, the community. The only costs as such for us to date have been synagogue membership fees, although part of supporting the community and those around us also means donating between 10%-20% of our income to charity, which obviously makes inroads into one’s cash available to spend” (Questionnaire Respondent 12, 2008). Judaism has expenses, including kosher food, synagogue membership, and Jewish school fees amongst others. It is also a religious requirement for Jewish people to give charity, with many rabbinic opinions suggesting between 10-20% of one’s income be given. This also limits the ability to spend on luxuries, however just as with larger families, the social world in which young Orthodox Jewish families find themselves are generally members of a synagogue (all are permitted to attend services so membership is not universal), only eat kosher food and generally send their children only to Jewish schools, and thus since all are in the same situation having fewer luxuries is a part of the normal way of life for the community. Asked if the increasing cost of living was affecting the participant’s observance of Judaism, 15 participants said no, many stating that their observance of Judaism was central to them and thus it was other things such as luxuries that would be curtailed, the other two participants cited examples of Jewish things cut back, however these did not involve a breach in Jewish law by the reduction, such as less time to learn Jewish texts due to working extra shifts, less money given to charity, and later payment of synagogue membership or no synagogue membership. The final question asked participants to suggest measures that could be undertaken to fix any of the issues raised. Reducing the cost of Jewish schooling and either relocating the Jewish community/ starting a new Jewish community in a cheaper area in Sydney each had five respondents suggest them. Jewish school fees are very high, and this is known to be a sore point in the Jewish community. While on the whole the community does not blame the Jewish schools for mismanagement, the feeling that more needs to be done to make Jewish schools cheaper is prevalent. Respondent 11 expressed this, and had an idea of how to make cheaper schools a reality: “Jewish school fees are a major concern, as providing a Jewish education to our children is essential however the cost of doing so is extremely expensive. I think the wealthy people in the community need to find a way to put in place a trust fund (this has been done in various communities in America) whereby there is a significant $ amount put aside in a trust fund for a community and the revenue created from this is used to help subsidise and reduce Jewish school fees as well as help fund new shules (synagogues) and schools” (Questionnaire Respondent 11, 2008). Starting a new Jewish community was addressed by respondents, stating that what needs to be done is “For the young generation to move to a place more affordable such as in St Ives. However there needs to be infrastructure established such as a Shule (synagogue), School, Mikvah (Jewish ritual bath) and kosher food. People need to make concessions with regards to the housing type and the proximity they are to amenities, including Jewish-related and secular. There needs to be a taskforce established to deal with the issue of how to keep young frum (orthodox) people in Sydney, while being able to live comfortably. Perhaps this is something the (Jewish) Board of Deputies or JCA (Jewish Communal Appeal) could get involved with” (Questionnaire Respondent 9, 2008). Another participant also mentioned the JCA in

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the context of providing housing allowances. Having a structured networking system in place to help young families get advice, and plan financially, as well as find business opportunities was suggested by another participant, cheaper kosher food prices was mentioned, as was the opening of a store to sell Jewish items at reduced prices. A larger Jewish interest free loan society was also suggested to provide assistance with housing financing, and one participant suggested that the government do more to reduce inflation. 7.5 Conclusion Participants were found to be living in walking distance of a number of strictly Orthodox Synagogues, for religious and social reasons. Respondents were also found to be either close to or suffering from housing stress, due to high rents or mortgage repayments in the areas in which they live. Those who were not generally were being assisted by their parents, mostly through the provision of housing for the young family rent free or at a reduction. Most young Orthodox Jewish families surveyed were being assisted by their parents, either financially on non-financially, however more were being helped financially than being assisted through other non-financial means. The burden of high housing prices is taking their toll, with many families giving up certain luxuries, such as holidays and eating out in order to save money, however Judaism is seen as non-negotiable, with families opting to forgo other luxuries in order to practice Judaism and have as many children as they want. Many participants had ideas on how to ameliorate the problems presented in the questionnaire, including the creation of a new Jewish community in a cheaper location in Sydney, and a reduction in the cost of Jewish school fees. Which of these can be acted upon to lift the burden of rising housing prices remains to be seen.

