Lior,
“old man” also vouched for the letter’s bonafides.
He did not; he stated that the letter satisfied his opinion of the Israeli Chareidi mindset. Your googling suggestion was much more helpful.
Most of the dangers mentioned by the RY are equally applicable in the U.S.
You and I are in basic agreement here. I’m not disputing the portion of the letter discussing college education. The dangers discussed are real. What raised red flags for me was the dichotomy between the first portion of the letter, which alluded to food insecurity, and the latter portion, which implied that kollel families made ostentatious purchases. Old man is right, I am not inside the Israeli Chareidi world, but among all the kollel families I know in my area, I don’t see any luxurious wasteful spending.
The RY may have been concerned about the perception you mention (i.e. ivory towers) due to the illegitimate external criticism made on these topics which inevitably filters back into our communities.
This is possible, and perhaps the R”Y would have a very different response to an individual than what he wrote in this letter which was targeted to a community as a whole. I guess I read it from the perspective of an individual.
“Rabbi, we don’t have enough money for food. Can I go to Kefira State University to get a degree in computer science?”
“No, for X, Y, and Z, reasons.”
“OK Rabbi, but what should I do about feeding my family?”
“Stop spending 4 bucks on Starbucks every weekday, that’ll save you $1252 a year.”
“But I don’t buy Starbucks…”
About the Borsalino thing, maybe there’s some kind of mishegas going around the more well-to-do families in EY about frequently getting a new hat. Who knows; there are certainly far worse bad habits in the secular world.
Maybe.
Lior: What do you think about an expansion of distance (e.g., online, or even through correspondence) courses and accelerated degree programs that allow people to attain a degree without having to go to a campus or take unrelated liberal arts coursework?