Dear Syag,
Thanks for pointing that out the way you did. My purpose in that post was one thing. To say that a husband learning is not in violation of his agreement with his wife. Every time a thread gets near that topic, it rains down from a range of posters that kollel is the ultimate hypocrisy because of umm, well, yeah, that one… kesubah! And they are lying. Sitting and learning absolves the husband of the entire kesubah. Not just providing for her. It is explicit in the Mishna. And the most famous example is Rabi Akiva. The neighbor said to her, “until when would you allow yourself to be a widow of the living?” Your response #1976593 echoes Rachel’s.
Now to what this means. To really acquire Torah one must be ready to sacrifice everything. Just as a husband who is a pilot will be away more than a husband who is a taxi driver, one who is acquiring Torah will be away from his wife indefinitely. Kesubah does not relate to salary. The poor pilot and the rich pilot have the same terms of absence. The husband being there for the wife is a crucial aspect of their partnership. Marriage is not about the money. Since every Jews career is in Torah, it follows that every serious student has the option of fully investing himself in Torah.
In-town kollel is a different setup. In that the husband would be obligated to come home, at least occasionally. I did not fully cover the topic, as there is different challenges to raise. And it is better to dilute the proper responses. But again I only came to say that the idea that kesubah forbids kollel is false.