You always can tell its winter in the north when the snow birds and schnorers come south.
Being a member of an "orthodox" congregation, we can expect a Schnorer du Jour -sometimes several - every weekday.
Some are like snapdragons, they turn up every year about this time.
We get Mizrachi schnorers, Ashkenazi schnorers, and an occasional Sefardi schnorer.
We get ones asking for money for yeshivot, for families in Israel down on their luck, for boys who are taking a wife and for girls who need a dowry.
I know these folks, almost exclusively Black Hats and most with an orange "certificate of schnorering" from some rabbinical board, hit all the orthodox congregations in town; we have quite a few. The only ones that may be missed - once - are new minyans.
Many of the schnorers come from Israel. Who pays for the round-trip airfare? Is there a special schnorer rate? Then they need to rent a car to get around, and a place to stay between appeals. All this costs money, even when some of the schnorers manage to schnor a place to stay and a place at the table.
I don't mind putting something in the envelope for someone who needs medical attention Israel's health care system is denying the patient, but I can't bring myself to support talmedai yeshiva who neither work nor do any military or national service.
I generally keep my wallet closed when a schnorer shows up in time for services and then elects to ignore us - we start early in the morning; a Jew would be hard-pressed to have completed his prayer before we started. It's crude and callous, but with me, it's "Pray for Pay."
I wonder if these people also visit non-orthodox congregations - they often are richer. Maybe they drop in on the rabbi and take from the synagogue contingency fund. Saves them from having to mingle with the less observant.
It seems to me that there ought to be a better way, a way to cut out the middle man and get the funds to the people in need; like my family in Israel. No airfare to reduce the take. No car to pay for out of the donations.
I feel for the poor boy who can't marry until he gets funds from "hul" - but consider this; the lad marries and now there are two people - with more on the way - who will need our support. Pay to help the boy get job training, you bet, but only if he will go to work.
Many - most - of the religious luminaries of old had jobs - Yohanon the sandal maker for example. Other were in business - Meir was the Anheuser-Busch of his day. A modern rabbi I know is an electrical engineer; when I met him he was the only jump-rated rabbi in the U.S. Army,
So why, someone tell me, should a yeshiva boy spend all his time staring at the Talmud when he could be getting a few hours' fresh air at a job earning money to (help) support his wife - who probably is working with children clinging to her skirt.
Would it hurt a yeshiva boy to do some national service? No one insists he join the Golani Brigade, but maybe he could work in a hospital or institution?
My family is in Israel and I have some idea of the situation there.
My son-in-law has a productive job; likewise his parents. My daughter hopes to get her degree and teach, so she, too, will be productive (as well as reproductive). All my brothers-in-law are productive members of society, even the ones with a yeshiva background..
I'm afraid I have a serious problem with schnorers who come south with the snow birds.
I feel, as Edward Bear. a/k/a Winnie-the-Pooh, feels as he comes bump, bump. bumping down the stairs "that there really is another way."
