Reply To: Kollel Life in Eretz Yisroel is More Difficult and a Greater Sacrifice than Army

Again, you’re latching unto one of over half a dozen programs I mentioned. Food Stamps goes from age 0 through 120, child and adult. The Israeli equeivelent of Food Stamps is notably less generous than the U.S. version. Medicaid is entirely free. And other programs. Health insurance, including free medicaid and other subsidized healthcare in the U.S. (Child Health Plus, etc.) pays the entire cost of childbirth.

And PELL as well as State programs (TAP in NYS) pay a lot of money to Beis Medrash/Kollel.

The bottom line is that full time learners in the US are financially better off and receive more government aid than their counterparts in Israel. And, unlike Israel, the Americans who learn instead of going to the army are not legally prohibited by the State from working in the future until age 27 – as Israel forces poverty by making it illegal for them to work.