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Kollel


A kolel or kollel (Hebrew: כולל‎, pl. כוללים‎, kollelim, a "gathering" or "collection" [of scholars]) is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning sedarim (sessions); unlike a yeshiva, the student body of a kollel consists of married men for the most part. A Kollel generally pays a regular monthly stipend to its members.

Originally, the word was used in the sense of "community". Each new group of Jews, who came from various European countries to settle in Israel, established their own separate community with their own support system. Each community was referred to as the kollel of ... to identify the specific community of the Old Yishuv. The overwhelming majority of these Jews were scholars, who left their homelands to devote themselves to study Torah and serve God for the rest of their lives. The kollel was the umbrella organization for all their needs.

The first examples were Kolel Perushim consisting of the students of the Vilna Gaon who established the first Ashkenazi Jewish settlement in Jerusalem, and Colel Chabad for the Russian Hasidim. The Polish Jews were divided into many kollelim; Kolel Polen(Poland) headed by Rabbi Chaim Elozor Wax; Kolel Vilna Zamość was under different leadership; and the Galicians were incorporated under Kolel Chibas Yerushalayim. The last initially included the entire Austro-Hungarian Kingdom, but as each subparty looking for more courteous distribution, the Hungarians separated into Kolel Shomrei HaChomos.


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