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8.0 Results and Analysis of

Interviews

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8.0 Results and Analysis of Interviews Five interviews were conducted (in addition to the interview conducted last year on a similar topic), four interviews were with young Orthodox Jewish couples, and one interview was with the parents of a young Orthodox Jewish couple living in Sydney. Pseudonyms were used for all names. Two interviewees, “Sam” and “Jake”, are both young married men in their early twenties (married to women in their early twenties) living in local government area of Waverley. “Avi” and “Rebecca” are the parents of a number of young married children living in Bondi and overseas. “Ilan” is an Israeli in his late twenties, married with two children living in the local government area of Woollahra. “Miriam” is a young mother of three children, living in St Ives on the north shore. During the course of my research, I learnt of one family moving to Melbourne in January, and one family which had moved from Bondi to Maroubra, and another from Bondi to Parramatta, far away from the rest of their families. I was also told that one of the Synagogues outside of the main Jewish localities of Sydney that has been touted as a possible location for a new Jewish community was unable to get a minyan (10 Jewish men needed for prayer) on one of the major Jewish holidays this year, demonstrating the difficulty in the maintenance of Jewish life in outlying areas. 8.1 Jewish Life Avi described how his sons participate in Jewish life: “Well all my sons go to the synagogue three times a day or twice a day, they would typically go to a shiur (Jewish class) almost every day, they would go to special events like at the moment its Succot (Jewish festival) so there’s a large participation so they are all learning, all going regularly to the synagogue and they participate actively not just in the prayers and the reading of the Torah and leading davening (prayers) and everything else that is required so they are very active” (Avi and Rebecca, interview, 2008). Avi’s response is typical of most male respondents, praying in the synagogue, attending Jewish classes, shopping for kosher food are all Jewish experiences that occur daily. Miriam described her experience as a Jewish woman: “Shabbat on Friday night and Saturday, I personally don’t necessarily go to shule always but my husband does. He also goes Sunday mornings, is taking the kids to Jewish preschool, I work for a Jewish long day-care, we buy kosher food, I one of the Mikvah (Jewish ritual bath) ladies, um what else, um that’s a lot.” (Miriam, interview, 2008) While Orthodox Jewish women are not obligated to go to synagogue, they participate fully in Jewish life through other avenues, thus making an Orthodox Jewish household thoroughly infused with the Jewish religion, impact most aspects of daily life. When asked to describe the Jewish community, many commented on the sense of togetherness felt through participation. Sam explained it thus: “I guess it’s a privilege because …..you are given the sense and feeling that these things are really catered specifically for you and you know that if for some reason you were in specific circumstances where you needed specific help or some specific assistance that more than in just a general community that would be catered for. For example I know in Melbourne and I see it here as well many of the Jewish schools place a great importance on ensuring that every Jewish child has a Jewish education” (Sam, interview, 2008). The idea of social responsibility to the rest of the community is very strong, due to shared values and beliefs. Ilan, coming from an Jewish town in Israel, stated “I know that everyone has their own ideas and thoughts on neighbours and

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friends and stuff like that but the thing is that everyone is doing the same thing, the same life, the same Jewish life…..some will do it more and some will do it less but we all do the same things, same books we learn the same prayers we pray, the same thing that we did and not only here its all over the world” (Ilan, interview, 2008). Common bonds between members of the Jewish community serve to unite the community to care for one another. In terms of participant’s personal relationship to the community, Jake made the following comment: “I am very happy being in the Jewish community and it feels as though it’s where I belong” (Jake, interview 2008). Avi described his feelings participating in Jewish communal life: “It makes me feel good, it makes me feel wanted, useful, a sense of camaraderie, spirituality, all of the above in various mixtures…..I could not be an isolated Jew. I could not be, I would miss that” (Avi and Rebecca, interview 2008). Even just dropping children at school has an impact for Miriam, suggesting the changes in generations as children in the community turn into the parents: “its quite nice now with my kids at Masada (Jewish school on the north shore), to be dropping them off and bumping into mums whom I went to school with as well” (Miriam, interview, 2008) Education of children in the Jewish community is one of the most important features of the Sydney Jewish community, with parents sacrificing much of their income to send their children to Jewish schools. Sam stated about the education of his future children: “I guess that’s most paramount. There is nothing we wouldn’t do in the upbringing of our children more than ensure that the Jewish community played a central role in their lives…..and hopefully bringing them up in an observant home they would understand the beauty of the religious orthodox observant life and want that to be a part of their lives as well” (Sam, interview 2008). Jake shared the same sentiments in his interview, but added “if I bring them up in the Jewish community then their friends will hopefully have similar values to them, a common bond…..the importance of family, the importance of social responsibility, honesty, integrity” (Jake, interview 2008). The fear of the Jewish community assimilating into an oblivion is something Jewish parents are very aware of, and thus parents do their utmost generally to avert their children dropping their Jewish heritage later in life, as shown by Miriam: “if they don’t have a positive experience of it then they are going to lose out and end up in not being interested and not wanting to be involved and potentially marrying out and not wanting to be a part of it and that would be a real shame” (Miriam, interview 2008). This is done through the enrolment in Jewish schools and encouraging them to participate in various Jewish social activities. Avi displayed his satisfaction that his adult children are heavily involved in Jewish life “I wouldn’t presume to tell them what to do…..but it gives me a sense of pride that my children are so involved and that they very much appreciate what they do. A great sense of pride” (Avi and Rebecca, interview, 2008). The Sydney Jewish community endeavours to look after its constituents, as Sam commented “Something special about a Jewish community is that there is a great care for not only the people of the community but the community itself so the community does what it can to make sure that everyone is looked after” (Sam interview, 2008). Sam added that being part of a community is also a two-way street, meaning that you are also responsible to the community as well: “I guess in that sense it’s a privilege and an honour. It’s a responsibility knowing that just as a receiver in the community

