My beloved friend R' CYA Shlita sent me this. [A veritable MECHAYE to link a shiur from someone other than that "guy" I usually link to].
Truer than true!! If a boy is not cut out for learning full time then forcing him to do so can be destructive. Earning an honest living is more than admirable.
A few comments on the shiur:
1] We can't say that if the boy just goes to work everything will be fine b/c he will go to shul on time and learn a little bit every day . Many people who leave Yeshiva fall much lower [as evidenced by the chartered plane story]. Not everybody is cut out to learn but just going to work isn't the only solution. People need to learn how to connect to Torah and Tfilla which is not always so simple.
2] Going to the army in Israel often leads already shaky boys completely off the derech. The army is good for a strong hesder boy who is into learning and goes to the army b/c he believes that it is a mitzva. But a boy whose head is in his smartphone and isn't connected to ruchniyus will often go completely off the derech in the army. Some shaky boys are matured by the army. Others are not. It is a מקום סכנה - תרתי משמע.
Someone once asked the Chazon Ish: If I go to the army I won't go off the derech but I will feel "kaltkeit" [coldness] towards Yiddishkeit. May I go?
Chazon Ish: "Kaltkeit" in Avodas Hashem is יהרג ואל יעבר.
I repeat - Losing passion for serving Hashem is worse than dying a physical death. Not me saying that. Rabban Shel Kol Yisroel the Chazon Ish said that.
3] The reason kids in Yeshiva get sick so often I believe is because they sleep very little [not always b/c they are learning...], eat a diet poor of nutrition and thus the immune system is weak. In addition, the germs and illnesses are passed around the dorm easily.
4] The assertion that girls should look to marry boys who work b/c an Ehrliche Yid who works will have the same home as one who learns is misleading.
There is nothing wrong with working. It is a mitzva. It is what Jewish men have done from time immemorial. There is nothing wrong with marrying a working man [והא ראיה - My mother did just that!!!:-)]. טוב תורה עם דרך ארץ!!!! That is a line from Avos and not only from Rav Hirsch.
But [big "but"] a home where the father is learning full time is generally a different type of home. If a girl wants a home where all that exists is Talmud Torah and Avodas Hashem and not the stock market or the real estate market - that is admirable and she shouldn't be discouraged [especially if her father will buy her an apartment in Ramat Eshkol :-) - as RW mentioned in the shiur].
Again - there is nothing wrong with investing in the stock market or real estate market [especially if 20 percent of the profits go to Tzedaka as they should if he can afford it] but if that is what the father is doing all day then that will impact the home in a different way than when the father is learning three sedarim a day.
5] Show me a person who works and is not connected to the Internet. There are PLENTY of Kollel guys who don't own a smartphone or go on-line. That is a HUGE deal and impacts the home and חינוך הבנים והבנות. [I am connected to the Internet which is the platform I use for the blog so I am not saying that I am better than those who use it... I am actually worse for many reasons but this is not about me.]
6] I don't know why Yeshivos allow smoking and drinking. One Mashgiach once told me that you have to know how to choose your battles. If they fight smoking then they can't fight other things.
Not convinced.
7] Long Bein Hazmanim - I used to say that it is not a "year" of learning in Israel but about six months. Between weekends, Chanuka vacation, Pesach vacation, Summer vacation, Succos vacation, sick times, parents coming and going away with them, random days off to do chesed etc. etc. there ain't much left.
We can do better. Youth is the IDEAL time to grow in learning and develop skills and Ahavas Torah. SOOOOOOOOO much of it goes to waste.
