All Entries in the "Deciding to Leave" Category
When You Feel Old…
Feeling old is a real phenomenon, and it is a sure sign that you’ve got to get out. I’ve heard from people who stayed in kollel many years, all the time learning with great diligence, but once they realized how “old” they were, they decided to leave kollel and change their lives.
On top of all [...]
Burn Your Bridges – And Win
Aish shows in this video the concept of “burning your bridges” – a guaranteed way to get you motivated in doing things that you always have the ability to do, but just never get around to doing them.
Ever wonder why there are deadlines? Because if there wouldn’t be any, nothing would get done. Imagine if [...]
What to Do (and not to do) When Asking to Leave Kollel
Many people feel that leaving kollel is something that needs to be discussed first with a Rov, Rosh Yeshiva or the like. And they should, especially since this is a major decision in their life. No one should be in the position of making such an important decision without first seeking proper guidance.
However, one must [...]
Day # 8 (and beyond): Back to Routine?
Every year it seems that we go through the same routine. Cry our heads off during viduy, promise to do better, and then life comes back to routine. Is there any meaning to all of it, if on Tuesday morning we all go back to our old selves?
The truth is that there is hardly such [...]
How to Leave Kollel Without Fear
Are you stuck? Not sure how to proceed forward once the time has come to leave the confines of full time kollel?
When its time to move forward, people tend to be stuck in their comfort zone – which is not that all comfortable as much as it is just familiar. Instead of the unknown, people [...]
Waiting for the Job Offers to Come
Today I had a short conversation with Rabbi Gordon, a longtime fundraiser for Chinuch Atzmai. In the course of our conversation, he mentioned how today in Lakewood so many people think that they are worthy of the greatest shtelers (rebbe jobs), and the negative consequences that arise from it. After thinking about what he said, [...]
Fending for Yourself When Times are Hard
For years now, kollel has been indirectly funded primarily by the boom in real estate that so many of our bretheren had investments in. Now that the economy has dried up and real estate prices have gone south, funding for kollel has taken a big hit.
This affects both the kollel stipends themselves, forcing them to [...]
The New Reality for Kollel Support
Our parents’ generation, when kollel was a novelty, a kollel family could manage to get by with the meager kollel salary, the wife’s meager earnings, and a very simple lifestyle. Parental support, either from the husband’s or the wife’s parents, was unheard of, aside from occasional gifts.
Today, the situation is vastly changed. A kollel stipend [...]
The OU Out of Town Community Shmorg
On Sunday 6/14, the OU is holding their “Emerging Jewish Communities Fair” at Lander College for Women in Manhattan.
Should you go?
I attended last years’ event in the Grand Hyatt and was somewhat disappointed. If communities are really looking to grow, you’d think they would at least have some real reasons why their communities should attract [...]
You Too Can Lead
The most given reason for not leaving kollel is the fear of not being able to “do anything’ after leaving. While this fear is mostly unfounded, nevertheless, it must be addressed.
Seth Godin is a master author who has spread his ideas far and wide, always in his own signature style of uniquness and non-conformity. In [...]
