THE UNFINISHED JOURNEY THAT STILL LED SOMEWHERE SIGNIFICANT

In the sweltering Tzfas heat in 1777, three hundred newly-arrived Chassidim tried to immerse themselves in Torah and Chassidus — but their financial situation was so desperate that it was hard for them to focus on their studies. These Chassidim were led by Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk, and Rabbi Yisrael of Polotzk — all three of them talmidim of the Maggid of Mezeritch. This was a group of Chassidim devoted to their avodas Hashem, who had little need for material comforts.

Their journey alone was proof: they had traveled for five arduous months, at one point facing dangerous storms that had killed thirty of their group. When they finally reached Eretz Yisrael, they found themselves facing a new struggle: poverty.

Although the Chassidim had set out with sufficient funds, they’d used it to feed and clothe hundreds of tagalongs who joined them on their travels to the Holy Land (lost Jews who, in the wake of many false moshiachs, were convinced the geulah had arrived.) And when they arrived in Israel with no money, they learned that locusts had destroyed most of the local crops, hiking up food prices.

With no idea of how to survive, Rabbi Yisroel of Polotzk wrote a letter to the Chassidim back home, soliciting funds. “Wake up, be inspired to this great mitzvah,” he wrote in the first known fundraising letter on behalf of Jews in Israel, “…revive a great part of the Jewish nation…so they should be able to settle on the Holy Land to plead for G-d’s kindness and to pray for the Jewish community.”

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in Liozna (today’s Belarus), there was another talmid of the Maggid who ached to be among the Chassidim in Eretz Yisrael: Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad, known as the Baal Hatanya. While the Baal Hatanya had built up a thriving center of Torah and Chassidus in Liozna after the Maggid’s nesius, his heart was drawn eastward. Like his spiritual zeide, the Baal Shem Tov, the Baal Hatanya yearned to move to Eretz Yisrael.

And like the Baal Shem Tov, the Baal Hatanya’s dream was never realized. It wasn’t for lack of trying. Immediately after Pesach of 1777, a month after Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk left for Eretz Yisrael with his followers, the Baal Hatanya had decided to join them. But as he left Liozna, the Baal Hatanya’s Chassidim begged him to rethink his plan.

“Please stay behind and keep leading us,” they asked. Yet the Baal Hatanya had his heart set on the Land of Israel and nothing could stop him. Nothing — except a directive from his own Rebbe. The Baal Hatanya soon caught up with the rest of the group. When their caravan reached the city of Mohyliv-Podilskyi on the Dniester River, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk heard how the Chassidim had begged the Baal Hatanya to stay behind.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel’s response was clear: What the Baal Hatanya could give to his Chassidim, nobody else could. The Baal Hatanya belonged in Eastern Europe, guiding the thousands of Chassidim who thirsted for his teachings. Heavy-hearted, the Baal Hatanya turned back to Liozna, where he threw himself into guiding his Chassidim and developing the Chabad philosophy — but still, he longed for Eretz Yisrael.

Years later, the Baal Hatanya still wrote of his desire to move to Eretz Yisrael. “I have asked for years to move to the Holy Land,” he wrote in a letter to his Chassidic contemporaries. Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk wrote an encouraging response back: “In my opinion,” he writes, “all the days of one’s life, even if they live for one-thousand years, there is no personal service of G-d that stands in the way of the needs of the community.”

The Baal Hatanya’s devotion to the community had come with the ultimate self-sacrifice — the sacrifice of his lifelong dream. And then a fundraising appeal, penned by Rabbi Yisroel of Polotzk, arrived from the Holy Land. The Chassidim in Tzfas were subsisting on next to nothing and needed the support of their brothers back home.

The Baal Hatanya jumped to take action. Here was a way to connect to Eretz Yisrael and access the Holy Land’s life-giving blessing – in addition to the immeasurable zchus of supporting the poor. When Rabbi Yisroel Polotzk traveled back to Eastern Europe the following year to fundraise, the Baal Hatanya and Rabbi Yisocher Ber Segel joined the fundraising leadership. It was the beginning of Colel Chabad.

Eventually, the Baal Hatanya, helped by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, began fundraising independently, sending money directly to his Chassidim in the Holy Land and providing for anyone else in need in Eretz Yisrael. The Baal Hatanya came up with a novel — and highly effective — fundraising system. He would encourage families to regularly place charity on the side. At least once a year, a messenger from Eretz Yisrael (known as a “shadar,” an acronym for shaliach d’rabbanan) would visit every town and village to collect the earmarked funds.

To help with donations, the Baal Hatanya would provide the messenger with a fundraising letter, encouraging the community to donate. In one famous letter (Iggeres Hakodesh 21), the Baal Hatanya explains that it is preferable to split up an annual pledge into weekly or monthly donations, rather than simply giving it annually. “A man is judged every day, so that it is quite possible that he is in need of the merit of today’s tzedakah to protect him from today’s judgment,” the Baal Hatanya writes. “It is far preferable to give the same amount over a longer period on numerous occasions — as the Rambam explains, doing the act multiple times refines the soul.”

In these letters, many of which are now included in the Tanya, Baal Hatanya constantly reminded his Chassidim of the power of giving. He emphasized that small, consistent donations are infinitely powerful — with cosmic effects. The Chassidim heeded their Rebbe’s words, and the donations flowed in. It was actually these very donations that landed the Baal Hatanya in prison.

When he was reported to the Russian authorities, his “crime” was supporting the Ottoman empire. Because the Baal Hatanya was sending so much money to Jews in Israel, it was simple to create a story in which that very money was actually supporting the enemy. Even prison couldn’t stop the cause, though. Upon his release, the Baal HaTanya immediately resumed doing everything possible to support Yidden in Eretz Yisrael.

It’s nearly 240 years later, and the world has shifted dramatically — but in the world of Colel Chabad, remarkably little has changed. Like then, our mission is the same: supporting our brothers and sisters in Israel. Like then, we’re following the instructions of the Baal Hatanya — and every Chabad Rebbe after him. Like then, our donors are compassionate givers. And like then, we rally together around the world to make sure no Jew in Israel is ever hungry or alone. Because, no matter what, they know their brothers and sisters around the world are always there for them.