Kollel
A kollel (
History
Original sense
Originally, the word was used in the sense of "community". Each group of European Jews settling in Israel established their own community with their own support system. Each community was referred to as the "kollel of [place-name]" to identify the specific community of the Old Yishuv. The overwhelming majority of these Jews were scholars who left their homelands to devote themselves to study Torah and serve God for the rest of their lives. The kollel was the umbrella organization for all their needs.
The first examples were
Modern sense
The first kollel – in the modern sense of the term – in the
Two people can be considered to have spearheaded
Currently, the term is applied in America to any stipend given for yeshiva study and is now a general term for the yeshivah approach to life.[4]
Philosophy
The philosophy of the kollel, in which members are subsisting on support from others, is part of an overall philosophy of some Orthodox Jews, that God desires that the children of Israel primarily occupy themselves in this world with the study of the
Structure
Leadership
Most kollels have a scholar serving as a He decides on the subject matter studied by the kollel. In many cases he also has to spend considerable time fund-raising to support the kollel.
Many kollels employ former students – avrechim (אברכים), sg. avrech (אברך) – as fundraisers, often giving them titles such as Executive Director or Director of Community Programming. Fundraising projects may include sponsorships of specific events or "day(s) of learning."
Student body
Many Orthodox Jewish yeshiva students study in kollel for a year or two after they get married, whether or not they will pursue a rabbinic career.
Kollel has been known at times to cause a great deal of friction with the secular Israeli public at large. It has been criticized by the Modern Orthodox, non-Orthodox, and secular Jewish communities. The Haredi community defends the practice of kollel on the grounds that Judaism must cultivate Torah scholarship in the same way that the secular academic world conducts research into subject areas. While costs may be high in the short run, in the long run the Jewish people will benefit from having numerous learned laymen, scholars, and rabbis. (See also: Religious relations in Israel)
Yeshiva students who learn in kollel often continue their studies and become
Community kollelim
In the late 20th century, community kollelim were introduced.
In the past years about 30 Haredi community kollelim in North America have been opened by yeshiva-trained scholars to serve, in addition to the full-time study by the members of the kollel, as centers for adult education and outreach to the Jewish communities in which they located themselves.[21][22] Topics include everything from basic Hebrew to advanced Talmud. In addition to imparting Torah knowledge, such kollels function to impart technical skills required for self-study.
Many
In recent years there have been established a number of Chassidishe Kollelim as well, such as the Chicago Chassidishe Kollel,[23][24] the Los Angeles Kollel Yechiel Yehudah, and others. Unlike most community Kollelim that primarily focus on in depth
Criticism
Maimonides in his code of Jewish law,[28] is very critical of those that study Torah without having a source of income and rely on charity, to the extent that he calls it a disgrace to God and to the Torah.
However, the kollel system is both a popular and accepted one in many Orthodox Jewish circles, yet some maintain that a distinction must be made between a situation of mutual desire for such by both the learner and the supporter and, on the other hand, communities that put pressure on the learner to join and remain in a kollel while simultaneously putting pressure on the community to support such an individual.[29]
Some other criticisms of the modern kollel system include:
- The difficult financial burden placed on individuals who are less than willing to support institutions for kollel studies.[30]
- The complex halachic permissibility of receiving financial support for Torah study, while avoiding preparation for a future occupation.[31]
- The community-wide poverty that often accompanies the system[32] along with its effect on the larger economy.[33]
- The convention of isolation from daily life, social interactions and a career resulting in studies being divorced from actual day-to-day practice.[34]
- The lack of standardized testing and regular supervision which allows for misuse of time intended for study.[35]
- The focus on thorough examination of a relatively few number of pages of halachah and other areas of Jewish literature.[36]
References
- ^ "Kollel".
kollels generally pay a regular monthly stipend to their married members.
- ^ "Kovno Kollel". Spectroom.com.
The Kovno Kollel also known as Kollel Perushim of Kovno or Kollel Knesses Beis Yitzchok, was ...
- ISBN 1583305831.
Kollel Kovno was the first kernel of the yeshivah, established in 5637 (1877).
- ^ a b "Kollel".
The first kollel .. was the Kovno Kollel, the "Kollel Perushim" founded in Kovno (Lithuania) in 1877. The ten students were required to separate from their families, except for the Sabbath, and devote themselves to studying for the Rabbinate.
- ^ "herbert ta - The Breman Museum" (PDF).
Yitzchak Elchanan Yeshiva is also known as the Kovno Kollel (also known as ... It was founded in 1877 by Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin Salanter
[permanent dead link] - ^ "It takes a Kollel" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-09-29. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
..Kollel ... under the guidance of Rabbi Aharon Kotler. At first, he traveled to each community ...
- ^ "Rabbi Aharon Kotler".
The Legacy Of Maran Rav Aharon Kotler: A Vivid Portrait of ... the kollel philosophy ...
- ^ "An Orthodox community comes of age in Waterbury". The Jewish Ledger. May 18, 2010.
