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YWN,, among others, continually run donation pleas for families that have lost a patent.
Years ago I was sitting on a plane next to a frum guy on an airplane and we got to talking. He was retired and he had on the mission of visiting yeshivas and kollels all over the country. Why? To show how they could purchase inexpensive group life insurance that could avoid families being reduced to begging.
He wasn’t make much headway.
The point was raised years ago in the CR and the objections to life insurance seemed to be rooted in showing a lack of bitachon.
Comments?Machlokes. You have great Gedolim on both sides.
Joseph,
Even though there are great people on the side of not buying, it is doubtful that most people without it are followers of those gedolim.
Joseph,
I will add that I know of one Rebbe (Not the largest group by any means) and a huge Gadol from the last generation.Other than that, nearly everyone is supportive of life insurance.
A $250,000 term life insurance policy is fairly cheap, the community would have great difficulty raising that kind of money no matter how generous they tried to be
“it is doubtful that most people without it are followers of those gedolim.”
And you know this, how? Why are you assuming that most of them are followers of Gedolim who support it?
“Other than that, nearly everyone is supportive of life insurance.”
You took a survey of Gedolim?
I have had discussions similar to the one the OP mentioned with people who have these concerns.
These people have been in touch with groups across the the Frum spectrum and only 2 names came up as opposed. One of them is still alive.
I have no familiarity with the Halacha of life insurance, so I have no basis for saying that the idea that Halacha prohibits the purchase of life insurance is nuts. But I will say it anyway: it’s nuts. If you have a family, the breadwinners need life insurance.
Huju
That’s very brave of you. Thank you for speaking out.Some people prefer paying for medical care or groceries rather than buying life insurance. If you can afford, say “Baruch ha-Shem”.
Importance of Life Insurance….a different perspective
Sidestepping halachic viewpoints (and my Rav believes in life insurance).
Here in CT (where my family law practice is).
If a couple divorces and a spouse is ordered to pay alimony and/or child support, it is standard practice that the civil courts require that spouse to carry life insurance for the entire term of the alimony and/or child support so the ex-spouse and/or children don’t suffer economically if the paying spouse dies, AND the government doesn’t end up supporting them through social welfare programs.1) Worrying about something highly unlikely to happen is the very definition of lack of bitochon.
2) Also it makes more financial sense theoretically for the Kehilla to support those cases where a parent is tragically niftar young, than for everyone in the Kehilla to pay for life insurance. If this wasn’t true then the insurance companies would be running a loss. If everyone would pay the amount they pay life insurance into a fund for this purpose, the fund would be able to provide the same amount of money to these unfortunate families, and have a lot left over (equal to the insurance company’s profit margin). That is the idea of Areivim if I remembered the name right. If I’m not mistaken Areivim has the haskomo of Gedolim who don’t like normal life insurance, as the monies paid to them are considered tzedoko to those families who need it, even though the donations make your own family eligible for similar help (I think you can even pay from Maaser).
3) Finally in many countries there is a generous welfare scheme. If there is life insurance, the family may not be eligible for these benefits. So part of the premiums the family paid goes to saving the government money. Whereas if the Kehilla would pitch in when needed, the welfare programs could be used and the Kehilla would only need to top this up. I imagine the same is true of Areivim if the people who set it up thought of this.
Joseph: Can you show a clear and reliable reference to such an opinion among gedolim? I’ve heard it said over in the name of the chofetz chaim, but, I tried to corroborate that to no avail. To the contrary, there are members are the family clearly deny that he said that.
The Chazon Ish.
עי’ בס’ הבית היהודי
ח”י (פרק מא הערה 21 (שהביא כן בשם החזו”א הוב”ד בס’ פאר הדור.As I was taught some 40 years ago, when a judge sentences a man to death, the judge does not take into mind who will support the family after this man’s death. But Hakodosh Baruch Hu does. So if there is no income for the family besides that of the father, Hashem will often keep the man alive. But if there IS….
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