The next Sukkot holiday upon us will positively diversify the sequence of Israeli holidays that we are used to in the Jewish calendar. No more strange foods and heritage stories that are passed down from generation to generation, but also an actual imperative, which influences, among other things, the choice of where to live. Israel’s 2022 housing crisis is not only expressed in the search for an apartment, and in the background conversations we conducted it became clear that many families are looking for a solution for a week in the month of Tishrei. “You shall dwell in the Sukkah for seven days”, so it is written in the book of Leviticus, and since then every Jew and every Jewess in the land or in the Diaspora has been troubling themselves with the question of where to build a Sukkah.
The sukkah balconies that were invented in the last century were a wonderful solution. A building where the balconies were built in a staggered fashion, so that one is not above the other, and each apartment has a balcony under the sky, one that allows for the construction of a sukkah in accordance with Halacha. Some tenants still go down to the parking lot or go up to the roof, but the vast majority would be content with the sukkah balcony. The construction crisis of recent years has made the buildings taller, and high-rise towers diversify the landscape in any random city in Israel. Will the sukkah balconies still be part of those towers?
Straight balconies that do not allow the construction of a kosher sukkah according to law Photo: shutterstock
Sukkah balconies remained in religious and poorer areas
Attorney Shir Al-Shepari, from the Arim and Real Estate brand, presents a gloomy future regarding the matter and in a conversation with Kipa News, she states that the common appearance of a terraced building for sukkah balconies will fade over the years, as it is not possible in high-rise luxury towers, and beyond that, The public is no longer interested in that. “Nowadays, contractors who build sukkah balconies do so in concentrations for a more pious religious population and a middle and lower socio-economic status, such as in Beit Shemesh or Petah Tikva.”
According to an analysis by the Al-Sabri attorney, the need for sukkah balconies has dimmed in recent years. In any religious neighborhood or city with a high population concentration of kippah wearers, you could see buildings with sukkah balconies and tiered floors that make this possible,” she explains, adding that this is also how the buildings were marketed, and the sukkah balcony was an integral part of persuading the buyer.
Attorney Shir Al-Shepari | Photo: Abigail Uzi
The book describes a broader phenomenon that affected the national religious sector, which affected, among other things, that week in which the Jews migrated to a temporary structure. “In the last decade, a significant part of the national religious population as well as the ultra-orthodox from the upper Mayon and the upper Alfion moved to luxury towers.” According to her, those people no longer need a sukkah balcony.
Families won’t miss out on a luxury project because of one week a year
“Such families close the house on the holidays, especially during the three pilgrimages, and go to a hotel for a week, so the need for a balcony for the sukkah becomes unnecessary. Women who have reached a certain financial status allow themselves the holiday during Passover and Sukkot for reasons of convenience, and the cost in a hotel can equal the cost of family accommodation at home. Which involves spending thousands of shekels during the holidays.” These families will not miss out on a luxury residential project due to the lack of such a balcony, and thus the demand for the possibility of a sukkah in the residential apartment is diminishing. By the way, in a penthouse, for example, or in a garden apartment, building a sukkah is absolutely possible.
Up to what height is it permissible to build a sukkah balcony?
Attorney Al-Sabri explains that this is not a matter of permits or planning, but of demand. In most luxury buildings, there is no demand or need for this particular balcony, because the audience, including the religious audience, simply does not need it. Anything that has a demand generates a delta price, meaning expensive more, usually by two percent.
What about a joint sukkah?
Take for example one of the cities most identified with the national religious sector, Givat Shmuel. There, six-room apartments are sold at a cost of three million shekels. These are particularly luxurious apartments in high-rise luxury buildings, but without a sukkah balcony, because there is simply no need. Shared arbors of the committee or the building management are certainly possible, but this is no longer related to the design of the building.
A common sukkah still exists Photo: shutterstock
According to her, the format of a shared sukkah in buildings still exists. “Even if you go to a hotel or to family members for the holiday and Shabbat, there are still one or two nights when you return home during the holiday weekdays, and then the need for a shared sukkah definitely exists. Even in secular neighborhoods such as Shikon L and Tel Baruch North in Tel Aviv, you can find a shared sukkah belonging to the Vaad, Also for educational reasons to preserve the tradition.”
