The whole Mid-East will be armed to the teeth shortly. Isreal is again hearing of possible missile attacks. This fool is concerned about matchmaker's payment.

go marry in las vegas for 24 bucks and be happy... who needs a rabbi's blessing?! come on...

With all the ads for dating services, who needs a matchmaker? But if all else fails and a matchmaker is the last straw, what's the refund policy, if you get stuck with somebody that you wish to the dark side of the moon three times a day?

My kid came back from Israel after 6 years being in a Yeshiva. He can learn with the best of them Now he has to learn a profession which will take 3-6 years. I plead with all frum parents..Make sure your children finnish HS before they reach 18. At least then, they may qualify for a profession should they wish to pursue a carreer outside of Torah. This neglect of secualr subjects such as Math and English is criminal. Torah learning does not and should relegate our children to perpetual poverty. Frum kids are not stupid. They are finely tuned learning machines. Give them the opportunity and that will make circles around the general population.

Guess what, Philip, even under danger or attack, Jews are still living, marrying and making kids in Israel. And all the israeli "fools" continue doing their job, either they are rabbis or army generals !

I fond my wife without the help of anyone. How do you know what I do for a living and if I make the "big bucks" I chose to stay in New York. I have no desire to move to another country as this (USA) is my country. So, what ever is your problem get over it. The only match maker that was of any use was in Fiddler on the Roof. Match Makers were a thing of the past........This is not 19th century Russia. Have a great day.

I'd like to return this for a full refund please. When you start pushing buttons it goes all haywire. There are no labels, warnings or cautions so I assumed I could shower with it. ...just joking, good luck with making love happen.

All you need is love. If your hiding in the closet with your rifle, you can come out you psychiatrist is on the phone wants to know if you took your medication. The coming war will be in the US because Israel is not a soft target for terrorism. I would be more afraid in NY. We don't have to fear our students here. Now stop raining on the love train.

you do'nt undrstand.the relijious jews do'nt read the dating ads(why doyou read them,you looking for a wife?).they do'nt ask for refunds;they very habby with the matchmaker deal. i advice you go to one you will be verry habby with your wife.

this is the stupidest yet.

If I were close enough, I'd just have to give you a great, big hug, because you've made my day. I better not go to a matchmaker looking for a wife, because he/she might just faint. Why? Because I'm a 69 year old widow and not even Jewish. Wouldn't that ever cause a commotion? I don't read the dating ads, but I do see them. There's a picture of some cute, young guy who's been looking for a date for over a year, and I wonder what's wrong with him to not have found a girl in all this time. Most of all, I am kidding about the whole thing, especially the refund. You must be a real sweetheart, and I thank you for your very nice talkback.

It never ceases to amaze me how out of touch with reality some rabbis can be. The problem is not to offer higher pay but competence and quality. Most matchmakers are incompetent and so it appears are our esteemed rabbis.

You can do whatever you want. I don't care, as long as there isn't a new tax added on the general population to take care of this.

worldly goods--because such love is worth more than anything on Hashem's earth. this rabbi is right. pay the matchmaker generously. i did not know there were matchmakers in israel. another sign that the jewish nation does things right.

Why did you think there aren't? There are people whom their leaders forbid to use the net.

There are, like in every other field very professional and expert matchmakers, as well as some who are totally incompetant. What the Rabbis want to do is eliminate the amateurs and incompetants from the field. One way is to raise the level of pay. This will allow the professionals to spend more time on each client's case. I am familiar with this, because my wife is one of the more respected and professional matchmakers in the Gush Dan area. She is also one of the most expensive, but the amount of time that she spends for each client makes it a worthy investment. To reach her level of competance and quality is expensive in her training. And to M Hartley, well, we attended the wedding last evening of one of her clients, a 72-year old widower, who married a 67-year old woman. She works with "over 65's" for free, so if you were to become Jewish, she will be more than happy to deal with you.

You and wife forget two important facts: (1) a matching two people is a mitzvah on behalf of Hashem and (2)there is no price tag on love. Quality is not based on how much I pay but on what you provide.

