To the editor-
Thank you for posting on this topic. This is something that is a very serious matter and should be of grave concern (unless it already is) to our manhigim and community as a whole, whether “modern”, yeshivish” or any other stripe.
I’ve been thinking about this topic since I saw and article in the Monsey publication “The Advocate” that stated that Gov. Paterson was considering cutting funding to yeshivas in NYS by 41% due to budget cuts. Leaving aside the issue of why yeshivos should even be getting funding under separation of church and state or why yeshiva tuition is so high if aid is forthcoming, it got me thinking about the issue of self-financing our Torah study.
My thoughts on this issue are similar to the original poster’s (OP). A general trend towards making a go at Toraso umnaso is, by itself, a good thing and a good indicator of the religious health of Orthodoxy worldwide. The problem is funding. If the trend is true and continues, financing that life choice will get harder and harder throughout the generations. The only reason we can enjoy so many people learning Torah is due to the current generosity of people, by and large, of a previous generation, of a time when widespread kollel learning and mosdos in every corner of Orthodoxy was a distant pipe dream, a time when most people worked and when therefore the likelihood of producing people with the financial means to give support was much greater.
The pool of tzedaka dollars available from that generation will dry up, and with an increasing trend towards a kollel, klai kodesh, or chinuch lifestyles, that pool will not be refreshed adequately. The workers of the Yissachar-Zevulun equation will increasingly be asked to subsidise those who no longer enjoy that support, creating financial strain on an laready strained segment and suppressing financial contribution to the ever-dwindling pool of funds available. The illegal defrauding of state and federal government aid programmes (HUD, Medicaid, tax evasion) will surge (out of necessity, I do understand) and will create terrible chillul H”. This is a scenario that is not impossible.
What to do? It’s not my place to dictate what should be done for everybody, but this will be a community problem and needs solving via achdus – communal concern and input no matter what your frum stripe. So here’s some suggestions:
-Kollelim and yeshivos may consider being more selective in whom they admit. It needs to be discerned who really and truly has the ability and will to involve themselves in the lifestyle one must accustom themselves to.
-Gedolim may want to consider suggesting a needs assessment before soliciting funds and breaking ground for new mosdos. There may not be a need for a “kollel/yeshia/mosad/shul” on every corner. I do humbly suspect that some of these are the product of poor planning for need and really exist because somebody wants the kavod of being called a “rosh kollel”. I know that’s harsh but I think is reality.
-Gedolim and manhigim may want to try to shift the focus onto familial responsibility in decision-making. Parents have the responsibility to provide parnassa for their families, period. Relying on government programs whether legitimately or not is NOT a lechatchila option when making crucial decisions and should be treated as an OPTION OF ABSOLUTE LAST RESORT, when a legitimate, responsible attempt has been made at supporting a family, regardless of how one goes about that support. Put another way, it’s unthinkable to us that a person decides to go into a known low -income profession lechatchila and says “well, I have no financial worries because there’s always the tzedaka box that I can raid”. I firmly believe that making a decision to learn, etc with the intention on relying on government programs is a form of stealing, both from the government (a strongly possible issur – someone can clarify) and from fellow Jewish taxpayers (a very grave, definite issur). How can a person be incredibly machmir on, say, kashrus, while justify stealing from the cookie jar of government programs that were never meant to be used as a payroll?
In brief, my own personal opinion is that we need to be intellectually honest and able to respond to realities around us. Parents and potential parents need to be responsible and consider all options and how they’d deal with their consequences before making decisions.