where-jewish-life-thrives-in-america

Is this a sustainable model for 55,000 people?

I think it is still a generation or 2 away. Aside from the govt, this is being funded from people who are professionals, no? How many doctors are going to be coming out of this program to help fund their sons and sons in law to learn all day?

it just seems the numbers keep growing and the benefactors dying out.

In the few hours since the article went up I’ve heard a lot of criticism about how the Lakewood system is unsustainable or how it’s an innovation that’s not true Judaism. Others say that claims of unsustainability have been around forever and Lakewood marches on.

Both sides fail to acknowledge that this is the way it has always been – no, not the system as conceived in Lakewood, but a general Jewish community with varying levels of observance. Those at the center of observance have always thought that everyone else is essentially goyim, but have always looked to those same people for support. Meanwhile, the people at lower levels of observance have always thought that the people at the more intense levels were nuts, but also understood that they were necessary for the continuity of Judaism.

While the specific expressions have changed – Reform, Conservative, and other categories of Jews who engage religion less intensely now lean on ideology; and Charedim rely on re-imagining the history of Orthodoxy, the practical roles are essentially the same.