https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-696557
The future may hold less mandatory study time for Torah scholars, following a statement from Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman to the Knesset Economics Committee on Tuesday in which he addressed the issue of employment for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men in the labor force.
The Finance Ministry intends to reduce the number of study hours required to receive a scholarship from the government, Liberman said, adding that the reduction in required daily learning time could be as drastic as 50%.
“That is, for about 20 hours they will get the same as if they studied for 40 hours,” he said. “This will allow them to go out to work.”
If they believe that G-d will provide, ie as per all the bitachon books written by Gedolim, then there should not be a problem.
ReplyDeleteif they don't actualyl believe that, then a) they should not be in Kollel anyway, and b) the government should not even provide for 20 hours study.
I must be missing something.
ReplyDeleteFirst I thought: If the government were to tell me tomorrow that I could cut the size of my practice in half but that they would still pay me the same then I'd cut my practice in half, work half as hard and spend my free time learning and doing hobbies.
Then I thought: Oh, this means that in the new spare time these kollel guys could pick up a job and make extra income because they all live at poverty levels. But then I remembered that these kollel guys have no useful job skills beyond stocking shelves at the local makolet and how many of those jobs are out there?
And then I remembered that years ago, Rav Shteinman, z"l, was approached by a rich American who wanted to open a Chareidi job-training college and rejected the idea because it would lift Chareidim out of poverty and there's purity in Torah when you're in poverty that you somehow lose when you suddenly can afford decent things like healthy food. So why would these kollel guys go against Daas Torah and do something to, you know, be able to pay their bills?
As far as I recall, rav Shteinman ztl was initially pro - training college. But once he was officially Gadol hador, he had to act frummer than everyone else, so he opposed it.
ReplyDeleteThe face of the generation is like the face of a dog. A dog runs ahead of you but always looks behind to make sure you're following. If you change direction, he does to so he's still leading you.
ReplyDeleteTorah protects Israel from all its enemies but it can't protect kolleleit from getting draft. For that you need violent protests.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty much the case with many gedolim. In order to become gedolim, they wrote super lenient psak and creative maamarim, some even flirted with Zionism, university etc. Once they are established gedolim, they renounce their own heterim, attack their former friends who are still Zionist, and they are now fit to lead.
ReplyDeletehas any one told you that you are cynical?
ReplyDeleteIt is true, and it is also true.
ReplyDeleteNot always. Rav Eliashiv, z"l, was straight up from beginning on his shtarkness and Rav Shlomo Zalman, zt"l, and Rav Moshe, zt"l, never changed even when they were the biggest names in town.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand Yiddish.
ReplyDeleteRav elyashiv, in his rav Herzog era, was one of the most creative poskim in Israel, freeing agunos with methods he would later discard.
Rav Shlomo Zalman also had problems in the hareidi world. He was threatened with banishment when he wrote a heter for a woman who could only conceive when she was niddah. Had he stuck to his guns, we would be bringing him and rav Goren , and the tzitz eliezer as the greatest modern poskim who the chareidim rejected.