“Hashavat Aveda” is a project which aims to identify and locate the legal owners of more than 15,000 unclaimed assets in Israel, that are managed by The Guardian General. Behind each case lies a mystery and a story of a family.

The Story in Detail

Israeli law defines an abandoned property as one where “no one is authorized or capable of managing it as an owner, or the owner is unknown.” Such abandoned properties can include dormant bank accounts with untraceable owners, vacant apartments, assets of deceased individuals whose heirs are unknown or missing, and more.

The list of property owners published by the General Guardian currently includes over 15,000 names (as of 2024). The total value of all abandoned properties managed by the General Guardian is estimated at approximately 7.5 billion NIS.

On the other side of the list of property owners lies a diverse, fascinating, and intricate realm of thousands of life stories, historical mysteries, family dramas, and human tragedies. The project’s aim is simply to connect these thousands of properties with their owners.

How Does It Work?

“Hashavat Aveda” project serves as a framework for community collaboration between history enthusiasts and genealogists, lawyers etc., who are willing to contribute their time and expertise. Participation is open to everyone, whether they have professional ties to the field (historians, genealogists, researchers, lawyers, etc.) or are simply curious and interested.

Information discovered by project participants will be shared on this website and in the Facebook group, with the hope that the collective knowledge, tools, and connections of the participants will allow us to piece together the entire puzzle.