Vaad Hayeshivot

The Vaad Hayeshivot (Council of Yeshivot) was founded in 1924 in Poland by prominent leaders of Polish Orthodox Jewry. Its mission was to provide financial aid to the yeshivot in Poland, dispersed or destroyed after the First World War. The network of the Council of Yeshivot included, apart from its own administration, hundreds of local sections, the rabbinate in Poland, and about 70 yeshivot. Its organ Dos Wort appeared weekly from 1924 to 1939. The Council of Yeshivot’s major sources of income consisted of subsidies of the JDC, international sympathisers, donation campaigns in Poland etc. Notable projects of the organisation included i.a. the Sefer Tora project, undertaken in memory of Chofetz Chaim, where Jewish communities in Poland as well as abroad were invited to sponsor for a letter, verse or large portion of the Tora scroll – participating in a symbolic, collective religious act, as well as providing a supplementary source of income.