The Voice of Lakewood: Kollel America Tiferes Yerushalayim

The American Charity of Rav Meir Ba’al Haness in Eretz Yisroel

The Kupas Tzedakah for Americans in Eretz Yisroel

One of the most hallowed traditions of tzedakah giving throughout the Jewish world over the past hundreds of years has been contributing to the nearest Rav Meir Ba’al Haness pushkah.

By donating to Kollel America – Rav Meir Ba’al Haness, one is not only supporting their friends and relatives in Eretz Yisroel but also doing so through a fund that was set up by the great gaon, Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin, zt”l, over 120 years ago.

Nearly every Yiddishe home and shul across Europe and Middle Eastern countries over the past few hundred years – going back to the time of the Rishonim – had a Rav Meir Ba’al Haness pushkah, whose monies supported acheinu Bnei Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel.

Each home had a pushkah in which mothers donated tzedakah before bentching licht each Shabbos, and this was the venue through which people donated money in times of need.

Indeed, many tefillos were composed by gedolim across the spectrum for people to recite when putting money in a Rav Meir Ba’al Haness pushkah.

This tzedakah was held in such high esteem that the Bais Yosef and the Alshich made a cherem that the money in the Rav Meir Ba’al Haness pushkah can’t be used for any other tzedakah (quoted by Rav Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev in a letter of support for Rav Meir Ba’al Haness).

As time went on, a system was implemented through which every region in Europe supported people who moved to Eretz Yisroel from their region.

Thus, the Hungarian Jews supported their landsleit who emigrated from Hungary (which helped build Battei Ungarin in Yerushalayim), and Russian Jews supported those coming from Russia.

Over thirty different Rav Meir Ba’al Haness tzedakahs were set up across Europe and the Middle East through this system.

Shluchim from Eretz Yisroel traveled to each area to collect the monies that were dispensed into the pushkah.

The gedolim stipulated that the tzedakah has a din of aniyei ircha, since the money is allocated to their former residents.

Indeed, Rav Chaim Volozhin signed a letter just days before his petirah stating that each area must contribute to the Rav Meir Ba’al Haness tzedakah of their area and that the tzedakah has a din of aniyei ircha.

The Pe’as Hashulchan – Rav Yisroel M’Shklov, the talmid of the Vilna Gaon who spearheaded talmidim of the Gaon moving to Eretz Yisroel – went a step further by declaring that Rav Meir Ba’al Haness tzedakah has a priority over aniyei ircha.

About 120 years ago, immigrants from America began moving to Eretz Yisroel. Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin started the Kollel America fund in the 1890s through which Rav Meir Ba’al Haness monies from America were earmarked directly to American immigrants.

Rav Yaakov Yosef, zt”l, the Chief Rabbi of New York at that time, affirmed Rav Yehoshua Leib’s signature on the letter, which bore his chasimah in support of the Kollel. Rav Yosef’s constant involvement throughout those years and his staunch support of Kollel America were critical in establishing the Kollel and providing the proper means of support for bnei Eretz Yisroel.

The Achva neighborhood in Yerushalayim was the address for Kollel America; the Kollel correspondence was addressed to Kollel America, Shechunas Achava, Yerushalayim. Kollel America funds helped build the Amerikaner Shul located across the street from the Achva shul, which was used for many years by talmidim of Rav Dovid Soloveithick.

About twelve years ago, a group of talmidei chachomim headed by Rav Yitzchok Sheiner, Rosh Yeshivas Kamenitz, and Rav Sholom Schechter, revamped Kollel America to meet the needs of the American immigrants of today, the most overlooked and neglected group in Eretz Yisroel.

“People assume that the ‘rich Amerikaner’ are taken care of by their parents and friends,” noted Rav Shimon Flohr, one of the representatives of Kollel America in the US. “But that’s not the case. Many Americans are feeling the pinch terribly.

They have no means of support from their family. Those wishing to find jobs – klei kodesh or other – find it difficult since they’re not part of the system.

The language barrier, cultural differences and not having extensive contacts with whom to network, all contribute to the difficulty for many to provide for their basic necessities.”

The Kollel is the only address to which American immigrants, consisting of yungeleit, maggidei shiur, ba’alei battim and anybody else – can turn for assistance. As long as either the husband or wife had lived in America, the Kollel is there to help them.

Kollel America is thus indeed a keren for those who may be familiar to us. The over 1200 families that turn to Kollel America for support can be the chavrusah we learned with in yeshiva who decided to live in Eretz Yisroel, the neighbor we lived next to if we ourselves lived there, or the people who would host us for Shabbos.

Some of the heart-wrenching stories that have come to the attention of the gabboim include bochurim begging their yeshivas not to have an off-Shabbos because there is nothing for them to eat at home; children leaving for cheder without breakfast and with empty lunch bags, who frequently stop at a neighbor’s home to plead for something to eat and take with them to school; decrepit apartments crammed with children, where mattresses or blankets are laid out in the dining room each night because there is nowhere else to sleep; mothers washing clothes every night because each child has only one set of clothes, which they wear seven days a week; and increasing numbers of children coming to hospitals with distended stomachs from undernourishment, by which time the damage is already done.

“These people literally don’t have bread to put on the table,” explains Rav Flohr. “It’s hard to imagine hearing about and seeing people living under such conditions in today’s world. They would be totally destitute if not for Kollel America. They turn to us, the bnei America, for assistance, as was traditional in Klal Yisroel for hundreds of years.”

The gabboim here in American, Rav Shmuel Yosef Gutfreund and Rav Leibel Zeilberger, together with their counterparts in Eretz Yisroel, Rav Sholom Schechter, Binyomin Friedler and Rav Aaron Shlomo Svei, personally review all the cases that come to their attention and try to help as many families as possible.

Rav Shimon Flohr galvanized the roshei yeshiva in the US to help raise money for Kollel America. Leading roshei yeshiva, such as Rav Simcha Schustal, Yoshev Rosh, Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rav Aharon Schechter, Rav Aryeh Malkiel Kotler, Rav Yitzchok Feigelstock, Rav Dovid Schustal, Rav Chaim Yehoshua Hoberman, and others have joined together to help acheinu Bnei Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel through Kollel America.

The fact that the money earmarked for Kollel America is collected “by Americans for Americans” enables it to have a din not only of aniyei Eretz Yisroel but of aniyei ircha, according to many poskim. Thus, having a Kollel America pushkah in one’s home and supporting Kollel America is one of the highest forms of tzedakah and is po’el yeshuos as promised by Rav Meir Ba’al Haness.

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