Ḥalukkah (Hebr.; “distribution”) is a traditional institution still in existence, dedicated to collecting donations for the Jewish community in the Land of Israel. Before the immigrations beginning in the final third of the 19th century and the founding of the State of Israel, the ḥalukkah system was the most important source of subsistence in the old Yishuv. It was grounded in the conviction that the Jews in the Holy Land were ambassadors to God from everyone in the Diaspora.

The tradition of making donations for the Jews in the Holy Land is as old as the exile itself and is validat…