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Kollel
A kollel (Hebrew כולל; "a gathering/collection [of scholars]"; plural: kollelim) is an institute for advanced studies of the Talmud and of rabbinic literature for Jewish men, essentially a yeshivah which pays married men a regular monthly stipend or annual salary (and/or provides housing and meals) to study Judaism's classic texts in depth. The first kollel in diaspora was the Kovno Kollel, the "Kollel Perushim" founded in Kovno (Lithuania) in 1877. The ten students were required to separate from their families, except for the Sabbath, and devote themselves to studying for the Rabbinate. Currently, the term is applied in America to any stipend given for yeshivah study and is now a general term for the Yeshivah approach to life. Even those engaged in outreach work, teaching, or administration can be said to be in kollel as long as they are financially dependent on the Yeshivah. With the rise of kollel members spending increased time on adult education, the term is increasingly becoming a generic synonym, in popular usage, for Torah classes. |