When he began a career in commercial real estate almost two decades ago, Elli Klapper and his father had a talk. They come from a family of modern Orthodox Jews, but Klapper’s dad urged his son not to wear a yarmulke to the office. The elder Klapper, who worked for the city of New York, worried that wearing a yarmulke could hurt his son's career, causing him to become a target of discrimination.
Klapper decided to wear it anyway. “I said, ‘Abba, that was your generation,’” recalls Klapper, who was raised in Queens and now works with investment properties in Teaneck, New Jersey. “We don't have these problems that you did.’ And I was wrong. I was wrong.” Now, 18 years later, he understands where his father was coming from. Klapper says he constantly experiences antisemitism in his business. He can’t quantify the number of times he’s been told to stop “jewing” people down when negotiating. Recently, he brought a real estate client to view a large property owned by an Orthodox Jew. At the end of the meeting, in the company of Klapper and four other people, the client asked a question. “He said, ‘So, if I want to buy a piece of real estate here, I'm going to have to deal with Jews, right?’ I didn't understand what he meant,” Klapper says. “I’m like, ‘Uh, I don't—these are really good guys—we could try to cut a deal.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, but, you know, is there any way I don't have to deal with any Jews?’”
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