The Founding and Early History of the Kolel Perushim

IN 1880 A NEW TYPE of institution was founded in Kovno—the Kolel Perushim—and like the yeshiva it became an important element in the provision of a traditional Jewish education.

A kolel was, and is, an institution that regularly distributes money to a defined group of married men, usually young, who devote all their time to Torah study. Perushim aremen who leave their families to study Torah in temporary celibacy, almost always in a place other than where their families live. The Kolel Perushim, then, was a framework for financial support for a group of married students. The kolel of eastern Europe was not a totally new innovation. The Torah scholars who emigrated to Palestine in previous generations organized themselves into kolelim according to their country of origin—though it should be noted that the members of the kolelim in Palestine were not perushim. These kolelim raised funds, usually in their country of origin and then distributed the money raised among the members of the kole.l The members of these kolelim did not necessarily study in a common, shared study hall nor did they have an obligatory programme of study. The kolel did not organize study but dealt with financial needs. Until 1880, there were no kolelim in eastern Europe. Hence the novelty of the one for married students established in Kovno in 1880. It was similar to those of Palestine, but membership was open not to all scholars froma given place or region but rather to a selected group of young married students; it provided its students with money but did not restrict them to study in a particular communal study framework or to follow a common curriculum.

Support for young married scholars among European (and non-European) Jewry was not an innovation of the late nineteenth century. In previous generations, this had been done in a number of ways. One classic structure was the kloyz, a framework for supporting full-time students who would study in a private study hall (kloyz) that was usually named after a key donor. Funds usually came from local Jews and often solely from a single wealthy family. Rich fathers-in-law supported their sons-in-law, economically active women supported their husbands, and young scholars found themselves employment as rabbis. In some communities this support was very organized.