Kollel כולל

What is a kollel

A kollel is an institute for full-time study of Talmud and halacha. Like a yeshiva it has shiurim and sedarim, but its members are mostly married yungeleit ^[1]. A kollel usually pays its members a monthly stipend ^[1].

History

The word "kollel" once meant a community, like the kollelim in Yerushalayim that supported the Jews from each country ^[1]. The first kollel in the modern sense was the Kovno Kollel, "Kollel Perushim", founded in 1877 by Rabbi Yisroel Salanter ^[1]. Today there are kollelim everywhere, from Lakewood to Bnei Brak, and many yungeleit learn in kollel for some years after marriage ^[1].

A day in kollel

A yungerman arrives early, coffee in one hand and shtender key in the other. He has a chavrusa, a "chaburah" to say in a few weeks, and a rosh kollel asking "nu, what's the pshat?". He is the only person in the world who can say about a chiluk "this is my parnassa", and mean it.