VIRTUAL JEWISH MUSEUM

The term 'Kollel' (plural Kollelim) refers to religious Jewish communities in Eretz Yisrael, primarily Jerusalem, who organized for the welfare and support of their constituents.  Jews had been there for centuries -  Sepharadim since Expulsion from Spain, Hassidim since 1777, Perushim since 1808 -  the communities became more formalized in the 18th century.  They were organized by countries of origin and eventually by Sepharadim and Ashkenazim and even Hassidim, Perushim, and those from Germanic countries.  A longstanding tradition in the Diaspora of sending funds to the Holy Land to support scholars and the poor was formalized in the 1800s with the 'Halukah' - Distribution - of these funds to the various Kollelim.  The communities also began to send Emissaries ('Shlichim/Shadorim') to various foreign lands to collect funds.  Not surprisingly, there was friction and controversy over distribution and entitlement which led to fragmentation.  On the eve of WWI, there were more than 2 dozen Ashkenazic Kollelim in Jerusalem. By the 20th century, these organizations gradually became charitable societies, some of which continue to this day.