“Free Money” – Taking money from the government (food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, etc.)

Hi, I’m interested in a podcast defining proper interactions between a woman and a rav. Defining both what is proper from the woman’s end and what is proper from the rav’s end.

In person, over phone, text, Whatsapp, zoom etc. What type of conversation, simple question and answer of a clear halachah or seeking the ravs opinion. Together with her husband or by herself. What if it’s a empathetic/sympathetic conversation. If and when is it ok to ask for chizzuk or for the rav to give chizzuk. If and when it would be ok for the rav to say a psak or an opinion that he knows is against or undermines her husband’s wants, hashkafos or opinions. When would a relationship with rav, even with physical harchakas, turn into an emotional affair.

Thank you so much for continuing to put out such interesting and engaging Torah content! I had one comment on the latest episode in reference to the story that Rabbi Steinmetz told about the Chazon Ish’s medical knowledge. My great great uncle Chaim Kolitz was a ben beis by the Chazon Ish and he told my father that the Chazon Ish would read medical books in the bathroom. Of course the average person wouldn’t be able to understand medical textbooks, much less apply the information, but the Chazon Ish’s brilliance was such that the limited time he spent learning medicine enabled him to have a complete understanding of modern medicine, as the story that Rabbi Steinmetz told demonstrates. I think it’s difficult to say that the Chazon Ish learned his medical knowledge straight from the Torah, for many reasons, but that’s a discussion for another time (or another Headlines episode).

Would you consider doing an episode about halachic issues in a marriage where one spouse is no longer frum but still maintains a frum appearance in public? For example, in a loving and respectful relationship, can the frum spouse still fulfill obligations like kiddush through the non-frum spouse? How reliable is it to assume the spouse has gone to the mikvah or is keeping the kitchen kosher? And how does one navigate the balance between encouraging halacha in the home while also preserving the marriage? I’d love to hear a thoughtful halachic perspective on these questions.

In Rabbi Wasserman’s segment with Rabbi Breitowitz, the idea that, provided it was done with no geneivas daas, it might well be permissible to take welfare in order to stay in learning. The thing is, that the welfare system is sustainable–to the extent that it is–in part because people who are in fact eligible for benefits often prefer to work.

In fact, this reality is behind the revolutionary Marxist Cloward-Piven strategy, which is intended to replace the small r republican form of government in the US with a radical socialist one. The “critical theory” approach used by Cloward and Piven also underlies DEI and the current support for Hamas (and antisemitism in general) that is heavily represented in today’s Democrat Party.

“Cloward and Piven noted that the number of Americans subsisting on welfare — about 8 million at that time — probably represented less than half the number who were technically eligible for full benefits. Thus the authors proposed a ‘massive drive to recruit the poor onto the welfare rolls,’ calculating that the system would be bankrupted if even a fraction of potential welfare recipients were to demand their entitlements. The result, predicted Cloward and Piven, would be ‘a profound financial and political crisis’ that would unleash ‘powerful forces … for major economic reform at the national level.’”

“The Cloward-Piven article called for ‘cadres of aggressive organizers’ to use ‘demonstrations to create a climate of militancy.’ Then, the authors predicted, the following would happen:

“Politicians, intimidated by threats of black violence, would appeal to the federal government for help.

“Carefully orchestrated media campaigns, carried out by friendly, leftwing journalists, would float the idea of “a federal program of income redistribution” in the form of a guaranteed living income for all — working and non-working people alike.

“Local officials would clutch at this idea like drowning men to a lifeline. They would apply pressure on Washington to implement it.

“With every major city erupting into chaos, Washington would have to act.

“The Cloward-Piven Strategy was an example of what are commonly called Trojan Horse initiatives — mass movements whose outward purpose seems to be providing material help to the downtrodden, but whose real objective is to draft poor people into service as revolutionary foot soldiers; to mobilize poor people en masse in an effort to overwhelm government agencies with a flood of demands beyond the capacity of those agencies to meet. Cloward and Piven calculated that the flood of demands which they were recommending would break the budget, jam the bureaucratic gears into gridlock, and bring the system crashing down. Fear, turmoil, violence and economic collapse would accompany such a breakdown — providing perfect conditions for fostering radical change.”

Cloward-Piven Strategy (CPS)

The Cloward-Piven strategy is being employed by the rapidly expanding rainbow of “oppressed” groups to bring about the destruction of a long and growing list of the institutions of a society regarded as irretrievably tainted with various forms of “systemic oppression.” The desired end state of this revolution includes the destruction of the traditional family.

I understand that this is not the intention of a kollel family applying for welfare to do any of this, and I’m certainly not presuming to poskin on the issue. I’m asking whether there might be additional complications to the matzav beyond those which were discussed.

Chag Kasher v’sameach