Kolel Chibas Yerushalayim

Kolel Chibas Jerusalem (Hebrew: כולל חיבת ירושלים‎‎), one of the numerous charities known as Charity of Rabbi Meyer Ba'al Ha-Nes — named after the great 2nd century Jewish sage Rabbi Meir — is a large charitable organization based in Jerusalem's Meah Shearim neighbourhood and which supports Jews who have emigrated to the Holy Land from Galicia, a region spanning southeastern Poland and western Ukraine.

The organization was established in 1830 by Jews from Galicia, Austrian Empire, to support full-time Torah students of the Yishuv haYashan.

From the outset, the organization received wide support in the Galician Jewish community, with the rabbis of Sanz, Ropshitz, Dinov, and Belz actively involved in fundraising. Small charity boxes were distributed to many Jewish homes. Families would donate however much they could, even it were only a few coins. A few times a year a local representative gabbai would make the rounds from house to house to collect the money and make a list of the donors in Hebrew. The money and lists were sent to Eretz Israel where receipts were issued. Once a year, at the start of the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah, the kolel in Jerusalem would send the receipts to the gabbai of each city and Shtetl with small calendars called a luach. These calendars had the Hebrew dates and the secular date, the holidays and the exact time when the Shabbos and holidays began and ended. Each gabbai would in turn distribute them in their own town. The position of gabbai for Reb Meir Baal Haness was a position that was highly respected and was passed on from father to son. Galician Jews relate that the collection was taken so seriously that many collectors would dress in their Shabbos clothing when performing work for the charity.

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