Redefining the Kollel Check

A friend once remarked, “A yeshiva is ironic in that at first you have to pay to attend it, but then it suddenly turns around and pays you.”

Why do we pay to attend yeshiva as a bochur? Because running a yeshiva costs money. Food, salaries, maintenance, seforim, insurance, and administration costs money. Tuition is what provides the means for a yeshiva – and the Torah it disseminates – to operate.

However, there is no economic sense to the distribution of kollel checks. The members of a kollel are usually not working for anyone, and they are not providing any service that generates economic value. Therefore, the very essence of a kollel check is at best a gift, which is bestowed upon the members of the kollel by its supporters.

Gifts are the first thing to be curtailed in a down economy. That is why we are witnessing an unprecedented number kollel closings, because the supporters of the kollel no longer have the means or the will to continue bestowing these “gifts”. If businesses are being forced to lay off employees who are generating economic value, it goes without saying that kollelim will have to stop paying kollel checks which don’t return any economic value.

Now is the opportunity to redefine the kollel check. If the system could be changed to where the kollel check is no longer an unconditional gift with nothing expected in return, but a means of extracting value from the kollel member, it would accomplish two very worthy goals.

First, it would reinvigorate the donor base. Those who have lost interest in providing these unconditional gifts would likely be interested in contributing to a redefined notion of a kollel payroll. Second, it would be a great boon to the kollel itself, which would be strengthened and energized by the market forces which would now be present.

These thoughts come to mind as Lakewood Yeshiva counts down to its annual “Evening of Chizzuk” on behalf of the BMG kollel. The greatest portion of BMG’s budget is the kollel payroll, currently estimated to be over $10 million annually. Besides the inefficient use of such massive sums, there is an even greater question to ask – why are we giving away our hard-earned money as a gift?

Should we do away with kollel checks? Yes & no. The way Lakewood does it – yes. But there is a better way. Let’s explore some ideas in future posts and in the comments.

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Filed Under: Kollel Finances

Tags: BMG • evening of chizuk • kollel check