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we should really be giving to the community and doing all you can to strengthen those organisations and play an active role in the community to ensure the full circle keeps on going and we are not only just receiving but giving to others as well” (Sam, interview, 2008). Ilan explained why Jews rely so heavily on their own community: “they need each other, sometimes you need your peace and quiet and you have your home…but still in Jewish life there are a lot of things that you do together…..you want to be close to a synagogue….you need friends…a kindergarten and a Jewish school so therefore everyone lives not in the same building but in the same area” (Ilan, interview, 2008). Avi described how the community helped him through his recent illness, leaving him unable to work for a long period of time “I had very large donations, no strings attached, some loans, we wouldn’t be in this unit if it wasn’t for the big support from the community….. Now we are talking about a lot of money to pay the mortgage, the bills….when I told the non-Jewish contacts that I have got how I am existing and the charity that I have had they have been astonished. Absolutely astonished” (Avi and Rebecca, interview, 2008) As a result of the above, together with Jewish religious restrictions on the Sabbath, Jews tend to congregate quite close together. Jake stated “Well we wouldn’t be living there (Penrith) because we wouldn’t be able to enjoy observing Shabbat if we lived in Penrith, we would even not be able to not stay over Shabbat or we wouldn’t be able to see our family over Shabbat and we wouldn’t be able to go to shule and wouldn’t see friends or anything and wouldn’t be part of the community” (Jake, interview, 2008). Rebecca commented “we can call any man in the building and say look we need a minyan” (Avi and Rebecca, interview, 2008), referring to a group of 10 Jewish males required for Jewish prayer, referring here to minyan for a person in mourning, usually conducted at the mourner’s home. Sam mentioned that the location of person’s home is also dependent on how they prioritise their Jewish needs: “it depends on I guess what is more important to them…..we are very lucky that we can step outside our house and 15 seconds we are at both the kosher bakery and the kosher grocery store and we don’t have to get in the car …..Whereas we have friends who live much closer to the synagogues so on a Sabbath it’s a lot easier for them it’s a 3 minute walk….but they have to get in the car to do the grocery shopping” (Sam, interview, 2008). This implies that the ideal solution would be the best of both worlds, living in a location central to Jewish institutions and services. Indeed, Sam later states “it certainly is easier living in an area like Bondi or an area like Dover Heights or Bellevue Hill where there are Jewish centres, where there are kosher restaurants, where there are synagogues” (Sam, interview, 2008). Jake also weighed up the idea that for different segments of the Jewish community, different areas within the Jewish community are more suitable “North Bondi. Everything is there. there’s JLC (Jewish Learning Centre and synagogue), there’s Nefesh (synagogue) and there’s Or Chadash (synagogue) and a lot of young families come together at Barracluff Park on Saturday afternoons and there’s Bnei Akiva (Jewish youth group) if you have any kids or younger people you can go there and if you have friends that live in Bellevue Hill or if you have friends who live in Rose Bay its not too much of a walk either way. It’s definitely the most convenient and central place to live”(Jake, interview 2008), but for other segments of the community “the Chabad-Lubavitch generally live Penkivil Street, Flood Street, that area because that’s

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where their institutions are and that’s where their friends are so that’s where they would stick. Sephardim, there aren’t many of them but I guess you would want to live around Penkivil Street area because that’s where Beit Yosef (synagogue) is” (Jake, interview, 2008). Miriam from the north shore brought her perspective as well: “I suppose Bondi is the best from a Jewish point of view. I don’t know whether it is the best from other points of view because you have however many kids in a much smaller place because none of us really have that amount of money so St Ives is better from a kind of the environment you are bringing your kids up in but you also miss out on the intensity of the Jewish stuff I suppose” (Miriam, interview, 2008). Ilan, a newcomer from Israel, saw the Maroubra area in a similar light, but recognised the problems associated with the Bondi area as well “In Maroubra there are Jews who live there but still its far away from the centre of the Jews and there is only one synagogue there and if you don’t like the type of synagogue or whatever so that’s it but here you have 15 synagogues, if you don’t like one you go to another one …..but its expensive” It terms of Jewish life, the Bondi area is unequivocally the focal point of religious Jewish life in Sydney, as agreed by all interviewees. However it comes at cost, very literally, which has implications for housing and general lifestyle as well, as will be seen. Religious issues were not the only factors in determining where the young couples would live. Being close to family and friends led Jake to live halfway between his in laws’ and his parents’ homes, so as not offend either party, however still this was within the Jewish community area of Sydney. Commenting on the idea of moving to another part of the Jewish community that is cheaper “its possible but I wouldn’t want to live there because its too far from everyone that I know but of course you can live there but again there’s only one shule in the area…. and I don’t think you would enjoy yourself as much” (Jake, interview 2008). One religious aspect that influences social interaction, especially in families with young children, is that of an Eruv, a boundary within which Jews can carry objects outside of their home and synagogues on the Sabbath. Pushing a pram is considered carrying an object, thus preventing young families from socialising easily on the Sabbath. As mentioned earlier, an Eruv already exists in the eastern suburbs but not on the north shore. Miriam explained “living on the north shore I suppose you are distanced from friends in the east….I think it also impacts because we don’t have an eruv. I think that in previous years it has influenced our social life ….we had friends over the other Shabbat and they had to leave their baby with a babysitter” (Miriam, interview, 2008). This increases the difficulty of many young Orthodox Jewish families to live on the north shore, hence the push to create an eruv, which would help foster a stronger Orthodox Jewish community.

