When people will be complaining in the coffee room about being unable to find clients despite having a few years’ experience as a well-regarded Shalom Bayis counselor, then I’ll grant you that we will have reached a saturation point – at which point you can be concerned about dilution of talent.
I agree with you here. If you don’t have enough people to fill the positions, dilution of talent doesn’t really matter.
If someone decides in Bais Medrish of Kollel that they want to learn, they are given the option to do so. Furthermore, those who have no chance of “becoming the next Rav Pam” are not told to get a job, but are allowed to remain in kollel, expanding the number of positions needed.
Most kollellim have entrance standards. They do NOT take anyone who walks in off the street and announces he wants to sit and learn. This is because there are only so many potential kollel positions available. You cannot expand kollel indefinitely simply because at some point, we can no longer financially support them.
In addition, your rejoinder about Minor League ball doesn’t really stand up either. Minor League Baseball doesn’t turn away those who don’t have a prayer of being a Derek Jeter either. The minor leagues are filled with players who have no chance to play at the major league level, let alone be a superstar. True, you have to have a certain level of talent, but you certainly don’t have to have the potential to be a superstar.
Lastly, you missed what was perhaps the most important point — it takes more than talent to be the top at any field, be it baseball or learning or just about anything else. It takes drive, determination, effort, perseverance and a genuine love and desire to do whatever it you’re doing. Most people don’t suddenly wake up one morning with those qualities — they’re largely innate qualities that one often has or does not have. To be the “next Rav Pam” you have to have those qualities — and someone who has those qualities is *already* learning and striving toward the goal. He’s not a computer programmer or lawyer or accountant looking to quit his job. Someone who has that rare combination of qualities could probably do nothing else but learn.
The Wolf