Belz Lakewood, is this true?

amother

↑ Seagreen ↓

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 9:12 am

amother OP wrote:

If you were going to give, you should give. You shouldn't be making their cheshbonos.

And, please dont make chesbonos about me. As I stated we are struggling right now. I was going to give because I felt it was a achrayis. But, for the reasons stated above I didnt feel like I need to stretch myself. I need to do what I feel is right for me and my family.
Not ONE of theyre mosdos shul... are in trailers. Soo many shuls chedarim and schls are in trailers for yrs. If they cld fund for that Im sure if its imp enuf to raise money for the girls to start they wld figure it out. They didnt know this in June, July?

amother

↑ OP ↓

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 9:22 am

amother Seagreen wrote:

I'm not making cheshbonos about you. You said you were going to give. So you either think it's a good cause, or not. When giving tzedaka, we're not supposed to make calculations. You can either give or not.

amother

Antiquewhite

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 9:25 am

amother OP wrote:

Are you a parent in the school?

amother

↑ Seagreen

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 10:24 am

amother OP wrote:

Sorry, but when I give tzedaka I could give where I feel comfortable giving to. Exa. If, I know there is a tzedaka org that someone pockets a lot of the money. I dont need to give.
Im not sure why Im even explaining myself.

amother

Jasmine ↓

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 10:58 am

amother Seagreen wrote:

If you can't give, don't give, but just know that they really don't have. They mortgaged and borrowed every bit of equity possible so that they shouldn't have to come to making this campaign. At this point there is no money and no credit anymore. The cheder building was given to Belz as a one-time donation, and the shul buildings were built by the developers of the Belz developments. (Each development has their own little development shul. The big one is of two developments together.) Obviously, the developer passed that cost on to the buyers of the houses, but when buying a house, another $10k into the mortgage isn't a big deal.
The Belz Lakewood community is comprised of people who couldn't afford to live anywhere else. Not rich people. Belz in general is not a rich chassidus, but either way, each community is in charge of their own finances, so if you donate to Belz in Eretz Yisrael, that money doesn't make it to Lakewood.

amother

↑ Jasmine ↓

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 11:03 am

summer0808 wrote:

So fine. no UMAN how many men are going to Israel? for that there are funds? and how many times a year do they got israel to the rebbe?

the rebbe just made a takana about apt rental prices for RH as per another thread today. Does he know about this? (According to the Belzers he most definitely does Vhameiven yavin) All he has to do is TELL people and they do it.

This was a stunt to get people to cough up money, both the tuition payers and the big donors.

(Satmar too, that's why orientation is only today) Looks like Satmar's stunt worked.

I don't know what you're talking about. Belz men (men only) who do go to EY (and not that many go) go only for Rosh Hashanah. Once a year. That takanah was for people who are coming from other cities in Israel.
Of course, he knows about this. And if you click on the campaign page, you can read the letter he sent. charidy.com/belzlakewood
This is no stunt. There are no big donors.
And comparing Satmar to Belz makes no sense because Satmar does have many rich people (maybe not in Lakewood, but they have people to ask), Belz doesn't.

amother

↑ Opal

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 12:17 pm

amother Jasmine wrote:

The belz Lakewood community is compromised by single income households in an economy that needs two working parents. They are not rich, but living a comfortable life for a single income home. It's a chosen lifestyle, so their charity collecting for their school is a little misleading. They only took action, closing the school when the teachers and rebbeim refuse to come back because they were owed so much. Parents knew that the staff wasn't paid buy they weren't budgeting.

amother

↑ Jasmine

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 12:43 pm

amother Opal wrote:

I'm a Belz parent in a two income household. Not rich and not even comfortable. They closed the school when they couldn't pay the teachers, not because they refused to come back but because they are honest and didn't feel like it's fair. I know plenty teachers in different schools who didn't get paid in many months but the school is still open and the teachers are upset but can't do anything about it.
And it's not true that the parents knew that the teachers weren't being paid. We just found out now at the end of the summer. They were trying very hard to make it work, but unfortunately, the economy is terrible, and that's why they're asking for help.
As a parent who pays tuition and tries her best, I'm begging whoever can to please donate! Our kids need a school and it's so hard, especially for the working mothers. Thanks to those who give without making cheshbonos or disparaging a whole community. We appreciate your support.

↑ GLUE ↓

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 12:53 pm

One more thing,
I don't know how communal buildings are mortgaged, my husband tried to explain it to me and it went right over my head.
One thing that stuck was every few years the mortgage Co. adjust on how much a communal building pays interest.
My husband was saying many places the mortgage Co. just raised the interest rate so many places are now struggling to pay.

amother

Mulberry

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 1:05 pm

GLUE wrote:

Let me try to explain this in simple terms. Commercial mortgages are for only five years. Afterward they need a new one. Five years ago when many schools took out mortgages the interest rates were much lower than they are today. Today when they have to redo the mortgage their interest rate and payment are much higher. Say a school took a 4 million dollar mortgage five years ago. Today their refinanced interest on that mortgage is probably about $150,000 more than they were paying last year when they had the old one. This is badly hurting a lot of schools

↑ GLUE

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 2:29 pm

amother Mulberry wrote:

Thank you it makes a lot of sense.

amother

↑ Banana ↓

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 3:25 pm

amother Jasmine wrote:

You are very kind for explaining all this, but her mind is made up (based on whatever she happens to see, and that is of course never the entire picture).

And hey, no judgment. NO ONE is ever obligated to give their money to any institution!

(But when someone makes financial cheshbonos of which one knows nothing about in an effort to "defend" (to who? Who cares?) their decision not to give, it leads me to beleive they weren't ever going to give in the first place).

amother

Royalblue

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 3:38 pm

I have friendly relationships with women in the Belz community in Lakewood through my business.

It seems like quite a wealthy community to me, based on buying habits, expensive clothes worn by the women and their kids, vacation descriptions, leisure activities of the woman (regular lunch groups at pricey restaurants, hobbies), most of whom don't work. Over the years I've gathered that culturally , it's normal for the men travel alone- to Israel, to Europe - several times a year.

This is not my community, and I'm sure running a school is super expensive, but it does seem that at least some of the problem is a question of priorities.

amother

↑ Banana ↓

Fri, Sep 13 2024, 3:50 pm

amother Royalblue wrote:

What you are describing isn't exclusive to the belz community. It is rampant everywhere.

We need to normalize supporting our schools before spending money on designer things, trips, restaurants hobbies...

This won't happen today or tomorrow - but please don't think it's ONLY happening within the belz community. This is part of the culture everywhere.

I know you mentioned this here in this thread because it's about the belz school, but it would be unfair and foolish to paint it as a issue effecting belz only.