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8.2 Housing Prices and Their Effects Avi described the current housing market: “Dreadful. The shortage of rental housing, the cost of it and the price if one wishes to buy and they usually buy run down rotting semis and do their best to make them habitable and whatever they can afford when they get into the buying market” (Avi and Rebecca, interview, 2008). Jake explained the problems involved with stamp duty, with the end result that finding a 2 bedroom unit for less than $500 000 is very very difficult in the Bondi area, unless you pay more than $500 000, which means you also pay stamp duty, a significant increase in cost. Ilan compared the amount he was paying back in Israel out of his earnings there for housing “here it’s around 25% and in Israel it was like 5%, no let me think again, no a bit more, less than 10%, around 8% something like that. It was very cheap” (Ilan, interview, 2008). In the Bondi area, according to Sam, “you are not going to find anything in this area for less than $300 or $400 a week and we are talking about starting with one bedroom one bathroom apartments so forget people having kids. Just a couple by themselves in a year post tax we are talking about $15,000 to $20,000, post tax is a big amount of money” (Sam, interview, 2008) Avi tried to explain why it is so expensive” its supply and demand, there is very limited supply, big demand and so of course the prices are high” (Avi and Rebecca, interview, 2008). The rise of housing prices, together with rising living costs are stretching already stretched budgets in the orthodox Jewish community, and as Avi said “people in general are complaining and its not just young couples, it’s the older ones as well” (Avi and Rebecca, interview, 2008). Rebecca explained further: “the cost of food around here is much, much higher. Even the basics, the stuff you buy from Coles the stuff that is kosher but standard stuff, is much cheaper where he works in Campbelltown than in Bondi Junction. Stuff like flour, stuff that you would just buy without even thinking about it” (ibid). She then described the extent to which she and many other members of the Orthodox Jewish community, young and old, save on groceries to make ends meat: “The young couples that I work with they might shop once every 4 to 6 weeks at Aldi because they actually have the price per unit for …..they might fill up their trolley maybe even once every 2 months with stuff like that, you have to factor it in…… he has a Campbell’s card and so every few months a few of the men go to buy that sort of stuff …because it all saves a lot of money” (ibid). The rising cost of living has affected how Orthodox families shop for clothes, as well, according to what Rebecca, a teacher, sees from her students “like we all go to DFO, Pumpkin Patch DFO and in Birkenhead. We all think you know can I buy that pair of shoes, everyone, my students, I can tell you it doesn’t show up in the food, their lunches are exactly the same but they don’t order lunches like they used to order. We used to let our kids order more frequently but I noticed in the canteen…..very few children are now ordering” (ibid). Quite possibly due to the fact that many Orthodox Jewish parents are decedents of survivors of the Holocaust, most Jewish parents will do everything to ensure that their children don’t go hungry, however in other less obvious aspects, families are skipping what others would see as normal, such as new clothes for Jewish festivals, even if from discount stores. In my interview with Ilan, he described some of the problems with his apartment: “we have here outside stairs and the building is two storeys to climb up. It’s not the end of the world but you know with children and shopping and taking them up and down and up and down and for my wife you know up and down with the kids but we are managing, we are OK….we manage we have a seat and computer here inside our

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dining room, its not the end of the world” (Ilan, interview, 2008). When I asked him if he knew anyone having trouble with increasing housing prices, he said “First of all myself. It is very expensive and they want to raise the rent, it goes up and up….We are not used to this. Yes we knew it before we came here that that’s the price now they want it go up, so quickly, we have been here 7 months so we didn’t think it was going to be so quickly” (ibid). I asked Ilan to compare his quality of life here to what he had in Israel. He said: “in Israel…..it’s much less expensive, but there we lived we have got less money but we lived in a higher type of life. We went more to hotels and we went more to hiking….we can’t go to a restaurant….its very expensive so we just buy food and make it at home and in Israel we went much more to restaurants and hotels and stuff like that” (ibid). A number of Israelis have moved to Australia seeking a better life in recent years; however this trend may drop if the expenses attached to living here do not drop either. Even on the north shore the pinch of financial pressure is being felt. Miriam states: “I know of one couple who has rented, she reckons it’s the cheapest house in St Ives because of financial difficulties for example and I know of another couple who has actually moved from Bondi to Maroubra because of finances” (Miriam, interview, 2008). There is an impact of Jewish life as well: “lets say we wanted to invite more people every Shabbat, even non-Shabbat even every day and life and have food and cakes, a lot of things you have to buy outside and decorations to make it nice and stuff like that and because its so expensive we think twice…..every time it is a few hundred dollars, food and a big meal and decoration and cups and everything” (Ilan, interview, 2008). 8.3 Parental Help and Other Solutions

Avi and Rebecca are prime examples of what many parents are doing. Avi and Rebecca financially assisted their recently married son in getting an apartment and furnishing it. According to Avi, “they couldn’t have got it without me being on the lease and we furnished it and we got the washing machine and this that and the other but look they come with nothing and I got them a car as well. Might be seen as a bit indulgent but that’s alright. Had to set them up” (Avi and Rebecca, interview, 2008). This sort of assistance is common in the Jewish community, since it is extremely rare for a young married couple to have the resources for all this so soon in their working lives. For those without parents living in Sydney, it is a different situation. Ilan’s parents live in Israel, making his financial situation more difficult: “I know in this community parents help and support the children and it’s very very expensive to live here but we don’t have that. We have salary and that’s it” (Ilan, interview, 2008). The idea of setting up a new community has been around for generations in Sydney. Many families know of other examples overseas that worked well, and want to see it happen in Sydney. Avi speaks of his experience with the Jewish community in Toronto: “my daughter in Toronto lives in a new Jewish suburb, they built it from scratch on the northern outskirts beyond the fields….and now of course the city has spread beyond there so it is just one more suburb. So there are two Toronto communities, the main one and this one” (Avi and Rebecca, interview, 2008). Avi also knew of a plan to do the same in Sydney that fizzled out: “I was talking about some years ago some people attempting to buy lands and get approval down the south coast….in principal it was a good idea it wouldn’t work because Toronto is different, they have got 200,000 Jews there altogether. Sydney officially has got about 30

