Q&A: Hello, Honorable Rabbi
Hello, Honorable Rabbi
Question
As a 21-year-old Jewish baal teshuva, would you recommend that I go study at a university or some other institution in order to get a certificate for future work? Or would you recommend that I go to a yeshiva and combine it with work, or not combine it at all?
I believe, and I have many questions that I’ve already asked on the site. I have many questions about contradictions that I don’t understand.
Answer
Hello Daniel.
I would recommend that you look after your future. When and how depends on you and on your financial and other circumstances, so it’s hard for me to say something general on the matter. If you can devote years now to study in a yeshiva in order to build yourself up, that can always be beneficial, but the option of doing so alongside studies and professional training also exists.
Discussion on Answer
With God’s help, 19 Shevat 5777
The Sages were involved not only in “simple trades.” Shmuel was an expert in medicine and astronomy, and so were Maimonides and Nachmanides.
Today there are places where one can study a respectable, well-paying profession in a Torah atmosphere and framework, while having a structured study schedule and classes at a yeshiva level, such as “The Jerusalem College of Technology – Lev Institute,” founded by Rabbi Prof. Ze’ev Lev, who was a physicist and a great Torah scholar.
There are also Haredi centers that provide academic-level training for in-demand professions, where one can study alongside yeshiva studies.
Best regards, S. Z. Levinger
This seems very reasonable—why doesn’t the state put it into law?
Forgive me for asking it this way… isn’t worrying about the future a form of heresy?
That is, anyone who already has bread in his basket and asks what will be tomorrow is not really trusting in God.
Also, the more I learn from the wisdom of the Sages, the more it seems that most jobs and professions today are against His will, unlike the simple trades that the Sages practiced.