In the modern construction world, super-premium residential and hotel projects showcase an advanced technological front, including smart systems, digital entry controls, and automatic sensors at every corner.
However, for the ultra-Orthodox public and observant residents abroad, this innovation poses a complex challenge: how to enjoy the highest standard of living, while meticulously, elegantly, and uncompromisingly maintaining the walls of Halacha and Shabbat.
The answer to this is currently being given in the flagship project "The Blue Cliff" being built in Netanya by the leading construction company Ken HaTor.
While most apartment buyers are considering the sea view, the technical specifications, and the strategic location, the company is already thinking about Shabbat and holidays, through a unique and close collaboration with the 'Scientific and Technological Institute for Halacha', headed by the eminent Rabbi Avraham Moshe Halperin.
The Scientific and Technological Institute for Halacha explains that the prevalent perception that halachic compliance in buildings amounts to installing a fancy Shabbat elevator has long been irrelevant to the current era. As structural engineering advances, almost every day-to-day system in a smart building includes electronic components, computerized controllers, and volume detectors that raise weighty halachic questions.
The new project maps and offers early engineering solutions for a long line of systems:
Water pressure and sewage systems: In high-rise buildings, every time a tap is opened in an apartment, it may directly or indirectly activate electric pumps responsible for regulating the pressure in the building.
Smart garbage disposal: Modern systems incorporate sensors and automatic control mechanisms that require careful adjustment for use on Shabbat.
Lighting and access control: Lobbies, stairwells, and public areas are currently based on motion detectors and presence sensors that turn on lights and cameras when residents pass by.
Integrating Halacha experts and consultants from the initial planning stage on the drawing board not only allows for the highest level of sophistication "from the start", but also prevents improvised solutions in retrospect and results in enormous financial savings in implementation costs.
The "Blue Cliff" project is planned as a luxury complex that combines exclusive residential units alongside luxury hotel services. It is intended, among other things, for expatriates from Jewish communities around the world, who seek to combine an exceptional quality of life with meticulous halachic solutions.
Alongside the infrastructure solutions, the complex will contain leisure and spa complexes, a luxurious swimming pool designed with utmost care for aspects of privacy and modesty that are consistent with the values of the Jewish home, and alongside them a magnificent synagogue and an elegant purification bath, both of which are systematically supervised and monitored from the ground up.
The approach leading the project reflects a broad professional concept, according to which construction intended for an observant public requires a true and in-depth familiarity with the lifestyle and unique sensitivities of its residents.
Tomer Levin, project manager for Ken HaTor, summarizes the strategic vision: "In every complex project, we are required to study in depth the unique needs of the target audience. Just as in hospitals, public institutions or stadiums there are specific standards, requirements and engineering adjustments, so too in construction intended for the Haredi public and residents abroad. In order to provide the right and best product, we are committed to understanding the lifestyle, thinking about the smallest details and integrating the leading professionals and first-rate Halacha experts from day one. This is our professionalism.".
Ultimately, the historic collaboration between the engineers, entrepreneurs, and the rabbis of the Scientific and Technological Institute of Halacha proves that technological progress and international prestige can go hand in hand with complete adherence to the tradition of generations and the grammar of Halacha – long before the first tenant receives the key to their home.
""It is important to emphasize that the manner of addressing the Haredi public also requires sensitivity and understanding of the community. Beyond presenting project data, technical specifications, or planning advantages, it is important to create a reliable, accurate, and respectful discourse that explains how the planning provides a real response to the lifestyle of the observant family. In this sense, marketing is not disconnected from planning, but rather relies on it. The more precise the product is in terms of planning, operation, and halakhic law, the more it can be presented to the public in a more factual and clear manner.".
“For us, adapting to the Haredi public begins long before the marketing stage,” says Guy Yoshua, VP of Marketing and Sales at Ken Hator. “Through proper planning, close cooperation with the Scientific and Technological Institute of Halacha, and genuine listening to the needs that arise from the field and from buyers, we can refine the product to a high level, so that it will suit not only the halachic requirements, but also the lifestyle, expectations, and dreams of the residents.”.
