At Tiberias
A section of the hasidim from South Russia settled in Tiberias. Their leader was Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk, who sent a meshullah regularly to Poland and Volhynia, and in a businesslike manner rendered receipts for past donations signed by the leaders in Tiberias, with requests for further assistance. Contributions poured in, and the only difficulty experienced by the meshullah was the safe delivery of the funds at Tiberias and Jerusalem, as the roads via Constantinople were infested by bands of robbers. He had to wait sometimes for three or four months for a protected vessel sailing from Constantinople to Haifa or Acre; and thence a safe-conduct with armed soldiers to Tiberias and Jerusalem was necessary. Meanwhile, the halukkah being exhausted, the Hasidim had to borrow money in anticipation of the next remittances. The requirements of the halukkah at that time exceeded 700 ducats.
A systematic propaganda for the halukkah was introduced by Rabbi Abraham Kalisker, leader of the Hasidim in Tiberias. He secured the assistance of Rabbi Mordecai of Niesvizh, who issued a proclamation, dated "22 Adar I., 5556 ," and addressed to all Jews of Poland, imploring every male and female, adult and minor, whether living in cities or villages, to subscribe a fixed sum every week for the support of their countrymen who had settled in the Holy Land. The amount was to be paid quarterly, in addition to special donations at weddings, circumcisions, and other religious rejoicings. This proclamation was approved by other rabbis in Poland, and the result was a substantial increase in the halukkah.
The Ashkenazi Perushim, coming from Lithuania, were then few in number and without organization in the Holy Land, and consequently were without an adequate share in the halukkah. Rabbi Menahem Mendel and Rabbi Israel, both of Shklov, together with twenty other Perushim (disciples of Rabbi Elijah of Wilna) left Russia and settled in Safed in 1801. Rabbi Israel, in order to establish a permanent income for the halukkah of the Perushim congregation, constituted himself the meshullah for Lithuania and Belarus; he succeeded in his task. The halukkah of the Perushim was increased by Rabbi Aryeh Loeb Katzenellenbogen of Brest-Litovsk and by Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, who issued proclamations to the effect that the contributions put in the boxes bearing the name of Rabbi Meir Ba'al HaNeis should not be used for candles in the synagogues, as was the custom in some cases, nor for any but the specific purpose of supporting the poor in the Holy Land. This movement tended to transfer all property rights in the Ba'al ha-Nes boxes to the halukkah fund. The headquarters for the halukkah of the Perushim were then removed from Shklov to Wilna. Similarly the headquarters of the rest of the Continent were removed from Metz to Amsterdam, where the central committee combined the halukkah interests of the Sephardim and Perushim (Luncz, Jerusalem, ii. 148–157).
After 1850 the Ashkenazic congregations, or kolelim, at Jerusalem began to split into various sections, beginning with the Hollandish-German kolel, followed by the Warsaw and the Hungarian kolelim, until there existed no fewer than twenty-five kolelim in Jerusalem. The motive for separation was to enlarge the halukkah portion of that particular kolel whose members are few in comparison with the contributions derived from their native land. Some kolelim gave certain of their beneficiaries an advance share over other members (ḳedimah), the privileged ones being men of learning and distinction.
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