as the worse person in Israel.

I agree with everything you said. It was just the start of me losing my religion - or at least any sense of belonging to organized religion. I had a letter from my local orthodox rabbi but that didn't help. What helped was a friend of mine who knew a guy who knew someone who was a student of someone the rabbi knew or something like that.

Great! I love your article!- besides as far as I know the rule of only women line matters for being jewish has to do with what happened after the destruction of the second temple as you could not prove anymore who the father was when women were deported to other countries- but today you can make DNA tests easily .... so it should be enough if one part of parents is jewish........no matter who,like you said- Moses and Israel were married to gentiles. I love the idea of judaism that you do not need some official person to get married, it is sweeter like this..

spoken like a real goy

There are a number of rabbis and other organizations that will not take any money for officiating a wedding. In general though it is unfair to expect anyone to take their time and effort without paying them for it. Common sense

His articles are always full of nasty slanderous opinions and remarks on people, especially if they dare be religious. Thankfully, those who have been embarrassed publicly by him have taken him to court over his lies and insults. Ynet needs to stop giving this terrible, unprofessional, daddy's-little-boy journalist any publishing space.

Lapid's ranting and rafing against religion is becoming more and more frequent and angry in tone with every opinion piece he writes. In a way one should feel sorry for such a lost soul , who is in such agony and fear. Because no matter how hard he and Ynet are trying , they are loosing the battle against the Jewish nation , in birthrate and people rediscovering their roots. On top off that Lapid's hypocracy knows no bounderies , about claiming that it is all is about the money. While Lapid and his self proclaimed elite are only about ego and greed, they self project their immoral lifestyle on the people they love to hate the most. As is the case with any hater off Judaism who wants to worship hedonism , it is about the moral consesciouness that represents Judaism that realy pisses them off. It is anger towards hashem , that he was spoonfed with by a very angry survivor, his father, that he has never been able to get past. In all his arrogance Lapid is not capable off making a mature balanced assesment off his own roots and inheritance . As time moves on and more people are becoming involved in Judaism , he will fight and resist in a increasing meaner way . He is ruled by fear , not by common sense or his false humanistic values ,he pretends to love so much. His elite is about power, money , ego and control , no matter what price they have to pay for that and in their case it will be a huge one.

i do know the man i had married but not the man regisster it i think he did no effect on my marrage but sometims i spite on him becouse the husbound is not so perfect

Yair is one of the "cultured elite" who is better than everybody else.

I'm not sure if Yair realizes that nothing in his 'story' supports his claim that the rabbinate wants to regulate marriage only so that the can take in fees. His assertion is as valid as saying that you the government requires a car or gun license only because they want to collect the fee. Does the state of Israel have a valid interest in regulating who and how many people a person is married to at any time? No kidding huh.

First of all try brushing up your English. Secondly, I suggest you try sorting out the the grey matter between your ears, that's the stuff that "Hashem"( whoever or whatever that is ) gave you to think with. Are you familiar with Greek mythology or Babylonian epics. Some time in the future, if Humankind survives, the stories told in the Old and New Testaments will join the ranks of those illustrious fairy tales. Man's mind is very feeble which makes him very gullible. Religion, my friend, is a wonderful instrument in the hands of those seeking power. This has been proven and time tested throughout the ages. Neither I nor Yair Lapid "bash" you, but you certainly "bash" us. We just simply have pity on you because your weak and feeble mind is in control of your body instead of vice versa. The only "creator" of the Universe was chemical reactions that caused life, in its most primitive form, and enabled it to exist in a suitable environment. From then until now it has been a process of natural selection. Virgin births and going up mountains to have a chat with the "creator" are as I said the stuff of fairy tales. Oh, by the way, I have never eaten pork in my 69 years of life, I got married under a chupa, I keep a Tanaach handy and read it almost daily, it is a most amazing piece of literature. All these for me are tradition and heritage and I treasure them. For religion and its rituals which have a stranglehold on people, I have only contempt.

You sound very confused and lost. You claim that you and your idol Lapid do not bash people that are religious, yet your TB is full off bashing religion , people and hashem ,with as undertone your arrogant superior attitude we know so wel from our Hellenist Israeli brothers. Besides that you are the media controlled brainwashed fool , who pretends to be a modern free thinker. On top off that I really do not care about my level off English , it is off no importance , it is just something that gives you an oppertunity to show off your arrogance and to feel better about yourself. To have a Tenach handy is nice , better though is to study it and apply its instructions and mitsvot,it for sure will clear your mind.

