At what price?

I read a d'var Torah (Bible discussion) recently about the reason for poverty: The writer's opinion (quoting traditional texts, if I recall correctly) was that HaShem made some people poor in order to give others the opportunity to perform the mitzvah (commandment) of giving tzedakah (charity). Would HaShem really be that cruel?

Then there was the post (on another blog) discussing the great debate about kollel: Some post-World-War-II rabbis were of the opinion that the more students were studying full-time, the more likely that the scholars lost in the Shoah/Holocaust could be "replaced," and the question being debated was whether it was worth forcing just about every "Yeshivish" male into full-time Torah study, rather than letting them develop their own individual talents, or not. The whole notion of forcing thousands of males to fit into a single mold for the sake of producing one "Gadol" (a "Great," an individual who's a genius in Torah knowledge and interpretation) is one that I, and many of the commenters, find quite distressing. It seems to me rather cruel to force an individual to do something for which he has no aptitude, then ostracize him when he doesn't do well or tries to find a more suitable way to make a living.

I wish people would think more carefully before concluding that it's acceptable to make the innocent pay.