Anonymous asked Staff ago Where in Halacha do the yeshivot find legitimacy for learning and making a living off of charity, though Maimonides wrote that it is forbidden to learn Torah and be supported by charity?
I heard that there is also a disagreement about this between Ishmael and Shimon bar Yochai in the Gemara, about whether one needs to combine work and Torah or not. Please address this issue in your answer.
Thanks in advance.
jsadmin Staff answered 22 years ago
Hello.
Every society or community decides its own norms of charity or help for the other.
The decision to support scholars is a value judgment by the people (those supporting and those being supported).
For example: the secular society determines which people it is ready to support and give assistance to (excellent students receive merit scholarships).
Similarly, the Charedi society in this last generation has chosen to support people who chose to “slay themselves in the tents of Torah.”
The ethical illegitimacy in the current situation is that the Charedi society does not give scholarships and support to scholars who should, by nature, be few (“I have seen the men of quality and they are few”), they teach all the members of the community to have “their Torah as their faith” in the hopes that the people (the secular) who despise and loath this lifestyle will be forced to support the people found in the framework of “their Torah is their faith.”
In other words, the situation today amongst the yeshiva students is despicable and corrupt for two reasons:
1. Yeshiva students are supported without the consent of the secular supporters.
2. Every ignoramus who does not learn and does not plan to be a scholar receives aid simply because he is registered on paper as being a yeshiva student.
This is the source for the disagreement between R’ Ishmael and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai:
On the one hand our rabbis taught: And you shall gather in your corn, meaning that one should work for a living. On the other hand, it is written: This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, meaning you must learn all the day. Rabbi Ishamel took this to mean that one should work, and in his spare time learn Torah. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says: Is that possible? If a man ploughs in the ploughing season, and sows in the sowing season, and reaps in the reaping season, and threshes in the threshing season, and winnows in the season of wind, what is to become of the Torah? No; but when Israel perform the will of G-d, their work is performed by others, and when Israel do not perform the will of G-d their work is carried out by themselves. Said Abaye: Many have followed the advice of Ishmael, and it has worked well; others have followed Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and it has not been successful. Rava said to his students: I would ask you not to appear before me during Nisan and Tishri so that you may not be anxious about your food supply during the rest of the year” (Berachot 35b).
Today the Charedi act according to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai not because they do the will of G-d, but because they use their political power to rake in coalition agreements at the expense of those who love equality and freedom.
Sincerely,
Daat Emet
jsadmin Staff answered 22 years ago
Hello.
The Charedi boy is taught, from early childhood, that he is the center of the world. For him was the world created and all must serve him because only he is fulfilling the will of G-d. Therefore it is no wonder that he feels comfortable with having people serve him.
They bring support for the nonsense of their faith from the introduction to the Commentary on the Mishnah:
If the point of creation is the complete and wise man, why did G-d create so many people who lack wisdom, follow their desires, and yet the wise man, the lone man amongst the multitude, is found only once in many generations?
The answer is that empty people exist to serve the wise man, for did all people seek wisdom and philosophy, the world would never be perfected…and if all people had to support themselves, who would find time to study and obtain wisdom? Therefore the rest of the people exist to do what must be done in the country, so that the wise man will find his needs readily available, to settle the land, and so wisdom will be available. He basically says that were it not for the madmen who work hard for a living, the rest of the world would be destroyed.
Thus all the religions think that for the wise man (he who fulfills “G-d’s will” as expressed in that religion) the rest of humanity was created, and they serve him. It is against this disgusting outlook that revolutions — such as the French revolution — have been launched, so that there might be equality and human rights for all, without distinction between sexes, races, religions, and education.
Sincerely,
Daat Emet