H eadlines
Pandemic Makes Moving a Bigger Hassle
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
BETSY MORGAN WANTS to
move to Israel in late February
or early March, but has had
trouble finding someone
to sublet her Center City
apartment. She’s posted ads in Facebook
housing groups but there’s been
little interest. Her landlord said
she would get about 20 inqui-
ries a week on Zillow when
renting the place before the
pandemic, but now she’s lucky
to hear from even one person.

Moving is stressful during
the best of times. And a global
pandemic throws a whole
new set of challenges at those
aiming to put down roots
somewhere else. An interna-
tional move like Morgan’s is
a complicated process, but
even local moves are fraught
due to lack of in-person tours
and the need to manage social
distancing with movers.

Sisters Victoria and Sarah
Alfred-Levow returned to
their mother’s house on the
Main Line when their college
classes went virtual. After a few
months, they knew it was time
to find a place of their own.

“We decided to move to East
Falls because it kind of fits that
bill of being close enough to
visit, but far enough away that
it actually felt like a new start,”
Victoria Alfred-Levow said.

Much of the apartment
search took place online, but
they were able to arrange an
in-person tour of their favorite
place before signing a lease.

After settling on a September
move-in date, the siblings hired
movers. Having strangers in
their house was surreal after
many months of isolation, even
though everyone wore masks.

They were also concerned
that their landlord wanted to
send a handyman to fix some
maintenance issues in the new
apartment. “It felt so stressful just
knowing, ‘Oh my gosh, am I
going to have to worry about
a stranger breathing in my
house?’” Victoria Alfred-
Levow said.

Rebecca Rendsburg and her
husband David eyed a move to
Philadelphia from New York
for years before the pandemic,
but new restrictions threw
their plans into question.

David Rendsburg’s mother
lives in Lower Merion, and
he attended Akiba Hebrew
Academy (now Jack M. Barrack
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H eadlines
It’s so weird to walk around the neighborhood, get that exercise and see the amazing
architecture, and know I’m still very much on the outside of this community.”
VICTORIA ALFRED-LEVOW
The Rendsburg family 
Courtesy of Rebecca Rendsburg
Hebrew Academy) and the
University of Pennsylvania.

The couple visited Philadelphia
often. Rebecca Rendsburg was
struck by the city’s history and
manageable pace.

“I really fell in love with the
smallness of this city. There was
an intimacy to it. There were
neighborhoods that felt like
little communities,” she said.

She and her husband
loved New York, but needed a
larger space to raise their two
children and a more cost-ef-
fective lifestyle in order to
send them to Jewish day school
while saving for retirement.

“We can do that in
Philadelphia. We did not feel
like we could do that in New
York City,” she said.

Their housing search was
complicated by their inability
to view places in person.

“We spent March and
April into early May looking
at houses and virtually never
getting a chance to actually go
in to see the house, so the house
we bought, we did not step
foot in until the last week of
July, until we moved, basically,”
she said.

The Rendsburgs moved to
the Hawthorne neighborhood
in August and joined the South
Philadelphia Shtiebel. Rebecca
Rendsburg spent the summer
doing outdoor activities like
hikes and gardening with her
new community.

“It was a really lovely experi-
ence,” she said. “But then things
had to shut down in November
with the uptick of infection
around Thanksgiving, and so
that was a loss for us. Trying to
connect and meet new people
and be a part of a new commu-
nity while you can’t actually
see people in person has been a
challenge.” Victoria
Alfred-Levow continues to attend virtual
services, but misses getting to
know her new neighbors.

“It’s so weird to walk around
the neighborhood, get that
exercise and see the amazing
architecture, and know I’m still
very much on the outside of
this community,” she said.

Aside from the sublet
struggle, Morgan is excited to
join her partner in Haifa. Her
two siblings live in Jerusalem,
and her mother plans to move
to Israel in the near future.

Morgan, who grew up in
Yardley and attended Drexel
University, said she would
miss the city’s walkability and
community feel. She spent the
past few weeks saying goodbye
to her friends and loved ones
from a distance and enjoying
the snow.

“It’s been a bit of a hassle to
drive in, but it is very beautiful,
and I have been trying to take
it in since I won’t see this much
snow for a very long time,” she
said. l
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