Open Letter From Shimshon Stock: Flipping Houses

My Dear Friends & Neighbors:

Please hear me out, don’t throw this away – I realize there are many papers arriving at your door daily nevertheless I ask PLEASE HEAR ME OUT?

Several people in this community have caused housing to skyrocket by FLIPPING real estate!! They buy houses from long time residents and flip the homes for astronomical profits. They compete with other members of the schunah for the sole purpose of flipping for a huge profit! Years ago when a friend or neighbor was looking for a house and we knew of one we were thrilled to pass on the information. Today unfortunately there are yungelight canvassing the neighborhood for available homes so they can FLIP for profits ranging from $50,000 to $380,000. Once ‘Mr. Roberts’ becomes aware of the price his new neighbor paid he will seek the same or more.

There is NO excuse for this shameful greed!

This is not like selling a container of milk for a higher price. This cannot be considered “regular business practice”.

Sukkah in the Storm

The sukkah, the fragile hut that gives the Sukkot holiday its name, could be the most ambivalent symbol in all of Jewish tradition. Custom dictates that we spend a week each fall dwelling — or at least taking meals — in a roofless shack, open to the heavens. It is, we are taught, a time to be at one with nature and its bounty. Then again, we are taught, it is also a reminder of our vulnerability to nature’s wrath.

The prayer book calls this holiday zman simchateinu, “the season of our joy.” But it is a joy tinged with sadness, even foreboding. The days grow shorter. The air has a wintry chill. In Israel, where the holiday originated, it marks the end of the summer drought and the onset of the rainy season. And so we sit in our sukkot, reveling in nature but waiting to be drenched, uncertain just how to feel.