That’s why we need many many Yeshivaleit and Kollelleit, so that we shouldn’t lose that one needle in the haystack who will be the next godol hador.
While not wanting to get into the argument of whether or not universal kollel is a good or bad idea, I do feel the need to point out that that’s not how things work. Increasing the number of people in kollel will NOT increase the odds of finding “the next Rav Pam.”
To use a secular analogy, consider major league baseball. There are 30 teams with 25 players per team (ignoring the disabled list and other such things). The number of players on those rosters represent the “cream of the crop” as far as baseball talent goes.
To help develop those players, the minor leagues exist. There are a number of minor leagues that supply players to the two major leagues. Currently, there are 19 leagues in minor league baseball (not counting independent leagues).
You might think that, in the hopes of producing the next superstar, there should be more minor leagues employing more minor leaguers. Alas, it wouldn’t work. The reason is because talent is distributed along a bell curve. Those playing major league baseball represent everyone in the 99.9th percentile or higher*. Those in the minors represent those in the 98th* percentile or higher. Anyone who was interested in becoming a superstar and had the potential is *already* playing ball. Adding more minor leaguers will simply add those in the 96th and 97th percentile, not those who are in the 99.999th percentile who go on to become the real superstars.
The same applies here as well. Adding more kollel students** will not cause you to find the “next Rav Pam.” The “next Rav Pam” (if he exists) is *already* in yeshiva/kollel learning. You can’t manufacture him by adding more kollel students, as any kollel students added will be of lesser quality, not greater.
Your argument might work if people attended kollel randomly. Then you can argue that the more you admit, the greater the chance of finding the next outlier. But people don’t attend kollel randomly. Those that have the necessary drive, desire and comportment to be the “next Rav Pam” will already be in kollel. If he’s not, then he probably doesn’t have those qualities anyway.
The Wolf
* No, that’s not the exact number — I’m just using it for illustration purposes.
** which, again, I’m not necessarily arguing is good or bad. That’s not the focus of my argument.