[Avodah] Torah Study vs. other contributions to society

[Samuel Svarc]

>From: "Rich, Joel" <JRich at sibson.com>
>Subject: Re: [Avodah] Torah Study vs. other contributions to society
>
>Is it correct that lshitatcha society has nothing to say in this
>decision and we assume that the unseen hand of the marketplace(HKB"H in
>disguise) will allocate the proper resources so that the sick are
>healed, the dead are buried...

I don't see where "society" comes into this. There are explicit halacha's
that deal with this, and one is supposed to make burial society's etc. If
the only people available to do this are people learning (a far-fetched
occurrence, which even in Lakewood - the town that most probably has the
highest percentage of full time learners - this doesn't occur...), then they
are the ones who need to take care of this, "Society" doesn't enter the
picture.

>Put another way do Roshei Yeshiva have an ethical responsibility to tell
>their major donors that HKB"H would prefer on a micro basis if they quit
>doing surgery and started learning full time?

If they are capable of this - learning full time - most definitely. I know
of at least one case where R' Ahron Kotler did that.

KT,
MSS