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(thousand), it makes a very big difference…a critical mass to make it successful, to justify a school, butchery……and then there is the work, it has to be built around something” (ibid). The actual number of Jews in Sydney is around 40 000 as stated earlier, however Avi’s point is still made, in order for such moves to work there needs to be enough people to make the new entity viable in both a Jewish and an economic sense. Jake was also wary of the idea: “Now that the community is established it’s going to be unheard of to move out to Penrith or somewhere and start a new community. It is just too difficult” (Jake, interview, 2008). The St Ives Jewish community was set up in a similar fashion, and has been populated by new immigrants as well as former members of the eastern suburbs based Jewish community, a trend that continues. Sam states: “I think the stress it puts on is probably well displayed in what I have seen recently there are quite a few young couples from our congregation in the synagogue we attend that have moved to the north shore of Sydney where a lot of their parents live there in any case but they are just finding that for the relative cost of the relative living standards here it is a lot cheaper for the same amount of money” (Sam, interview, 2008). Miriam had a similar experience: “Basically I lived in the north all my life and when we got married we lived in the east in a flat and then it got to a point where it was just too stressful living in a flat next to Irish backpackers….then when the kids were about 9 months old they started crawling and we were basically living on the bottom floor of somebody’s house so there was no room for them to move….this place was big enough as well as being affordable at the time” (Miriam, interview, 2008). Sam mentions the family connections of those moving back to the north shore with the couples’ parents still living on the north shore, and Miriam herself grew up there, suggesting that many of those moving back are those already with connections to the north shore. It remains to be seen if young Orthodox Jewish families without these connections will move to the north shore as well. The issues that face the north shore Jewish community will be dealt with later in this thesis. Jake wasn’t sure how to go about fixing the problem, however he made the comment that while young Orthodox Jewish families are finding finances difficult, “charitable money should be going to people who can’t afford houses not to people that can and are just struggling a little bit…..they have a lot of other things to support as well” (Jake, interview, 2008). Considering the idea of a Jewish interest free loan system, he said “loans wouldn’t be a bad idea. Reduced rate loans might be very helpful. I mean the community is wealthy, if there was some way of helping out it would be good but I wouldn’t want to see it deplete other services provided” (ibid).

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8.4 Conclusion Participants felt that Judaism and participating in the Jewish community are an integral part of their lives and seek to pass this on to their children. However, living in the Jewish community is expensive, both due to housing prices as well as increasing costs associated with basic everyday goods. Families are struggling to keep up with rising costs, and are finding ways to save as much as possible in order to break even. Parents commonly assist their children where possible, either financially or through other means, however for those without parental assistance, such as new immigrants or those whose parents are also struggling financially, find expenses more difficult to cope with. The community seems to be getting by, but only just. Options to alleviate the problem are well known, but a viable solution or solutions have yet to reach a consensus amongst the community, with some preferring interest free loans, whereas others see the creation of the new Jewish community in a cheaper area of Sydney as a better option. Until prices fall or a solution is found, young Orthodox Jewish families will continue to tighten their belts to stay in the black.

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9.0 Other Previous

Attempts at Dealing with

Housing Stress

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9.0 Other Previous Attempts at Dealing with Jewish Housing Stress Overseas, the problem of decreasing housing affordability has been around for a long time, and as a result, a number of communities, particularly Orthodox Jewish communities, have created satellite Jewish villages to the original Jewish community, eventually becoming a self-supporting entity. 9.1 New Villages: New Square and Kiryas Square, Kiryas Yoel, Kiryas Tosh These new communities were founded by Chassidic Jews in the United States of America and Canada. The village New Square and more recently Kiryas Square were founded by the Skver Chassidim branch of Chassidic Judaism in the State of New York in 1961 (Teller, 2008a) and 2007 (Five Towns Jewish Times, 2007) respectively, Kiryas Square being founded due to the village of New Square reaching capacity (ibid). Kiryas Yoel (also known as Monroe and Kiryas Joel) was founded by Satmar Chassidim in 1977 and currently has over 20 000 residents (Chan and McGinty, 2007). Previous attempts had been made in Staten Island and Dover, New Jersey, but had fallen through, the Staten Island attempt due to the costs involved (Teller, 2008b). The community has the highest growth rate of any other place in New York State, growing by 51% (New Square came second at 50% growth) (ibid), due to a very high birth rate and most children opting to raise their own families in the village (Santos 2006). Kiryas Tosh/ Tash is located in Canada, near Montreal, started by Tosher Chassidim in 1963 and has about 300 families living there (Shaffir 2008). Community buses shuttle those working in New York City or Montreal in the morning and evening, however many work inside the community as teachers and Rabbinical students.

