Author Archive for aaron
Is Day Trading a Good Parnossa for Post-Kollel?
A few days ago I got an email asking if day trading is a good opportunity to go into for those looking to leave kollel. Obviously, the draw towards day trading is that the barrier to entry is low – anyone with a few bucks and a computer can get in. Stories abound about those [...]
Path to the Exit – Part 5
Once one has decided on a career path, how do you go about finding an actual opportunity? Believe it or not, this is actually the easy part. The difficult part is figuring out what to do, the easy part is finding where to do it. Opportunities exist everywhere in the frum market, you just need [...]
So Many Candidates but No One to Choose
I just heard about a well established yeshiva looking for a high school rebbe. The current rebbe is set to leave next year after many years of teaching, and there is a lot of pressure to find a suitable replacement in time to calm the parents and the talmidim who are choosing mesivtas for the [...]
Life Lessons from Chanuka
A lesson we can all take away from the story of Chanuka: How a few Macabbim were able to rout the entire Greek army was certainly a miracle. But hidden beneath all the glory is a troubling mystery – What were they thinking? How could Mattisyahu and his sons even imagine they would possibly succeed? If they [...]
Path to the Exit – Part 4
Once you have established what professions you will not be entering, its time to start investigating what kinds of opportunities are available to you as a kollel graduate. I know there will be many readers who think the situation is helpless, and they have already spoken out in the comments, but the truth is very [...]
In the New Economy, A Ben Torah has Better Training
For years we have been led to believe that those who push through the difficult courses in college are the ones to “make it big”. But in the new economy things are very different. Doctors face huge uncertainty with all that is going on with healthcare, and lawyers are finding it very difficult to get [...]
Path to the Exit – Part 3
What to do when you will leave kollel? Discover what you will do by eliminating what you will not be doing. This question needs to be answered, of course. It sounds like a weighty problem, but it can be made easier by process of elimination. First exclude categories of career paths that you will not [...]
Escaping the Harsh Realities of the Shidduch Crisis
The shidduch crisis and the kollel crisis share many things in common. The shidduch crisis is clearly a result of a numbers problem – the age gap between the boys and girls creates a situation where there are a surplus of girls and a shortage of boys. (This video explains it well.) The kollel crisis [...]
Path to the Exit – Part 2
After you’ve really decided that it’s time to leave, now comes the hard part. Telling other people, and asking for their help. Breaking the news to others seems very hard to do. There is a false feeling of failure when you tell them you are leaving kollel. Really though, the challenge is not over, it [...]
Path to the Exit – Part 1
Transitioning out of kollel into the world can be a very difficult and challenging time for everyone. What is the best way to do so, limiting the pain and anguish that is often felt during this period? Having done this before and seeing many others through the process, here are the steps to follow that [...]
