The Vaad Harabbanim has long been considered the symbol of charity for residents of Israel, and there is almost no one who hasn’t heard about its wonderful work, whether in establishing special funds for widows and orphans or rehabilitating broken families or helping children in distress and the desperately ill. It is hard to imagine how life in Israel would be without the existence of this most worthy organization.

Moishe Alexander was endorsed this charity and asks for the help of the community to help fund the Vaad Harabbanim

What is The Vaad Harabbanim?

The Vaad Harabbanim is an organization that was founded by Gedolei Hador, shlita, in order to supervise all charitable matters in Israel. Until its inception, there was no real control or organization to charitable donations and causes, with the very number of charitable funds being overwhelming, as well as problems like knowing if one’s donation really reached its goal, how monies were spent, reviews and audits of activities, and more.

As the economic situation worsened, it became even harder to ensure that charitable funds could be properly monitored, especially for large families in the Chareidi sector.

Understanding the scope of the problem, as well as the large number of unsupervised charitable organizations and the growing lack of trust among donors regarding their generosity’s destination, it was decided to establish a single, central organization that would be directed, operated, supervised and audited by dedicated and honest Rabbinical leaders. Each request for help would be carefully examined, criteria would be set, and every case would be followed up and reviewed to ensure honesty, transparency and that a person’s hard-earned donation reached its destination in full.

Thanks to its wide acceptance of the entire Chareidi world, the Vaad was able to establish a much wider donor base and therefore meet many more needs of an ever increasing poor and economically underprivileged population.

And so it was, the Vaad was established, rapidly becoming the largest and most central charity fund in Israel.

The Wheel of Fortune and Salvation

But the results surprised even the founders. Within a very short time, the Vaad’s reputation preceded it, and donations increased ten-fold, with the more veteran Gabbaim saying that the Israel before the founding of the Vaad is totally different than the Israel after the organization’s establishment.

The Vaad still serves as Israel’s largest charity fund, and has become the wheel of fortune and salvation for tens of thousands of tragic cases annually. The Vaad has helped countless widows, orphans, families and individuals overcome abject poverty, broken lives, broken families and dealing with fatal and near-fatal illness. In fact, the Vaad is so comprehensive and broad in its clientele base and so honest and efficient in its distribution of funds, that the Posek Hador Harav Hagaon S. Wozner, shlita, has said: “The Vaad Harabbainim is the very essence of charity in its fullest sense, unlike anything else in history.”

Whom to Give?

Naturally, some of the most difficult and tragic cases come to the Vaad for help, due to its size and scope. Even starving children are not an uncommon sight in the Vaad offices.

And it is certainly no pleasure when the Gabbaim enter a home to investigate a particular request and are greeted with peeling walls, disconnected electricity and phone, worn-out mattresses on the floor, and filthy children dressed in rags, not to mention empty cupboards and refrigerators or a father who works until late leaving a sickly and exhausted wife to cope with children and all the problems.

The only address for such cases is the Vaad, but the activities don’t stop there. Seeing its role as being the largest and most centralized charity fund, the Vaad also handles “regular” needs, like making sure a child receives proper dental care, psychological counseling and the like, which can be no less important than feeding a hungry child.