Figure 10 – Aerial View of Kiryas Tosh (Shaffir, 2008)

Typically these communities were created in response to a number of issues, including increasing housing prices, especially with regard to Kiryas Yoel (Chan and McGinty 2007) and New Square (Teller, 2008a), however other issues such as perceived deteriorating morals of the original communities in the cases of New Square (ibid), Kiryas Tosh (Shaffir 2008) and Kiryas Yoel (Teller 2008b) inspired many to look for greener pastures, literally, as most often former agricultural land became the new village. These Chassidic communities were directed by their respective Rebbes (Head Rabbi of the Chassidic sect) to set up these communities in

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an organised fashion and were very involved in determining where the new community would be situated. These villages are generally for only one particular Chassidic sect only. Sydney differs in that the orthodox community is much smaller, and is not as homogenous as these Chassidic communities, and the leadership of the Orthodox Jewish community in Sydney is not as centralised, making organising an undertaking such as this more difficult.

Figure 11 – Main Yeshivot (Jewish religious schools) in Kiryas Tosh (Shaffir,

2008)

9.2 New/cheaper Suburbs in Existing Cities

Another option performed successfully overseas is that of an organised move to a cheaper suburb, rather than the creation of a new village as noted above. In Toronto, Canada, the neighbourhood of Thornhill-Vaughan has become the largest Jewish suburb in Canada, with over 31 000 Jewish residents making up 56.7% of the total population (2001 Canadian Census, cited on UJA Federation of Greater Toronto website, 2008). Similar ideas have been proposed for Melbourne, with various members of the community trying to organise the creation of a Jewish community in places such as Altona, Frankston and Dandenong (Levin, 2007a). “Avi” and “Rebecca”, the interviewed parents of a young married couple, said that they had recollections of people talking about similar ideas for Sydney in the 1970s in Penrith, Brighton LeSands and as recently as the 1990s in the Shoalhaven local government area. A serious attempt is being made in Melton, on Melbourne’s western outskirts (Levin, 2007b). The project is still in the early stages, and thus is still not going to be the immediate help that some families need. In addition, Levin mentions “the difficult choice families will have to make to move away from their local shul (synagogue), from Jewish schools and from their ageing parents” (Levin, 2007a).

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9.3 The North Shore Sydney still does not have any current plans for a satellite community to be set up; however the North Shore Jewish community was originally set up for this purpose according to “Miriam”, a young mother in the St Ives Jewish community. Prices have risen there also to an extent, and with the recent Council refusal of the St Ives Eruv application (Abitbol, 2008, p.1), the future on the north shore for young orthodox families is currently looking less secure. Recently some young north shore Jewish couples who had moved to the eastern suburbs have since returned to the north, and the Jewish Communal Appeal (JCA) has also created a program encouraging Jews living in South Africa who are planning to leave to immigrate to Sydney, especially to the north shore (Jewish Communal Appeal newsletter, September 2008, p.2). “Avi” mentioned in his interview that in his experience, having lived in six different Jewish communities in Australia and New Zealand, some of which no longer exist, that in order to become sustainable, Jewish communities require a critical mass of 20 000 people, otherwise the majority move away. The north shore currently has no kosher cafes or restaurants, for young orthodox families though, this may not be as much of a concern, as “Miriam” mentioned in her interview, that since she and her husband are parents of toddlers, they wouldn’t be going out to eat at kosher restaurants anyway. Even so, as families get older, driving 40 minutes to buy kosher takeaway will leave a poor taste in one’s mouth. In order to become viable, the north shore needs more Jewish people, including young orthodox Jewish families, and the JCA has recognised this. Time will tell if the efforts to shore up the north shore Jewish community are successful.

Figure 12 – Kehillat Masada

Synagogue on the North Shore

(Kehillat Masada, 2007)

