Kehillah Fund
The Kehillah Fund is humbled to announce the inauguration of the Dr. Yosef Walder Legacy Achdus Fund, which successfully raised $3.6 million to bridge the critical gap in tuition payments for families in Chicagoland’s Orthodox Jewish community. This fund honors the memory of Dr. Yosef Walder z”l, the beloved Kehillah Fund co-founder, whose vision of communal unity and shared responsibility in Jewish education left an indelible mark on Chicago’s Orthodox schools.
For 20 years, Kehillah Fund has provided schools with reliable financial support to help ensure that every Jewish child receives a quality education. The recent loss of the STC program in Illinois left many families struggling to meet minimum tuition payments. In response, the Kehillah Fund was well positioned to be the catalyst for a group of committed community leaders who came together at the start of the school year to inaugurate this fund in memory of Dr. Walder and raise much-needed funds to assist families struggling to pay tuition.
Dr. Walder’s wife, Mrs. Elizabeth (Shira Malka) Walder, generously initiated a dollar-for-dollar match for every donation, doubling the impact of each contribution to achieve the goal of raising $3.6 million. The Fund helps to ensure that no Jewish child in Chicago is excluded from Jewish education due to financial hardship. In November 2024, Kehillah Fund distributed $1,260,408 from the Dr. Yosef Walder Legacy Achdus Fund to local schools.
In the words of Mrs. Walder: “Yosef would have been ‘chomping at the bit’ to tackle this challenge. He believed that the bigger the challenge, the bigger the responsibility, the bigger the opportunity.”
The Dr. Yosef Walder Legacy Achdus Fund will provide immediate relief to families while ensuring the sustainability of the schools. Out of 4,500 students in the Kehillah Fund’s affiliated K-12 Orthodox schools, an average of 1,500 students received STC scholarships – representing 35% of the population. This initiative will provide up to $2,250 per qualifying student, helping more than 600 families meet their minimum tuition obligations without placing further strain on schools.
“We are reaching out to extend our sincere gratitude for being recipients,” wrote one anonymous family. “The assistance not only relieves the financial burden, but also, with the fortitude afforded through being seen and supported, strengthens our recognition of the utmost importance and the investment in our wonderful children’s upbringing and chinuch.”
“This will have an immediate and significant impact for so many people in the community,” says Kehillah Fund Executive Director Max Dayan. “I am so inspired by the culture of philanthropy in Chicago and seeing people really step up to meet the moment, and Kehillah Fund is poised to answer this need.”
For more information or to donate, visit KehillahFund.org/achdusfund or contact Executive Director Max Dayan at mdayan@kehillahfund.org or (224) 251-8063.