AAQ: I don’t know who he is or, better, who he is to disagree with Chazal. And whether he “had a different opinion” or not, no one else is subject to follow his “different opinion”.
I am not focusing on community support; in fact I made no mention or reference to it. explicit or implicit, in my earlier comments. But since you raised it now, there’s no reason I see why the community might choose to not support both the hypothetical aforementioned masmidim I described.
Regarding army service or kollel service, which in your eyes you disingenuously equate, and in fact explicitly refer to above, as simply “not working”, absolutely. Chazal are abundantly clear that in regards to Limud Torah effort is all that counts. Ben Torah #1, who as described above, spends his whole day learning and it takes him one full month to master one pasuk in Bereishis puts in 9 hours a day swaeting over his Chumash, every day, until he finally finishes one pasuk after a month. Compared to Ben Torah #2, who masters a new Mesechta with Rashi, Tosfos and all the Meforshim every month, but let’s say he “only” learns 5 hours a day, and for him its all a breeze as Shas and Meforshim come easily to him even without much effort, so he takes some extra coffee breaks and shmoozes more than Ben Torah #1 (the one who does a pasuk a month). Then Ben Torah #1 is much more worthy than Ben Torah #2 (with his mastering a new mesechta each month) and Ben Torah #1 is most definitely more worthy (than Ben Torah #2) to be in the Beis Medrash full time each day, with no army service, or as you would put it “not working”, and Ben Torah #1 is doing far more to protect every Jew in Eretz Yisroel (and elsewhere) than Ben Torah #2 (who is also doing a lot for Klal Yisroel.)
If I could only support one of the above, my check will definitely be going to Ben Torah #1. And if I could only choose one whose learning will be a Zchus for my family’s safety, it would also be Ben Torah #1.