Joseph

“But to say that bezman hazeh nobody should work…”

You keep repeating this. Yet NOT ONCE do any of the OP’s say that.

Please read them again.

Jothar: Please read the first eight posts on this thread in its entirety, and see if you still have any questions.

“the spiritual dangers most definitely did not exceed the physical benefit.”

I will take a Godol’s idea of when a spiritual danger exceeds a physical benefit any day over yours. Regardless of the circumstances, in your humble opinion.

“the advice was not to emigrate”

Even taking into account what I said above, this point of yours was the case in relatively few cases.

“few who did have the opportunity”

And like I keep pointing out, indeed it was very very few who even ever had this opportunity. It surely was never available in any large numbers, no matter the definition.

And it was never even desired amongst the populace (to emigrate) in large numbers. So lets quit slandering Rabbonim ZT’L with false implications if not claims.

And like admitted, the spiritual dangers of emigrating may have exceed the physical benefit. In the few exceptional cases that this did come before the clergy, the Rabbi may have correctly decided that someone would better risk dieing a Yid in Europe than a shaigets in America (or wherever.)

starwolf – There was nowhere for the European masses to go. The doors were closed, except for the very select few.

anon: As said…

“We have to be there, granted; we have to make a living for our families – which is a Mitzvah in itself – but we need to realize the price we pay for those necessities.”

and

“Yes, a woman’s place is at home. But also yes, the type of home you are supposed to have is a Torah home, a Torah-husband and Torah-father at its helm. The question is, if you can only have one of those two positive elements of a home, which is more important? The answer is having a husband and father who is a Talmid Chacham, or better yet, the biggest Talmid Chacham he can be, is the more important of the two. So if you can have both, fine; if not, then we choose learning.”

TRADE-OFFS

Nobody disagrees with the fact that it is better to have the mother home to raise the kids full time. But in a situation where you cant have that AND a Kollel father and husband at the same time, which of those two has to fall by the wayside?

The answer is, you take whichever you think is MORE important: a mother always being home or a father who is the biggest talmid chacham he can be.

Someone in Lakewood once expressed to Rav Schenuer Kotler ZT’L about how if he stays in Kollel his children will be deprived of many things they would have otherwise. Rav Schenuer responded that providing them with a father who is a Talmid Chacham is more important than any of those things. And he should think hard before depriving them of that.

Yes, a woman’s place is at home. But also yes, the type of home you are supposed to have is a Torah home, a Torah-husband and Torah-father at its helm.

The question is, if you can only have one of those two positive elements of a home, which is more important?

The answer is having a husband and father who is a Talmid Chacham, or better yet, the biggest Talmid Chacham he can be, is the more important of the two.

So if you can have both, fine; if not, then we choose learning.

This is not considered making a “compromise” in religion, since either way you will have to give up something – the only question is what has to give.

Furthermore, there is a special concept surrounding the Mitzvah of learning that does not apply to any other Mitzvah, a concept that affects both Halachah and Hashkafa, that is, Torah learning in the world is so important that we prioritize Torah learning in a way that we would never do with other Mitzvos. For instance, normally, if you have a choice between you doing a Mitzvah or you causing someone else to do a Mitzvah, we say chayecha kodem – your Mitzvah comes first. So if you can afford one pair of Tefillin, you use it yourself as opposed to giving it away to someone else. However, with regard to Torah learning, the Halachah is that if a father can afford one Rebbi, either for him or his son, if his son has potential to be a Talmid Chacham, he should give the Rebbi to his son, and forgo his own learning. Such an idea exists nowhere except regarding Torah learning.

Another for instance: Living off Tzedakah is frowned upon in the Torah. However, the Shach writes that nowadays, if the only way you will be able to learn is to live of the public, then it would be an aveirah not to do so, because how else will we have the maximum amount of Talmdei Chachamim in the world?

Here’s another one:

Yes, you may not be able to go shopping as much as you like, but there are other, this-worldly benefits that to those who have them. more than make up for that.

It is a very, very, very different life.