About

Kehillah is an organization dedicated to serving the Anglo-Charedi community living in Israel, in all its variety and diversity.

Over the years, thousands of Anglos have made Aliyah to Israel from a broad spectrum of Yeshiva communities around the world. While they arrive with great enthusiasm and high aspirations, life in Israel can be rocky, and excitement sometimes turns to varying degrees of disillusionment. This is true in several areas, but if often most pronounced in Chinuch.

Cultural differences, tensions between Anglo homes and Israeli institutions, value questions concerning how we approach the world, matters of curriculum and teaching methods, and much besides, can cause real educational issues. Many parents, young and older, are forced to compromise on much more than they had assumed. To their dismay, some even decide to return abroad; sometimes, older children make similar decisions for themselves.

Because of these Chinuch related challenges—among other challenges—well-reputed rabbinic authorities sometimes counsel families against making Aliyah, despite their longing to join the incredible trend that Hashem is leading in the world. This, of course, is legitimate advice; it remains, however, a terrible shame.

Kehillah was established in appreciation of the special challenges of Olim. Given that there are tens of thousands of Anglo-Charedim and their children living in Israel today, it is time that we find the confidence to mobilize, galvanize, and establish the kind of institutions we know are good and worthy, but which the Israeli Charedi space does not always offer. It seeks to make a positive impact in areas including community building, Torah learning projects, youth programming, Rabbinic guidance, cross-community collaboration, and much besides.

On a concrete level, we are planning to establish several basic programs and infrastructures in the near future, including an information website, a range of publications, youth programming, and much besides. Together, these projects can provide the groundwork to empower the Anglo-Charedi community in Israel, and to facilitate the heightened levels of Aliyah we still await.