DH, maybe you don’t realize how many sick and starving Jews there are. How many people who NEED to be taken care of, not who WANT to be taken care of. I could give away every dollar I have right now and still not take care of the poor, starving kids I know or the sick people or the elderly…why in the world would I give it to a man who is perfectly capable of going out and feeding his family?
Maybe I am missing out on the mesiras nefesh of a Kollel man. It seems like everyone is sacrificing but him. He is obligated (no matter if he works or learns all day) to learn Torah. It is an obligation. It makes it easier for him to fulfill this obligation. It also makes it much easier for him to make minyanim. It makes it easier for him to deal with shabbos, yom tov and chol hamoed. It’s a lot easier to take off a day of Kollel than a day of work. There is no “bein hazmanim” for workers. What is he giving up?
His wife is giving up her right to be supported, and is often running herself ragged trying to raise the kids and work on a tight budget. The children are sometimes missing out on nutritious food or better clothing. Others are giving up money to support kollel families.
Again, if the bitachon of Kollel families is so great, why do they come asking for my money? Its not needed – if they really had bitachon, they would find the money right next to them. Obviously, we all have to live b’derech hateva in addition to our bitachon.
My mother always told me that money was like mun – Hashem gave you what you needed to live. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have to go to work to earn that money. It just meant a windfall usually came with an avenue for the money to go (like unexpected car repairs or whatnot).