Learning for Money

Is Torah Learning all for money?

I tutor at night to be able to pay the bills. In shul with my talmid, I see scores of others doing the same. Even highly acclaimed rabbeim are using their time at night to make extra money by tutoring, preparing boys for bar mitzva, or learning with baalei batim for money.

Sometimes, I am jealous of those baalei batim. They learn for free, no one pays them to learn. But I learn because it’s my J-O-B. Does that mean that I am a bad person? Of course not. But it takes away the special feeling of learning Torah out of love for it.

When I am out of yeshiva, it’s hard to get any learning done. Maybe a quick glance in a sefer on the parsha when I’m home over Shabbos, and my wife and kids don’t need me. But generally speaking, most of my learning is done for money, and I don’t enjoy it one bit.

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Tags: learning • Shabbos • torah • tutoring