Plan to Bring More Secular Families to Tzefas Brings More Chareidim

The municipality of Tzefas was hoping that a 1,500-home project overlooking Lake Teverya would attract secular families and shift the local demographics away from the chareidim. But it hasn’t been working out that way.

So far, most of the 133 who have registered for a lottery to purchase homes in the Mitzpe Yamim neighborhood are religious; 60 percent chareidi, 15 percent national-religious, according to a report in Globes on Monday.

City officials, who have been gearing the promotion campaign to the non-religious, are said to be disappointed, but an official statement played down the significance of the percentages that were disclosed:

“From the figures recorded by the Israel Land Authority and Ministry of Housing and Construction, it is clearly impossible to know the character of those bidding and the speculations and guesses of part of the desire by power groups to set a reality,” the municipality said.

“We will wait patiently for the results of the tender and in any event, it is important to keep things in proportion, for we are only talking about a small number of the housing units, which are part of a huge project of 1,500 homes in the first stage and 3,000 homes in the second stage.”

The municipality added, “The project is being aimed at and built for the traditional secular sector but if chareidi families choose to live there then that is their choice and full right.”

The Israel land Authority is scheduled to conduct a lottery for the homes in early December.