As usual, I'm a day late and a dollar short or to put it more exactly, wrong-half-Jewish, but I thank you for your suggestion. I like the idea of the free service, but your wife might not wish me on anyone she likes, unless it's that Moshe. What? You don’t know Moshe? Well, Moshe had been married to the same woman for almost 50 years. One day, the Rabbi asked him, if he’d give a little speech to some younger couples and tell them the secret of such a long, happy union. He agreed to do that. So, Moshe explained to the assembled “kids” that he always treated his wife with respect, helped around the house, never complained about her cooking, never said one nasty word about her mother, always bought her nice gifts and took her on exotic trips for their anniversaries. One of the young brides wanted to know where Moshe took his wife for their 25th anniversary, and he said that he took his wife to the Gobi desert. When the bride’s husband asked what Moshe has planned for their upcoming 50th anniversary, Moshe thought for a minute, smiled and then said, “Well, I guess, I’ll go back over there, try to find her and bring her home.” And that’s the Moshe with whom I’d end up. :-)

no,no,that is ngative thinking.you do'nt need this moshe.you look in eric from bout lov and sponteneity bein one with univerce like when you with grankids.you can this man-lov too,belief me.

So Moshe is out and Eric is in? Who's Eric and why is he so highly recommended?

Well , many years ago , a matchmakerin proposed me to find a nice girl for me . No thanks , was my answer , i'll prefer to do my shopping by myself . M. Hartley , you're great . Where did you take all this humor we enjoy ?

Dang! Not only is Moshe gone, but now I’ve run off Eric, too. No wonder, I’m this old widow woman, who can’t even get to first base!! Do I need to learn how to play a little harder to get or how not to run so fast? Today, I’m very hopeful, though. I’m trying to work out a deal with Rashid. (See tb #11 for “Russia Downgrades Ties with Hamas” under News) I’m banking on Rashid’s being braver than Fadi the Lebanese. The minute I called Fadi “Sweetheart,” he disappeared from Ynet. Maybe he got so scared joining Hezbollah looked like the safer bet. Yeah, I know I’m crazy as a bedbug. I just don’t have a clue why. :-)

Erich Fromm:positive freedom consists in the spontaneous activity of the total,integrated personality....small children offer an instance of this spontaneity...in the spontaneous realisation of the self man unites himself anew with the world - with man,nature,himself.Love is the foremost component of such spontaneity....In all spontaneous activity the individual embraces the world....there is only one meaning of life : the act of living itself.

Oh, THAT Erich! Now I understand. Let me tell you this: if I get any more spontaneous with that living life, my kids will jerk my Visa, the Amex, the car keys, the computers, the telephone and probably my shoes, too. A good day for them is my not leaving the house and for the 'phone to be out of order. Just in case they have designs on my pc's, I've put everything on a high-speed portable flash drive of which they know nothing, but with which I can still go wild from any other computer. Now, where's that Moshe??? Oh, right. He's married. Forget about Moshe. I don't want to get shot by a jealous wife. At our age, that would be too ridiculous. :-)

2000 bucks to get a couple together so that they can have 7 kids, that's $280 per kid - not a bad way to solve israel's arab demographic problems

Those couples should GET $280 per child, not have to pay it. Babies might be fun before and after, but that getting them here is anything but. Btw, can I have that left-over $40???

I had written a nice tb to you , did'nt appear . You don't need a Rashid , you need a West European one . Well in Tel aviv there is a tall building , 49 floors , an elevators brings you in less than 40 seconds , against payment , to the top floor . Don't be effraid , it's well closed , no danger . Magnificent view . When visiting my country , no need to travel on a donkey , we have nice cars and you'll enjoy the traffic jams . Ok ? when do we see you ?

Aw, Charles, you're sweet. I am, of course, just picking on Rashid with respect to tall buildings and those donkeys. On the other hand, I'm too americanized and too ornery for Western Europeans. Don't forget, I grew up over there, and there's no love lost. As for coming to Israel, I may just wake up one morning and decide that, what the hell, why not. My passport is always up-to-date. A trip on a donkey or camel would be hilarious and a something different from riding in a car. I can, after all, stay at home for traffic jams. Based on prior experiences with rides on horses, though, I'm just not too sure that my rear end could survive camels and donkeys at this stage. Most of all, I just can't see me in a busload of Americans being herded from one Jesus place to the other. I don't give a flying flip for those, but I'd love to see and get the feel of Masada. Bringing things up-to-date, I think, I would feel at home in Tel Aviv, maybe even catch a show at the Yehoshua pub....... There has to be some reason for god's letting me hang around for more than to feed daugher's dog, while she's off ot somewhere.....