Kehillot Yisrael

About Kehillot Yisrael

Kehillot Yisrael Institute is a non-profit organization headed by Rabbi Yaakov Hillel, who over the past 50 years has worked with many others to accumulate the largest private collection of Jewish manuscripts in the world, publishing more than 700 books, (mostly rare editions of unpublished manuscripts,) and digitally documenting nearly two million pages, certificates, and historical documents. Kehillot Yisrael is now in the process of raising funds to transform the iconic Schneller Orphanage Building in downtown Jerusalem into a magnificent and transformative “Beit HaKehillot;” a multi-level museum and media experience designed to tell the story of the emergence of the Jewish people as a nation. Beit Hakehillot will examine the history of Jewish communities throughout the world, their intellectual and artistic creativity, and the cultural dialogue between these communities and their surrounding societies, including Kehillot Yisrael's extensive archive of Jewish manuscripts from Jewish communities throughout the world. The exhibition will present Judaism’s spiritual richness and cultural heritage through the lens of various kehillot (communities) formed over the centuries in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem and the forced exile of the Jewish people from the land of Israel after 70 CE. Throughout the generations, these diverse, dispersed communities were inextricably linked together by a network of words, written and oral. And it is through this unique prism that Kehillot Yisrael will bring the story to life, connecting to every visitor’s present-day (and future) to our collective past.

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