Kollel/working men rant

↑ miami85

Today at 12:21 pm

amother Celeste wrote:

Honestly no. It's one thing if the husband is in kollel and the wife is working, and they still need programs. Fine I am totally okay with that. But to not work davka so you can get all these programs? So you can stay home with your kids but the rest of us can't? I take serious issue with that. Welfare is for poor people. Not for people who are deciding to be in poverty. And yes, I have issues with everyone who takes advantage of the system. Jews or non Jews. It's lazy and selfish.

The problem with this is that there is a huge "welfare chasm" in this country that disincentivizes work. When we finally left Kollel it was because I made $3k over the Medicaid limit--which kicked us off Medicaid, and WIC and we never got food stamps, and this was during the height of Obamacare which meant I was paying an exorbitant fee for insurance for a plan that my husband and I couldn't find a doctor on, and had to put my kids on CHiP and we just couldn't afford Kollel life anymore. So my husband got a job, with a family health insurance plan, but him working meant added car, added insurance, less time for him to cook, clean, and wash dishes which he did during his yeshiva lunch break. Since was now working we didn't qualify for a lot of the kollel benefits anymore so prices went up. We also started paying yeshiva elementary tuition. So even though he was working, we weren't necessarily financially "better off". I know a couple--I don't know how they did it, but it was worth it for the wife to work part-time and get all the medicaid and food stamps rather than her work more.

amother

Lightgreen

Today at 12:28 pm

amother OP wrote:

It’s not just on one person
Most of the kollel couples I know live this way. Bash me all you want, I just dont see the true kollel couples anymore.

Op, there are thousands of kollel families. How could you possibly know the financial dealings of more than a tiny few? Ridiculous.