yekke2: “Yes, we all agree that there are those who don’t belong in Kollel. There are people in every sector of humanity who don’t belong, who are simply working on the benefits a specific vocation would have for them, and skirt the responsibilities it comes with. But these are a minority. And to say that this is the entire Kollel community is nothing short of ????? ?? ??”.
How many people do you suppose there are in mathematics faculties who don’t belong there? Very few. And you know why? Because you don’t go to study math unless you want to. And if you find out it’s not for you, you can leave. And if you don’t like it that much, you can dedicate just part of your time to it and do something else in your remaining time.
That’s not the situation with learning in kolel in the litvak community. You don’t chooses to go to kolel. You have to go, regardless of your abilities and inclinations. You might hate it, but you still can’t leave. You must spend two thirds of your waking yours there.
How many people who are out of place do you suppose such an institution yields? Considering the above, I’d be very surprised if batlonus wasn’t a very significant part of kolels. But you don’t have to guess. You can just go and see for yourself. You will find many people who outright do nothing. You’?l find even more who learn torah in the least enthusiastic way possibly. You can call them “yeveshim” (dry) or whatever you like. Clearly the last thing they have is motivation.
“This is a disgusting portrayal of bitter people determined to talk down a beautiful lifestyle which makes them feel inferior”.
What makes them feel inferior is not just the lifestyle, but partly a sociaty that’s determined to look down at them, for reasos that are everything except yiras shomaim.