A Kollel is an institute for Jewish learning for adults; they have traditionally been a Yeshiva for married men. In the past 30 years almost 50 North American Community Kollels have been opened by Yeshiva trained scholars as centers for adult-ed and outreach to the entire Jewish community. The activities of these institutions have taken a serious look at the need for adult education and have addressed this need with extensive programming including sincere and successful efforts at reaching out to the unaffiliated Jewish community. Another development has been a small number of Kollels have been opened by those affiliated with Reform Judaism or Conservative Judaism.
In the Orthodox Jewish community a Kollel is effectively an institute for advanced Talmudic study often attached to an advanced Yeshiva. A Community Kollel connotes the inclusion of a community education outreach program. Topics include everything from Hebrew to advanced Talmud. The motto of the Community Kollel is "Come Learn With Us!" and the emphasis is on text study allowing the sources to speak rather than the teachers' opinions. Community Kollels strive to bring the excitement, wisdom and a personal connection to Torah to every Jew regardless of background or affiliation. Across the United States, Community Kollels have been a dynamic catalyst for community development and successful outreach to the unaffiliated Jewish Community. In the non-Orthodox Jewish community a kollel is an adult-ed program or center that has courses available on Talmud, Midrash, learning Hebrew, Jewish ethics and related topics; less emphasis is given to Talmud.
A great champion for Kollelim (plural) was Rabbi Aharon Kotler, the founder of Beis Medrash Govoha, a Yeshiva in Lakewood. The Community Kollel Movement was instigated by Torah Umesorah - The National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, (headed by Rabbi Kotler until his death in 1963) in the early '70s with Kollels in Los Angeles and Detroit Other examples of successful Community Kollels include, DATA Kollel in Dallas, TX, Atlanta Scholar's Kollel and Phoenix Community Kollel among others.
Most Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva students study in Kollel for a year or two after they get married, whether or not they will pursue a rabbinic career. Modest stipends or the salaries of their wives and increased wealth have made Kollel study commonplace for Yeshiva graduates. The largest U.S. Kollel is at Rabbi Kotler's Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood N.J. with over 1500 scholars attached to the Yeshiva which is 3500 strong in total. In the Israeli Haredi Jewish community thousands of men study full-time in a Kollel for many years. This has been known at times to cause a great deal of resentment from the Israeli public at large, garnering criticism from the Modern Orthodox, non-Orthodox and secular Jewish community. The Haredi community defenda this practice with the argument that Judaism must cultivate Torah scholarship the same way that the secular academic world does, despite the great financial cost.
Yeshiva students who learn in Kollel often go on to become Rabbis, Poskim (decisors of Jewish law), or teachers.
See also
External links
Sources
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The World of the Yeshiva: An Intimate Portrait of Orthodox Jewry William B. Helmreich, KTAV Publishing House; ISBN 0881256412; Augmented edition (February 2000)
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The way we were before our destruction: Lives of Jewish students from Vilna who perished during the Holocaust Yulian I. Rafes, VIA Press ; YIVO Institute for Jewish Research ; ISBN 188556306X; (July 1, 1998)
