{Originally posted to author’s website, Emes Ve-Emunah}
The latest Adopt-a-Kollel ad speaks more eloquently about the poverty in the Charedi world than I ever could. The situation is so bad that there are families that literally have no food. Not for the parents and not for the children. How, that ad asks, can you look a Rosh Kollel in the eyes when he says he has 12 children at home and cannot feed them breakfast?
While this ad is designed to get people in America to fund Kollelim in Israel, the plain fact is that whatever one believes about how terrible the extreme poverty in the Charedi world is, they can be sure it is even worse.
The ad says that the Avreichim do not complain. They chooses a life in Kollel and are willing to sacrifice. That may be fine for them. Their wives might even be fine with it. But what about the 12 children a typical Avreich in an Israeli Kollel has? Are they all fine with it?
I am not a fan of the Adopt-a- Kollel campaign. Not that I think we should God forbid let them starve. But not in a way that perpetuates the system that causes it.
In any case, there is no way that this program can sustain a Hashkafa that directs virtually all of its male members into this impoverished way of life. While there may be some Kollelim that will benefit, the majority of Avreichim will not. There just is not enough money generated by this program to fund every Charedi family in Israel.
Now it’s true that not every Charedi family lives under such dire conditions. Some have support from parents. There are some wealthy benefactors that fund free loan societies to the tune of millions of dollars. And Charedim themselves help each other. I have been told for example that whenever there is any amount of money in any kind of savings account, it is taken out and ‘loaned’ to a Gemach which they of course use to feed the less fortunate.
These Charedim are an idealistic bunch. Willing to give every spare penny to help the poor of their community. And yet we still get a story like the one in that ad. Obviously things are pretty bad and can only get worse.
I am not going to dwell on the answer I think will really help – since I harp on it all the time. But unless there is a paradigm shift that praises rather than disparages the work ethic and allows some sort of preparation for that in elementary and high school – we will be hearing more and more stories like that.
I doubt that there is a single Charedi leader that will even entertain that notion. Talmud Torah K’Neged Kulom means not only that it is the most important thing a person can do. It is the only thing he can do. At least as a first option. Even if he is better qualified to serve God doing something else, he should at least try to do that first. Without the distraction of preparing to make a living. The mindset is then created that sacrifice to do that to the point of extreme poverty is the optimal choice for all.
So what has this mindset produced beside poverty? It has produced a sense of superiority so grand that Avreichim feel entitled to ignore their responsibility as citizens of their country, Israel. They believe they have a right to be absolved of any service to their government even though everyone else is not.