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10.0 Possible Solutions

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10.0 Possible Solutions It is clear that attempts to make housing more affordable are in order, whether through the creation of mechanisms to make housing within existing Jewish communities more affordable, or to create new communities as dealt with above. Below are some possible avenues through which young orthodox Jewish families could become able to financially afford to live in the Sydney Jewish community. 10.1 New Community As mentioned above, the possibility of starting a new Jewish community in Sydney has been mooted before, and the Jewish community on the north shore is an attempt at creating this. The north shore community has had some difficult times in the past few years due to families moving to the eastern suburbs of Sydney and concerns about the financial viability of the main Jewish organisation on the north shore, Masada College primary and high school. St Ives and the rest of the north shore Jewish community never attracted many from the eastern suburbs to live there, mostly only new immigrants from South Africa, who once they were able, moved to the east. There were always more Jewish institutions in the eastern suburbs, with only one Jewish school on the north shore, two synagogues in St Ives and one in Lindfield an hour’s walk away, and no kosher eateries. Perceptions amongst some in the eastern suburbs Jewish community was that “the north” was too far away to drive easily, and also that it was overwhelmingly South African, leaving non-South Africans in “the east” feeling like it was not an option. A recovery in the north shore Jewish community has been noted as mentioned earlier, due to the assistance of the JCA and other Jewish communal bodies (Jewish Communal Appeal newsletter, September 2008, p.2), and many Jewish organisations now have a specific branch based on the north shore and activities on the north shore Jewish community, to minimise the “tyranny of distance”. It is doubtful that the Jewish communal bodies will take on the challenge of creating a whole new Jewish community when an existing community with cheaper housing is under strain. Even the orthodox community (as opposed to the wider Jewish community) is unlikely to undertake this, due to the orthodox community’s small size and lack of centralised organisation to coordinate such planning relatively easily. If the proposed development of a Jewish community in Melton (Levin, 2007b) is successful, possibly then the Jewish community may seriously consider the idea however the land would have to be cheap enough and transport effective enough so as not to repeat the problems that have occurred in the north shore. 10.2 Subsidised Housing Housing for young orthodox Jewish families provided by the community for a set number of years after marriage or for low income families in general is also an option. The strictly Orthodox community itself does not have the funds to do this on a large scale; the Yeshiva Centre in Bondi would rent some of its properties to low income families, however this came to an end in 2003 due to the need to sell off some of the Yeshiva Centre’s assets to cover debts. Dedicating specific buildings would cause social stigma for low income families much in the same way that Department of Housing accommodation can. JewishCare, the main Jewish social services provider to the Jewish community does not have the means to provide such services to low income families or to any other needy member of the Jewish community, however does provide help to those applying to the Department of Housing. Most young

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Orthodox Jewish families don’t qualify for low income accommodation from the Department of Housing, and the housing offered may not be in the Jewish parts of Sydney, thus being a catch 22 for those who do qualify. Large amounts of money would be need to purchase housing, and while the community as a whole gives a great deal of money to charity, and some of Sydney’s most generous philanthropists are Jewish, including some in the property market, the enormous amount of money required to help the number of young orthodox Jewish families and other needy Jewish people is too large at this stage for the community to undertake on such a large scale to alleviate the problem. 10.3 Interest-Free Loan Society - A Gemach According to Maimonides (also known as Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon or by the acronym Rambam), one of the great Rabbis of the middle ages, wrote that the highest form of charity was to help another person to become self sufficient, such as through providing them with a loan to start a business (Chabad.org, 2008). Thus one of the more traditional ways Jews have helped each other is to provide the less fortunate with interest-free loals, commonly known as a Gemach (the Hebrew acronym for “acts of kindness”) (Garson, 2008). A gemach refers to any loan pool, from which depending on the type of gemach, various items (including money) can be borrowed without charge. Already in Sydney, this exists on a smaller scale, where amounts of money can be borrowed with no interest charged (Women for Life, 2006). This overcomes some of problems of community funded housing, in that less money is need initially, since the property in question does not have to be bought outright by the community, rather this is designed to assist the young family to buy it themselves, using the loan from the gemach together with a regular mortgage from the bank to purchase their home. Large funds are needed for this from the community, but not as large as when creating an entirely new community or providing housing, however is more expensive than just the provision of logistical support as the Jewish community has been doing through JewishCare. The gemach will also need to have ongoing funding, as the financial situation of the people who borrowed the money may deteriorate, such that they will be unable to repay the loan at all. This is the possibility with any loan, whether from a gemach or bank, however the gemach will not seize the family’s assets as a bank may. A community wide interest free loan society or gemach seems to be the most appropriate way to deal with the current housing affordability issues amongst young Orthodox Jewish families. Literally millions of dollars will be needed at least initially in order to alleviate the problem, but is possible, with the proper organisation, guidance and supervision from both the Orthodox and wider Jewish community in Sydney.

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11.0 Conclusion

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11.0 Conclusion Sydney’s Orthodox Jewish community is at a crossroads. Increasing housing prices together with decreasing housing affordability have resulted in a situation where many young Orthodox Jewish families are struggling to keep up with their finances. As such, large numbers of households in the Orthodox Jewish community are experiencing housing stress. While the community is making do with what they have, it is not an easy situation to be in, and many are reliant on the assistance of their parents to break even. If left unchecked, the Orthodox Jewish community could potentially suffer as already financially stressed families are forced to cut back on even more, possibly leading to some families leaving Sydney altogether for cheaper Jewish communities both in Australia and overseas. Whether the solution is creating a new Jewish community in a cheaper location, moving to the north shore or providing an interest free loan system to assist with mortgage payments, the situation of many young Orthodox Jewish families requires assistance. The Jewish community recognises the problems, however has been unable as yet to find a solution that has proven effective. It is up to the Jewish community to find the ways and means to assist young Orthodox Jewish families along with all the other members of the Jewish community struggling with housing payments, because as a community, we rely on each other’s help to survive. Whether the help comes in the form of parents or a wider Jewish community organisation, young Orthodox Jewish families will find it hard to make it on their own in Sydney without them, but together with the support of others, a solution will be found.

