Something seems missing from the entire discussion here. We all seem to recognize the desperate need that yeshivos have for more funding. The abolishing of quite a few such sources from government subsidies made a bad situation worse. Challenging the efforts to correct this is that our communities are overwhelmed with charitable needs, and there are hundreds of organizations created to handle many of these. Shall we address the needs for medical and mental health care? How about infertile couples? How about families that are stricken with disabled parents? The pages of all of our frum media are filled with stories of tragedies coupled with desperate needs for funds. One doesn’t need to look beyond these pages to see the tragic variety of needs. How about the collectors who flood our shuls collecting for various individuals and organizations. Amcha Yisroel tzrichim parnosoh. Yet, anyone on the prowl for funding is apt to view his own cause the only one, or at least more deserving than another. That may be sad, but it is understandable.
Now, when people’s parnosoh suffers from limitations, will they cut their donations to yeshivos, their shul, other community needs, the collectors from elsewhere, the organizations for medical care funding, those addressing and helping couples with infertility, hachnosas kallah, etc? This can play on people’s emotions, and the efforts to control that are close to futile.
With all this, the implication from discussions about yeshivos is that these come before any other cause. I do not need to voice a position, just to note that there is a huge range of feelings about this. And this element seems missing from this discussion.
Try this statement. “It is more important that you donate your big bucks to yeshivos than to support families that need to marry off their children.” Does that go over well? Don’t take sides. But consider this.