Balabos

One cloth merchant, one of the more important balabatim in the city, lost almost all of his possessions and declared bankruptcy. With a heavy heart, he decided to go to the head of the city, Rabbi Yosef, and ask for a loan of several hundred rubles so he could repay his debts.

In the United States and Israel, however, insiders view one who leaves the yeshiva or kollel for outside employment and thus becomes a balabos, a lay householder, as a flop. He has, after all, abandoned eternity, a life of the spirit, for everyday work. Every yeshiva student I spoke to expressed this “fear” of ending up a balabos.

I once knew a balabos who was a very fine person. He came to me at a time when we didn't have a mikveh or a yeshivah in our community. He said to me, “Rabbi, there is one thing that this place is missing in order for it to be a top-notch Torah community. […] A first-class, elegant glatt kosher French restaurant.”