Kollel Hod () was a Jewish community-building organization composed of Jews who had emigrated from the Netherlands and Germany in the 19th century.

Background

In the Ottoman-controlled land of Palestine, particularly in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, there were many associations for Jews who had emigrated from abroad and wanted to maintain ties with their countries of origin. The '' kollels'' were mainly a conduit for distribution money from international benefactors who donated money to support Jewish immigration to the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...

. These organizations included the Kollel Hod of Holland and Germany, an organization representing the Jews of two countries who were exposed to much emancipation and social change during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, and were technologically further ahead than many Jews in Middle-eastern countries that had not yet caught up to the mechanical advancements of Western Europe.

Composition of membership

A majority of members in the kollel were typically younger, more educated immigrations who immigrated to Israel to help build Jewish settlements. Consequently, many of them were local leaders in directing resources to help fund construction and growth in their communities. Messengers on behalf of Kollel Hod raised funds in Germany and Holland, as well as in immigrant communities of the Jewish-German diaspora in England, the United States, and Australia. These funds helped the Kollel maintain an independent presence outside of reliance on international backers, as they had members who would fundraise for them. Members of the organization were typically respected by the local Turkish authorities and would assimilate in certain manners, such as dressing in traditional Turkish clothing. Prominent members include: * Moses Sachs (1800–1870) *

Nachman Nathan Coronel Nachman Nathan Coronel (; 1810 – 6 August 1890) was a Jerusalemite Jewish scholar. Biography Coronel was born in Amsterdam to a Sephardic father and Ashkenazic mother. His teacher was Rabbi Abraham Susan. In 1830 he emigrated to Safed, Palestin ...

(1810–1890) *

Azriel Hildesheimer Azriel Hildesheimer (also Esriel and Israel, ; 11 May 1820 – 12 June 1899) was a German rabbi and leader of Orthodox Judaism. He is regarded as a pioneering moderniser of Orthodox Judaism in Germany and as a founder of Modern Orthodox Judaism ...

(1820–1899)

History

The Kollel was founded in the 19th century, and grew to become the richest Jewish association in the Land of Israel, with more funding and members than the

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

settlement in the region. It grew further in the 1830s during the governance of Muhammed Ali Pasha. Although most of their efforts were focused in Jerusalem, they occasionally worked on projects in other cities, such as Petah Tivka. Members of Kollel were the first to revolt in 1837 against division orders for Sephardic and

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

Chasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those affi ...

and

Perushim The ''perushim'' () were Jewish disciples of the Vilna Gaon, Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, who left Lithuania at the beginning of the 19th century to settle in the Land of Israel, which was then part of Ottoman Syria. They were from the section o ...

communities in Jerusalem. They objected to the conservatism of philanthropists who demanded the separation and were generally against the mixing of various Jewish sects under fear that they would adopt modern philosophy conceived during

The Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a European intellectual and philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained through rationalism and empirici ...

. The Committee of Officials and Treasurers, who financed the majority of Ashkenazi projects in Jerusalem, often prevented Jews who received its money from going to certain secular businesses under worry that it would lead people astray of the teaching of the

Sages A sage (, ''sophós''), in classical philosophy, is someone who has attained wisdom. The term has also been used interchangeably with a 'good person' (, ''agathós''), and a 'virtuous person' (, ''spoudaîos''). Some of the earliest accounts of t ...

to ideals of the

Haskalah The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Wester ...

Activities

The organization was responsible for helping found and maintain many institutions for Jews in Israel including the Shaare Zedek Hospital and the Lämel School.

Batei Mahse

Their most notable contribution in Jerusalem, Kollel Hod also was responsible for raising funds to build the Batei Mahse, a rent-controlled apartment complex in the

Old City of Jerusalem The Old City of Jerusalem (; ) is a walled area in Jerusalem. In a tradition that may have begun with an 1840s British map of the city, the Old City is divided into four uneven quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Arm ...

for poor Jewish residents. Lots had been purchased in 1857. Because of nature of the organization, One third of the 100 apartments built were allocated to people of German and Dutch origin. Another third were also distributed to Jewish emigrants from

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. The complex's apartments were considered relatively spacious and luxuriant compared to the generally cramped living spaces within most parts of the

Jewish Quarter Jewish Quarter may refer to: *Jewish quarter (diaspora), areas of many cities and towns traditionally inhabited by Jews *Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem), one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem *Jewish Quarter (), a popular name ...

in the Old City.

References

{{Authority control, qid=Q7029667 History of the Jews in Europe Ottoman Palestine Old Yishuv Jewish organizations based in Israel Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem)