If You Want to Stay in Learning…

aaron — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:49:08 +0000

There are many who learn in kollel that put aside learning for a few weeks (or months) to do seasonal jobs, such as lifeguarding or head counseloring in the summers. Some yungerleit are involved in selling esrogim, and others become a mashgiach for pesach in a hotel.

Why is this kind of activity permitted and even accepted? Isn’t this also a form of “leaving learning”?

Some will say that by doing these jobs they are able to manage learning in kollel the rest of the year. This however, is a poor disguise of the real truth.

One who willingly and truthfully wishes to dedicate his life exclusively to learn Torah, and forgoes the normal behavior of grown married men to earn a livelihood should only do so for the proper reasons. If one feels his life’s calling is to only learn and not do anything else, then he should only learn and do nothing else. The same mesirus nefesh which dictates their choice of occupation the rest of the year does not take a break for anything.

The real truth is that these people have had enough. They don’t really want to spend their entire life in kollel, and are just looking for a “socially acceptable” way out. They feel if they do these kinds of seasonal work, no one will consider them as having left kollel, since they are only temporary jobs.

What is sad about this is that they are only fooling themselves. If they would be honest about their situation, they would realize that its time to “officially” leave kollel, and get themselves a real job. Then they would not have to endure the low wages and poor working conditions that are the norm in these socially-acceptable-I-didn’t-really-leave-kollel jobs.

If you want to stay in learning, then learn. But if its time to leave, don’t fool yourself into staying longer than you are able to. The conditions are poor, and you’re only doing it for the wrong reasons. The only person you are fooling is yourself. Meanwhile, your wife, children, and most of all -yourself – are enduring the pain.

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Summer Vacation = Vacate from Learning (R”L)

aaron — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:21:14 +0000

Leaving kollel is often referred to as “leaving learning”, meaning of course, that when a person leaves kollel to go work, he is no longer solely occupied with learning, and will be spending a large part of his day occupied with worldly matters. However, there is a sinister undertone to this expression which lends much stigma to leaving kollel. The implication is that once one leaves kollel, he no longer does serious learning.

Rav Elchonon Wasserman once remarked on how soldiers, who are so strictly disciplined during their stay in the military, but as soon as they leave they no longer exhibit any self restraint. He explained that all along the soldiers are never trying to change themselves, instead they are only trying to get through their term. Once they leave, they no longer have any need to keep to their artificially induced behavior.

How one conducts himself during the summer vacation is a sign of his true commitment to learning. If one learns even through the break, that shows he is truly committed to learning. But if an entire day, week, or even month can go by without seriously learning during that time, it shows that all along he is just a soldier being forced to “fit in” with the crowd. His commitment to Torah learning is not sincere, and when he leaves kollel, he is probably going to be leaving learning. But if one shows his commitment to learning even while on vacation, for such a person learning is real. For him, leaving kollel is not leaving learning. He may change his schedule, and learning may become difficult for him, but he will always make sure to stay “in learning”.

Are you learning during your summer vacation? Or is it an opportunity for you to “leave learning”?

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Lost in Kollel » leaving learning

If You Want to Stay in Learning…

Summer Vacation = Vacate from Learning (R”L)