Halukka

The halukka, also spelled haluka, halukkah or chalukah (חלוקה) was an organized collection and distribution of charity funds for Jewish residents of the Land of Israel (the Holy Land). Sympathizing Jews in a diaspora city or district would form a standing committee, presided over by a gabbai, to supervise collections and to remit funds semiannually to the managers of the halukkah, located in Jerusalem. The halukkahs policy was to divide funds equally in thirds: one-third was distributed to yeshiva scholars, one-third was distributed to poor widows and orphans, and for temporary relief to helpless men, and one-third was used to defray Jewish community expenses. The distributions were made semiannually, before the Passover and the New-Year festivals. The Jerusalem management would send representatives (sing. "meshulach", Heb. ; pl. "meshulachim", Heb. ) on fund-raising missions throughout the Levant, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and England, with occasional visits to Russia, Poland, and America. One ubiquitous and passive method of fund-raising was the institution of the household and synagogue 'charity-box', an innovation of late seventeenth century meshulachim, frequently labeled so that the charity be given in memory of Rabbi Meir Ba'al ha-Nes. The conceptual antecedent of the halukka may date back to the earliest Rabbinical period, when the Jewish academies in Eretz Israel were supported in large part by voluntary contributions from congregations elsewhere. The term "messenger of Zion" ("sheliah Tziyyon", Heb. ) was applied during the Amoraic era (fourth century CE) to Rabbi Hama ben Ada, who traveled between Babylon and Eretz Israel, delivering decisions and messages, and probably soliciting relief. There exists a scholarly historical dispute whether Rabbi Yechiel of Paris transferred his yeshiva from Paris to Acre around 1257 or not. According to the opinion that he did emigrate, along with 300 disciples, they soon found themselves without means of support, and that one Rabbi Yaakov haShaliach was then sent to solicit relief in the Ottoman lands.