Should I say I don’t play so I can’t say? Naw, we all dream. Ok, so here it is, Tzedaka is a given so Maaser comes off the top, that doesn’t or wouldn’t belong to me anyway. Then of course I would help my kids and put aside money for my grandkids “cause you never, ever know!” Yes I would do that before I opened the doors or answered a phone call. And then I would help my nieces and nephews that need help because family comes first before strangers and of course their parents.
OK, so I covered family right? OH gee, I forgot myself. Well I am entitled to do the things I always wanted to and finish the projects we never got around to or never had money to do right or complete. If there was money left over after that, I would keep doing what I have been doing until now and help those Hashem sends my way. That does NOT mean collectors at the doors or Yeshivas who all of a sudden found out I existed but didn’t know me when my kids needed a place to go or I was trying to help a client with one of their kids. I would never, ever give $$$$ to a yeshiva that throws kids out. Sorry, that is OUR policy. And I wouldn’t support a Kollel unless the talmidim had farhers and tests and had an actual plan of getting semicha and becoming Rabbonim and Poskim. That is my shita. I think it is wonderful that so many men learn these days if they can, but just because every Rosh Yeshiva needs to make a parnasah so they open their “own” kollel does not mean I have to support their dream. MY dream is helping kids, so if I met a yungerman who loved learning and needed support to become a Rav and a posek because he had a true ahavas yisroel, then I would support that particular man and not necessarily the mosad he chose to sit in. I would concentrate on the people themselves and how THEY needed my assistance because I don’t trust our current institutions. Sorry, but truly I don’t trust the system and I don’t trust anyone involved in orchestrating, promoting or administering it. I deal too much with its failures.
But that’s me, what’s your dream?