Learning from an Apartment in Jerusalem

Our family - kids, parents and grandparents - recently spent the week of Hannukah together in Jerusalem.

We rented an apartment and boy, did I learn alot about house building from that experience.  

The apartment was lovely and in a great location. But it included a number of things that were (ahem) less than ideal for real life:

i) Too many light switches. This might seem impossible. But I assure you, in a large open room there is no need for three switch panels each with 4-6 switches on it. It is not only unnecessary, but downright confusing to have three different switches for the dining area in a single room.


ii) Be very careful with the placement of a switch that turns out all the lights in the place. Can be very annoying when one person is up reading in the salon and another hits the switch from the bedroom. Sudden plunge into total darkness.  
 

iii) Polished stone floors are pretty but cold and very slippery. Imagine 5 kids playing at skating. Constantly.

iv) I'm sure that a glassed in en-suite bathroom seemed like a good idea. But really, the glass needs to be frosted or something. Way too intimate. Enough said.

v) Electric curtains. Why?


vi) Electric blinds. See note above on electric curtains.

Oh, I'm sure there's more. Plus we got a lot of positive inspiration as well. But that's for another post...

And yes, we had a fabulous time in the holy city.

Be a Part of It - Help to Build a Home in Israel

Permits - Stage One

One important if dull part of the house-building process is getting permits from various authorities.

The first level is from within the yishuv itself. We have our own "permit committee" (how bureaucratic that sounds!). They want to make sure that the house fits within the parameters the yishuv has set.

Some communities allow residents to build however they want. I've visited places like those, and they can be a real trip. All kinds of radically different houses. I would imagine that some people live in places like that precisely for the opportunity to build a special "dream house".


Our community is more "community-minded" and has established rules to make sure that there is a degree of uniformity in the houses. There are restrictions on size, on shape and color of roof, on sizes of windows, finishing color, etc. The effect is pleasant - a significant degree of individualism with a sense that all these families live in community together.

So the yishuv's permit committee's job is make sure that the plans are part of that vision.

It turns out that we haven't yet passed. We are missing two things. Our plans forgot to indicate where our water heater will go (i.e. make sure it's not on the roof, says the yishuv). We are also missing a clear indication of something built to conceal our hanging laundry, which is fair enough since I can't imagine the neighbors need to see our wet clothes when they look our their window.

All in all, this is *great* news. These are simple things for the architect to deal with.

Phew.
We'll resubmit to the yishuv permits committee.
Next, the municipality (I think.)

Are you Building Too?

If you are looking for a great architect in Israel, Yitzchak Shapira from Moshav Hazorim near Tiberias has been a pleasure to work with. Totally professional, very friendly. Speaks English. I would highly recommend him.

I'll Sign On That

This morning we had a long meeting, and finally signed a contractor with a building supervisor.

We're hoping that Eli will help to shepherd us through the process, and do some of the critical inspection work and oversight that we don't have the skills to manage ourselves.

It was a pretty regular meeting in which a contract gets signed. Very technical, a tad dull. Clarifying paragraphs, dealing with "what ifs", discussing grades of concrete blocks.
Very blah blah blah.

But when the contract was signed, I found myself suddenly overcome. 
This was so huge. Only a few words would be perfect.

I turned to Eli and to my husband and wished them one of the brightest blessings we Jews have:
Tizku l'mitzvot.

May you merit to do more of what God requires of you. 

Now this is a powerful statement indeed.

First, it asserts that what we are doing now is a mitzvah, as we begin building a Jewish home in the land of Israel. 

Second, it insists that the true reward for doing what God wants of us, is the opportunity and strength and means to do *more* of what God wants of us.

May it be your will.

It Takes a Village

We've heard from several friends who have jumped in with their help - in prayer, with advice, in words of encouragement and by "chipping in" to our "mitzvah" - our project to fulfill the commandment to settle the land of Israel. It means so much to us, and we feel strengthened.

It takes a village to raise a house. Join us!

Windows

We need to make some tough decisions about windows.

I was a major window freak until I looked at the budget. 

On the one hand they bring in the beautiful view of the land of Israel, and the clear breeze of our Galilee hilltop.

On the other hand, they are terrifically expensive. 


As someone told me once, first you build a house to protect yourself from the outside. Then you put in windows to allow the outside in. Then you have to cover the windows to control how the outside comes in. Oy.


Shabbat shalom!