Preface to my new sefer on Parnossa and Luck

 Preface

About a year ago I was approached by a young kollel man. (In my neighborhood most of the men belong to a Kollel). He had a simple request. What does the Torah say about Parnossa (earning a living  or having a job – as opposed to learning full time) and had I written anything about it in my sefer Daas Torah?. This was similar to Hillel being asked by a prospective convert to teach him the entire Torah while he was standing on one leg (Shabbos 31a). As with my previous research. I found most issues are not resolved to a single cogent view, As I have noted before I asked Rav Eliashiv about publishing diverse views since this can cause confusion and upset that there is more than one answer. He answered there is no problem as long as I use widely accepted sources He said any confusion should be discussed with one’s rebbe I also asked Rav Moshe Shapiro and he added just quote the original language without adding interpretation

As I investigated the matter directly it soon became obvious that until relatively recently,. the original sources indicated that having a job was obligatory, And the Chasam Sofer adds that this is especially true in Israel.  In fact Rav Kook has stated that the existence of the Jews in the Desert for 40 years after leaving Egypt was one big Kollel devoted to Torah learning while they were sustained and fed by miracles. They didn’t want to leave this existence to be workers. farmers and shepherds in Israel. So their leaders spoke lashon harah about Israel as an excuse to not to settle the land   In fact the gemora in Berachos (35b)says it is a fundamental dispute between Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai as to whether a person should combine work with Torah study. It concludes that only a minority can survive with exclusive Torah Study. This is also stated clearly in the Mishna Berurah, The Netziv adds from Chazal that only those with guaranteed parnossa can properly study Torah. Other views state that Parnossa will be provided to all that Trust in G-d (bitachon). That those engaged in  exclusive Torah Study will be provided with parnossa while other sources say one should be prepared to live in poverty to study Torah, In fact one should be cruel to the needs and cries of your family to learn Torah exclusively. Rav Dessler says that even if most are harmed by an exclusive focus on Torah, we must pay that price

Today it has become accepted that most need to be devoted to exclusive Torah study – even if this means your wife supports the family and the children are raised by babysitters  and even if most people are not suited for full time lifelong learning  At one time it was assumed that people would work– usually before the age of 13.  There was no childhood as we know it today.  This changed around 1877 when the Kovno Kollel was started and Rav Chaim Volshner founded a yeshiva system that was independent of the local community, There was great concern for the haskala and government pressures to assimilate. The members of the Kollel were expected to dessert their families for a number of years. In America Rav Aharon Kotler founded the Lakewood yeshiva devoted to exclusive pure Torah learning in 1943. Since then the Torah school system has raised generations of boys and girls to the reality of exclusive Torah. Something which was not the norm even in prewar Eastern Europe