Another interesting reason presented by the book for the decrease in demand for sukkah balconies is actually related to the decrease in the level of religious piety of some members of the sector. “Only the men are obligated to observe the sukkah mitzvot, and the older generation, for whom the matter was important in the past, is no longer included among the housing improvers.”
The tenants condition their consent to eviction and construction in exchange for a sukkah balcony
As far as sukkah balconies are concerned, Aviv Hait, CEO of Donam Real Estate and Finance, explains that this is a growing demand in the religious areas in the last decade, especially since construction evacuation projects began. “The practice in the past was that up to eight stories there is no obligation to build a sukkah balcony, because the tenants can go down to the yard or go up to the roof. With the housing crisis, building to a height also reached the religious community.” He further explains that the contractors who build high-rises know that if they want to attract a religious crowd, they should invest in sukkah balconies, and also Shabbat elevators of course. And it is definitely an investment. “It increases costs and these balconies, which are tiered, will be significantly smaller than normal balconies that are built on top of each other.”
Aviv Hait, owner and CEO of Dunam Real Estate and Finance Photo: Moshe Maoz
Is there a limit to building tiered balconies up to a certain height?
There is no reference to the subject of tiered balconies in the local building committees’ regulations, and the contractor is not obligated to do so. From a technical point of view, there is no limit to the matter and it is possible to build sukkah balconies even on the higher floors.
The demand has increased to such an extent that smart residents have already learned to leverage it for their needs. Haight demonstrates that in a recent eviction project he carried out in the Neve Shanan neighborhood in Haifa, an area that is mostly considered religious, the tenants gave their consent only on the condition that the new buildings would indeed have tiered sukkah balconies, even though until now they had managed without it. “In the past, there were no high-rise buildings in the religious areas, and the tenants were content with a large sukkah in the yard or on the roof. Over the years, and with the housing crisis, the contractors in the religious areas are already building taller.”
Smart residents condition their consent Photo: Gershon Elinson/Flash90
Prefer a sukkah balcony but try other solutions
Ronan Weil, the vice president of marketing of the Bamona company, presents an incredibly gray forecast regarding the construction of Sukkah balconies and simply states that a problem is expected, even though this is definitely his preferred solution. “We are constantly trying to produce solutions for Sukkah balconies, not necessarily in the designated or defined areas As such of the national religious public.” For him, this is an ideological intention, “perhaps in the future even those who are not currently interested in this will want to build a sukkah.”
Is there a limit to building sukkah balconies in high-rise buildings?
Definitely. It is impossible to build terraced balconies in a building that exceeds ten floors. It’s not even a technical matter, it’s just not possible. It’s like sewing the pocket of the garment right behind the shirt. The front of the building is in front and cannot be split into the back of the building. Even a solution of a tiny 60 cm sukkah balcony is no longer relevant, these things no longer work. By the way, architects hate it, because the appearance makes the building ugly.
In the future, the hotels will make a lot of money during the Tishrei holidays
So what are we going to do?
We have a solution that we are working on but it is not happening in practice yet. We are interested in creating a place where the audience can set up a cooperative sukkah. That is, even during the planning to allocate public space for a shared and spacious sukkah. Vail mentions that despite the distress and the lack of a visible solution, it is still only one week a year. “In the post-corona era, people are looking for a balcony with an apartment and not necessarily an apartment with a balcony, certainly not a sukkah balcony.” For them, these are just a few days out of a lifetime, so they would prefer to find other solutions. As for the future, the prediction of VP Baamona is not far from the reality. “As long as they continue to build tall buildings, we are in trouble, and we will be limited in building sukkah balconies. The hotels will make a lot of money during the Tishrei holidays.”
Tiered balconies will not be allowed in high-rise buildings Photo: Baamona Company
In less than a month, the citizens of Israel will go to the polls again, “to ensure a better future for their children”, as we are promised in the election posters. However, the future, even with such a simple and joyful mitzvah of building a sukkah, is shrouded in fog. What will the tenants who live in high-rise buildings who cannot afford a week in a hotel do? Will it still pay off for contractors to invest in the construction of tiered and more expensive balconies even for a smaller number of conservative citizens? And maybe we will soon see an innovative project of the government, “Sukkah at a discount”. One thing is certain, the appearance of lit Sukkots on the eve of Asif on the streets of cities and towns has long been uncertain. If we were Shlomit who builds a sukkah, we would have long ago looked for another profession.