This year, the Waterbury Jewish community turns 10. ... a little extra, so they bring in a yeshiva or a kollel or more young families. ... until the dreamer approached Torah Umesorah, the national society of Orthodox day schools and ...
- ^ "The Emergence of the Community Kollel: A New Model". February 22, 2016.
.. communities in North America: the community kollel. .... as a unique movement within American Orthodoxy. ... the Torah Umesorah educational network
- ^ "The Torah-Business Partnership".
... person supports the other who learns Torah, and the reward is shared between the two of them, has come to be known as a "Yissachar-Zevulun" partnership.
- ^ "Yissachar/Zevulun Relationships". 13 April 2018.
Tzitz Eliezer on Yissachar/Zevulun Relationships ... who study Torah, but this kind of arrangement only works if it's a partnership
- ^ "Bereshit Rabbah 99:9".
- ^ "The Kollel Community". JewishJournal.com. 7 March 2002.
Rabbi Chaim Fasman now holds the position of rosh kollel (head) of Kollel Los Angeles Bais Avrohom, the largest of six kollels in Los Angeles, with 15 full-time learners. ... you need years of training to become a Torah scholar.
- ^ "History".
... Sunday morning by the Rosh Kollel Harav Shlomo Miller Shlita
- ^ Helmreich, W. The World of the Yeshiva (The Free Press, 1982), p. 261
- ^ "Our Faculty & Staff - Shapell's Darche Noam". Archived from the original on 2018-10-23. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
... studied at Yeshiva University's Gruss Kollel, where he earned smicha.
- ^ "Kollel Toronto". January 11, 2017.
Toronto's Kollel graduates have become Rabbis
- ^ "Kollel: What is it and why is everybody doing it?".
... kollelim, lit. a "group" or "collection" [of scholars]) is an ... and are supported by ... the Jewish community (or sometimes ...). ... recent innovation that was introduced in the late 20th century as a response to ...
- ^ Adam S. Ferziger. "Emergence of the Community Kollel" (PDF).
... analogy to the twentieth century "community kollelim" in which young families ... The introduction of a new, organized framework ...
- ^ Ferziger, Adam F. (2006). "The Emergence of the Community Kolel: A new model for addressing assimilation" (PDF). The Rappaport Center for Assimilation Research and Strengthening Jewish Vitality, Bar Ilan University. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
- ^ "Adult Education - Vaad Hoeir of St. Louis". Archived from the original on 2017-12-24. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
That purpose is to offer Jewish education to all Jews, regardless of level of ... to the values of community, family and educational outreach. The Kollel provides ...
- ^ "Community : Bensalem Jewish Outreach Center".
- ^ "JUF : Guide to Jewish Living : Chicago Chassidishe Kollel".
- ^ "The Chesed of Chicago". 8 September 2022.
- ^ a b "Kollel Zichron Yitzchok Zev/ The Chassidishe Kollel… | The Chicago Jewish Home". 2019-01-03. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
- ^ "Happening in… Issue 941". 20 December 2022.
- ^ "Photo Gallery: Yungeleit from the Chicago Chassidishe Kollel are tested on all of hilchos basar b'chalav and taaruvos by hagaon Rav Avrohom Hersh Wosner, shlit".
- ^ Laws of Torah Study, chapter 3 halacha 10–11
- ^ Sokol, Sam (November 26, 2014). "US haredim seek to share kollels' 'burden'". JPost.com. The Jerusalem Post.
- ^ Prager, Dennis (December 1, 2010). "Ultra-Orthodox Yeshivas and secular universities". Jewish Journal.
- ISBN 1-58330-556-4. Archived from the originalon 2016-08-12. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
- ^ Leibler, Isi (June 19, 2016). "Israel and Diaspora Jewry – A Looming Crisis". The Algemeiner Journal.
This has economic implications and dooms most haredim to poverty, dependence on welfare or on the earnings of their wives.
- ^ Goldman, Mordechai (January 28, 2016). "Israel support for yeshiva students up by 53%. Is it enough?". Al-Monitor.
There is nothing in Jewish history that compares to this society of learners. It is very serious and very dangerous for us to encourage ultra-Orthodox men to remain in kollels. It causes enormous harm to the economy.
- ^ Prager, Dennis (December 1, 2010). "Ultra-Orthodox Yeshivas and secular universities". Jewish Journal.
- ^ Novick, Akiva (October 24, 2010). "'We yeshiva students barely study'". Ynet News.
- ISBN 978-965-7044-06-3.
One of the great deficiencies in yeshiva students is their absorption with depth of study to the exclusion of quantity. Thus, after many years of study they are shockingly ignorant of huge amounts of Talmud. At the same time there is a vast ignorance of the practical halachic rulings in everyday life.
Sources
- The World of the Yeshiva: An Intimate Portrait of Orthodox Jewry William B. Helmreich, KTAV Publishing House; ISBN 0-88125-641-2; Augmented edition (February 2000)
- The way we were before our destruction: Lives of Jewish students from Vilna who perished during the Holocaust Yulian I. Rafes, VIA Press ; ISBN 1-885563-06-X; (July 1, 1998)