"…When you support a charedi man in kollel, it's not something that can be
simply ended at some point, with the merit points waiting in [the World to Come]. There are long-term consequences to what you have
done. By supporting him, you have enabled him to advance in years while
lessening his ability to be employed. Furthermore, by supporting the
charedi mass-kollel fantasy, you have effectively encouraged him to
ignore Chazal's [the sages of the Talmud] teachings and to bring up his
children without the knowledge, qualifications or desire to work for a
living.…"
Rabbi Natan Slifkin writes:
[Hat Tip: Yochanan Lavie.]…(…my comments are primarily oriented towards the setup in Israel; I understand that in the US, it may be somewhat different). Rambam says that the highest form of charity is to enable someone to become independent. Supporting the charedi kollel system is the exact opposite - preventing people from ever being able to be independent.
The majority of people in the kollel system today are not on track to become Torah leaders and educators. When you support a charedi man in kollel [essentially yeshivas for married men], it's not something that can be simply ended at some point, with the merit points waiting in Olam HaBa [the World to Come]. There are long-term consequences to what you have done. By supporting him, you have enabled him to advance in years while lessening his ability to be employed. Furthermore, by supporting the charedi mass-kollel fantasy, you have effectively encouraged him to ignore Chazal's [the sages of the Talmud] teachings and to bring up his children without the knowledge, qualifications or desire to work for a living.
…[K]ollel for the masses is not viable in the long term and there will come a breaking point when more bnei Torah will have to go out and join the workforce. But that breaking point is extremely painful and causes tremendous problems. Men in their forties who are desperate to make a living but are unemployable, because they never got an education or held a job; people who are having heart attacks because they can't afford to marry off their children (each of whom needs an apartment already paid for in order to get a shidduch); etc., etc. This is a time-bomb, and the longer it's put off, the harsher the damage that it causes.
…[T]o support the charedi kollel system is not a personal choice with no harmful effects. Rather than being "the best investment a Jew can make," it's something with drastic and cruel long-term consequences - on society at large, and on kollel families in particular.