S. African immigrants form heart of Modi'in project

w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
By Cnaan Liphshiz
 
"If Dimri Towers is a monster, then it's a monster with a heart of gold." This defense of the heavily-Anglo housing colossus in central Modi'in flows unsolicited from the project's chief salesman at the mere mention of its architectural design. 
 

 
That's because Israel Meitav has been with the project long enough to sense where the conversation with Anglo File on Wednesday was heading. Since its 2002 inception, Dimri Towers have been called "Modi'in's ugliest building" by online news sites and forums. Built to resemble a Roman aqueduct, the towers are connected to each other along the top floor, rising against the incline of the hill they sit on. 
 
Despite the rants, this huge single-line housing project is a real-estate success. Dimri Towers currently consists of nine buildings with 455 apartments, almost all of which have been sold. The ninth building is scheduled to be ready for occupancy by December. 
 
Meitav says the golden heart lies in the towers' spacious, well-lit four- and five-room apartments. However, some flats display nasty cracks in the plaster despite having been built only a few years ago. 
 
Data from 2008 show 75 percent of the towers' English-speaking buyers are South African in origin. Ten percent are American, another ten percent are British and another five percent hail from Canada and northern Europe. Meitav says about 300 of the towers' 1,200 residents hail from English-speaking countries. 
 
Dora Green, a resident who immigrated to Israel from New York in 2002, concurs with the golden heart analogy. "I can't say I like the external design," she says, "but the apartments are really something." 
 
Like many other Anglos, they chose Dimri because of a special deal which the building company offered Telfed - the immigrant association representing southern Africans in Israel. With its lengthy experience in real-estate and housing initiatives, Telfed got a 12-percent discount with Dimri on all apartments. Some Anglos from other countries also jumped in on the deal. Dimri has since cut the Telfed discount to eight percent. 
 
"The South Africans are lovely people," Green says. "They've got a no-B.S. attitude which I personally like a lot and we clicked right away, much more than with the Brits." But Howard, her husband, says socializing in Dimri is mostly the domain of "younger people." 
 
Regardless, the retired couple are moving out of Dimri Towers because Howard developed lung problems since moving in, which they attribute to dust from nearby construction. Although they purchased their next home in Netanya, they have no plans to sell their Modi'in apartment, which has nearly doubled in value. Renting a five-room apartment in Dimri can cost about NIS 4,000 per month. Monthly maintenance fees (va'ad bayit) are a whopping NIS 300. 
 
Avril Stepsky, who immigrated to Israel in from London a few years ago, concurs that dust is indeed a problem. "Even if I dust all morning, by the afternoon I can write my name on the table with my finger," she says. A mother of three aged six to ten, it would take more than dust to send her packing. 
 
"In London we had to take the kids everywhere. Doorstep-to-doorstep supervision," she recalls. With no serious traffic or crime, she says she can let her kids play outside with the hundreds of other children who live in the buildings without having to worry. She says English speakers of all ages tend to befriend other English speakers at Dimri Towers. South African friends at Dimri in particular have had an interesting effect on her 10-year-old daughter Victoria's accent, Avril notes. 
 
'Mom, it's me!' 
 
She recalls one phone conversation which she thought she was having with the South African babysitter in a neighbor's home Victoria was visiting. "We spoke a bit, I asked if everything was alright with Victoria, and my daughter said: 'Mom, this is Victoria.'" 
 
Joe Stepsky, Avril's father-in-law, began one of Dimri's first Anglo social groups. He immigrated before his son Ze'ev, and set up a makeshift synagogue in Building 1, where Anglos come to pray and listen to religious lectures on weekends. The "Dimri Shul," as the unofficial congregation is called, gathers at the building's conference room. Joe Stepsky provides a Torah he keeps in his home. The sense of community has also led to marking holidays together: a toast at Rosh Hashanah, a costume party for the kids on Purim or doughnut tasting on Hanukah. 
 
"I've made some of the best friends of my life here in Dimri," says David Shantall, 77, who immigrated to Israel from South Africa with his wife, Teria, two years ago (see box). Shantall, a retired pharmacist, says that moving to Israel has been a dream for most of his adult life. 
 
David Shantall says the financial difficulties and worries involved with the move "terrified" him, and even cost him some of his health. Without the Telfed discount, he says, a hard thing would have been harder still. 
 
Although Dimri Towers - which stretches along an entire boulevard block - are near the main mall, the train station and the municipality building, the huge urban project is still bordered by hills dappled in wild flora and limestone outcrops. 
 
However, the area is earmarked for construction as Modi'in fills out. "Of course I'm going to miss all this," says Shantall, gesturing at the vegetation. "But people need homes. This city needs to grow."