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12.0 Bibliography

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12.0 Bibliography 1. Abitbol, C. 2008 ‘Council rejects plans for eruv on North Shore’, Australian

Jewish News, October 17, pp.1, 4. 2. Beer, A. and Faulkner, D. 2008, ‘Demographic change and housing choice’,

Australian Planner, vol. 45, no.3, September 2008. 3. Brimicombe, A. 2007, ‘Ethnicity, religion, and residential segregation in London:

evidence from a computational typology of minority communities’, Environment

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13.0 Glossary

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13.0 Glossary Davening – Jewish Prayer Eruv – Boundary within which Jews can objects outside their homes and synagogues on the Jewish Sabbath Frum –Religious Jew Gemach – Jewish interest-free loan society

Kashrut/Kosher – Jewish dietary laws

Mikvah – Ritual Jewish Bath, usually from a natural source (e.g. rainwater or a spring) Shabbat – Jewish Sabbath, lasts from Friday night to Saturday night Shiur – Class on Jewish topics Shule – Synagogue Succot – Jewish Festival usually in October Torah – Five Books of Moses, written on a parchment scroll, the holiest of Jewish books Yeshiva/Yeshivot – Jewish Bible and other Jewish holy texts Seminary/ Seminaries

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14.0 Appendix A:

Questionnaire

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Questionnaire

Date: 10th September 2008 Project Title: Housing Stress and young orthodox Jewish families in Sydney Approval No.: 85062

FACULTY OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

• Only one questionnaire to be filled out per household

• Please write N/A for any non-applicable questions

• Young married couples and parents under 35 only need to fill out section

1

• Parents of young married couples under 25 are to fill out both sections,

filling out section 1 with their children in mind (e.g. write your child’s

number of years being married in section 1 question 1), however please

specify this in section two Section 1: Young married Orthodox Couples or young Orthodox parents

1. Are you currently married? If yes, please state the number of years that you have been married to your current spouse

2. Are you a parent? (If yes please specify your children’s ages)

3. Are you and/or your spouse currently employed? Please state your occupations

4. What is your age and your spouse’s age?

5. What suburb do you live in?

6. Do you own your own home or are you renting? Would you like this to change? How would you like it to change e.g. pay off mortgage etc?

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7. What percentage of your household’s earnings each year would you estimate you spend on housing (through home loan repayments, rent etc)?

8. What were the main factors in choosing your home? (please rank from number 1 – most important to 5 – least important)

a. Financial considerations b. Walking distance to Shules in general and other Jewish institutions c. Close to family and friends d. Quality of housing e. Proximity to work and other secular institutions

9. If you were not Jewish, where would you choose to live in Sydney? Why?

10. Did you find it difficult to find a home in the area you wanted given your own financial situation? Why?

11. Did you apply for loans from Jewish institutions? Were you successful? Why or why not?

12. Did you receive financial help from family and friends? Did this assistance help significantly? Please explain

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13. Did you receive non-financial help (such as free babysitting so that you could work) from family or friends? Please specify

14. Which Synagogue(s) do you currently attend?

15. Which school do your children attend?

16. Did you delay having children until you were more financially secure? Has your financial standing had a significant impact on your family’s size?

17. Have you had to cut back on any luxuries in order to keep up with housing payments? Please explain

18. Have you had to cut back on any luxuries in order to keep up with costs related to the Jewish community, for example Jewish school fees?

19. Has the rising cost of living impacted on your ability to observe Judaism without difficulty? If yes, which costs in particular are causing this? (e.g. rising rents, cost of kosher food, petrol etc)

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20. Which issues raised above require improvement? Do you have any suggestions as to how to go about fixing these problems?

Section 2: Parents of young married Orthodox couples

21. How many married children under 25 do you have?

22. Have you supported them financially when they were looking to buy/rent a house/apartment?

23. If yes, did this put a strain on your own financial resources? How did you manage, for example did you have to cut back on any luxuries?

24. How would you describe the current ability of young Jewish families to find an affordable home in the Sydney Jewish community? Why?

25. Was it as hard or easy to find a home when you were in the same position? If you are willing to participate in an interview, please leave your name and contact details below. Thank you for participating in this survey.

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14.1 Appendix B: Survey Information Letter

Study on the Impact of Housing Affordability on Young Orthodox Jewish

Families My name is Ben Wittenberg and I am currently writing my thesis for my Bachelor of Planning degree at UNSW. My topic deals with the impact of decreasing housing affordability on young orthodox Jewish families. Rising housing costs, together with the rising cost of Jewish living (eg Kosher food, Jewish school fees etc) are putting an increasing strain on young Jewish families. As part of my thesis I am undertaking a survey of members of the traditional Orthodox Jewish community in Sydney, who are either:

• Married and/or a parent aged up to 35

• Or the parent of a married child, where the child is currently aged 25 or younger

Through this survey, a clearer understanding of what young Orthodox Jewish families are experiencing, and how they are coping with it, whether through support from parents or by other means, is hoped to be achieved. Only one questionnaire per household is required, not for each individual. For those who choose to do so, a recorded interview will be conducted in order to further understand the issues, lasting approximately one hour. All identifying information will be kept strictly confidential. Please print and fill out the survey and either post to or drop off at 2 Lennox St, Bellevue Hill 2023. Please feel free to post or drop off the survey anonymously. If you would prefer, please call me on 0423 204 284 to arrange pick up. Alternatively, fill out the survey, save it on your computer and then email it to me as an attachment. My email address is ben_witt@hotmail.com. Please feel free to contact me if you have any other queries. I greatly appreciate your assistance in helping me conduct my survey. Benjamin Wittenberg