Have you ever dreamed of being the king or queen of your very own castle? My friend Yankel always wanted a castle. He eventually found one in Scotland, between Edinburgh and Glasgow. He fixed it up and heads up to be king of the castle whenever he gets the chance. We had the privilege of visiting the castle for his daughter’s wedding, an incredible occasion, replete with knights in shining armor dancing the hora.
While Yankel paid a tidy sum for his castle, you could become king of your castle for just a dollar! Several Italian towns are offering homes and castles for a token sum to encourage economic activity in their locales. Urbanization has seen young people move to cities in search of greater employment opportunities. Meanwhile, the exodus of youth over a couple of generations has left homes previously in families for centuries in a state of disarray and disrepair.
The good news is that you don’t need to live in the castle year-round. You can use it as a vacation home. The only catch is that you must begin restoration work within twelve months of purchase, with the aim of stimulating the local economy with building projects and kickstarting a new phase of local employment and financial growth.
***
When someone harms his fellow man, the Torah requires him to make restitution from his finest property, so that the injured party will easily be able to sell it if he so chooses. Today’s daf explains why the “finest” requirement applies only to real estate, but not chattel (movable property).
רָמֵי לֵיהּ אַבָּיֵי לְרָבָא כְּתִיב מֵיטַב שָׂדֵהוּ וּמֵיטַב כַּרְמוֹ יְשַׁלֵּם מֵיטַב אִין מִידֵּי אַחֲרִינָא לָא וְהָתַנְיָא יָשִׁיב לְרַבּוֹת שָׁוֶה כֶּסֶף וַאֲפִילּוּ סוּבִּין
אָמַר רָבָא כֹּל דְּיָהֵיב לֵיהּ מִמֵּיטַב לִיתֵּיב לֵיהּ וְהָא מֵיטַב שָׂדֵהוּ כְּתִיב אֶלָּא כִּי אֲתָא רַב פָּפָּא וְרַב הוּנָא בְּרֵיהּ דְּרַב יְהוֹשֻׁעַ מִבֵּי רַב פָּרְשׁוּהָ כֹּל מִילֵּי מֵיטַב הוּא דְּאִי לָא מִזְדַּבַּן הָכָא מִזְדַּבַּן בְּמָתָא אַחֲרִיתִי לְבַר מֵאַרְעָא דְּלִיתֵּיב לֵיהּ מִמֵּיטַב כִּי הֵיכִי דְּלִקְפּוֹץ עֲלַהּ זָבוֹנָא
Abaye questioned Rava: It is written: “The finest of his field and of the finest of his vineyard he shall pay,” from his finest land, yes (he must make restitution), but not from any other (inferior property). But it was taught: “He shall recompense” serves to include any item worth money, even bran! Rava said: Whatever he gives as compensation must be of the finest of that item (e.g., the best bran). However, the verse states, “the finest of his field!” Rather, when Rav Papa and Rav Huna the son of Rav Yehoshua came from Rav’s academy, they explained it: All other items may be deemed the finest, for if an item cannot be sold here, it can be sold in another city. The exception is land, which he must give of his finest, so that a buyer will jump at the chance to purchase it.
Most items may be traded at a decent price provided you find the right market for the product. Real estate, however, is the exception. You can’t just pick it up, throw it onto a U-Haul, and sell it elsewhere. As the Italians can tell you, property is stuck. It doesn’t go anywhere.
Paradoxically, Orthodox Jewish communities face the inverse challenge of Italian towns. The hallmark of an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood is our proximity to one another. Not driving on Shabbos means that we must all live within walking distance to communal amenities, including a shul and a mikvah. However, as the Orthodox community—with our high birth rates—expands, this requirement to live nearby places a huge strain on the housing market. Real estate in Orthodox areas rarely depreciates, even during financial downturns. We can’t just pack up and move to a place that makes more sense financially. We need to stay close to “home.”
And maybe that’s built into our DNA as the Jewish people. While most faiths concentrate on other-worldly experiences, we are focused on the here and now. We are in this world to make a dwelling place for God in the physical realm. An essential tenet of our creed is our bond with the Land of Israel, a physical piece of property. No other religion is so tied to a physical real estate lot as Judaism is. And perhaps that explains the antagonism of so many in the world not just to our religion, but also to our homeland.
Let’s talk about some ways in which we can all do better when it comes to real estate concerns in the Jewish community. What can we do to ameliorate the burden on young families putting aside every last penny (they haven’t spent on yeshiva day school tuition) to buy a house in the eruv? For starters, landowners must never prey on them. Sadly, you hear all sorts of distressing stories. Like the one about the builder who’s able to outbid every young couple, he then fixes it up and hikes up the price before putting it back up for sale. Or the “investor” who buys up all the local homes to rent them out to would-be owners who are left with no availability of houses to purchase.
Part of living in a community means striving to help others, not make their lives miserable as they juggle three jobs just to make ends meet. Rabbi Dr. Dovid Katz teaches that the Torah’s “widow and orphan” are symbolic of those struggling in our societies. When the prophets berate the oppression of widows and orphans, we must heed their admonitions. Nobody’s saying you’re not entitled to make a profit, but there are myriad honorable ways to make money in real estate outside of the community. If you truly believe that Hashem provides your wealth, then you understand that you can’t change how much He will give you. But you can determine where that money will come from. Being a good Jew doesn’t only entail dedication to the letter of the law, but also sensitivity towards the spirit of the law.
How about real estate in the Holy Land? To a certain extent, Israel’s small-town challenges are not unlike other countries’ issues with the urbanizing shift. Simply put, the well-paid jobs are in the center, a cause for even greater concern in the Jewish state. Since its establishment, the government has offered various incentives to live in the north and south, seeking to ensure that all areas of the country are filled with a strong Jewish presence and majority. Nevertheless, the challenges continue.
One thing covid has taught us, however, is that you don’t need to live in the center to work in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Undoubtedly, companies feel that bringing their employees back to the office affords greater supervision and presumably that leads to greater productivity. But that’s not necessarily so for everyone. Some people accomplish much more when they’re removed from the office chatter. Certainly, meetings seem to take less time over Zoom! Now, imagine if companies inspired by Zionist values were to incentivize residency in the north and south for employees whom they could trust to work from home.
It might not be feasible to move the finest real estate. But there are certainly ways to refine our relationship with properties in various locales. May your property appreciation surpass mere monetary considerations!
Rabbi Dr. Daniel Friedman is the author of The Transformative Daf book series. He battles Christian antisemitism and teaches International Relations at Landers.