I think you've just demonstrated who the "basher" is. (David's only goof was "off" = "of", otherwise his points apparently hit a nerve). How very rude and disrespectful of the rights of others to believe as they wish. Yet, with the same pomposity that you ascribe to the religious, you declare that you HAVE the real truth. Obviously, if one lives according to a certain lifestyle/religion, one believes it to be the truth (truth is funny that way, everyone cannot be right; ala mathematics 1+1 does not equal 3) -- and the best one can do then is to live as best one can according to the principals one believes true. As for your belief, since you've put it out there for comment, that you reject the idea that the "mind is in control of your body instead of vice versa" -- well, yes: we WOULD be coming from different ends of the philosophical spectrum then. Judaism does strongly believe that one's mind should control the body and that one ought not to be simply the product of one's bodily impulses. ...but that DOES explain your angry talkback, I suppose: adrenaline rush of aggression? More's the "pity" on you then, I'm afraid. "Literature". Calling an instruction and assembly guide "literature" while trying to put it all together will turn out a reaaaaaally "interesting" result. Good luck with that. I'm curious why you've bothered not to eat pork for your 69 years, if you believe that the Torah is but "Literature" or a "fairy tale" (I thought Cinderella a fine fairy tale, but you'd not catch me hobbling about in glass slippers)... ...but to quote Shakespeare (more fine Literature), "Methinks the lady protests too much". NObody who isn't feeling guilty gets that angry (why, you're practically spitting, Sagi -- and in other tb's of yours on religious topics I've noticed too). When I don't care about something, I ignore it (not worth my time and energy to be upset). Have a tea.

the problem is not the validity of the marriage ceremony, but that it indeed could be kosher , but what about the case of divorce, because is that is not valid (or even conducted)and then there could be terrible repercussions G-d forbid!!!!!!!!

for life's cop outs who hide behind a beard, wear clothes that not only ridicule themselves, but also those who are unfortunate enough to have contact with them. Oops ! That's "bashing" I should not have said that. Religion is the arch enemy of reason and of course reason is the arch enemy of religion. I shall not apologize for being an individual guided by two words, and this throughout my entire life, pragmatism and logic. These two words can only lead to rational and reasonable thoughts, therefor religion and I have always been on a collision course. There is nothing logical or pragmatic about religion, therefor there can be no reason in it whatsoever. My mind works in an algorithmic fashion, so when I get to the bottom line and find nonsense or irrationality, I discard it immediately. In fact it becomes my enemy and for enemies I have contempt. A final word, My love for this Land, every centimeter of it, every mountain, valley, tel, river, tree, the smallest piece of pottery and every olive grove and plowed field, is no less than yours and I suspect even greater. One does not require to be a slave to an unknown entity and act in an abnormal fashion in order to be a patriot and have love of tradtion and heritage.

There are so many ramifications and complexities to both sides of the argument, even within dati circles, that I haven't been able to reach a conclusion. However, after discussing it with a good number of dati friends there is one aspect I've NEVER heard even mentioned: money. The whole article is a slanderous crock. It seems that most tb-ers react like an enraged chimp, trying to tear off the faces of datim who dare to post their opinions. Empty slander is just that, empty. Paqid Yirmeyahu Paqid 16, The Netzarim, Ra'anana, Israel Israeli Orthodox Jew (Teimani Baladi Dardai) Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

you as a pretty intelligent sort of fellow, albeit slightly derailed. For you to say such a thing as " no money involved" is very surprising to me. I have lived a long life and I have yet to meet the Rabbi who is prepared to officiate at a religious ceremony or issue a cetificate without receiving due payment. please correct me if I am wrong and apologize I shall.

In all your attacks on the religious people here there is no sign off reasonable and rational thoughts. They are more like emotional outbursts based on fear, hurt and pain, which are always the underlying emotions off anger. Best thing to do for you is to collect all your logic and pragmatism, so you can argue and prove your point in the olam haba. I am going to repeat this again you are not very original, but just a product off secular Zionism and unfortunally there still many off you out there.

your dark ignorance is pathetic if not silly. when i got married 3y ago-being a secular gal-i wanted to make sure the rabbi would be "cool" so we were suggested by different friends different rabbis. We interviewed about 5of them-always ending the chat with a question "how much would officiating the ceremony cost?" we got same answer from each one that went something like that: "absolutly nothing, it would be my pleasure and honor to do it but since my parnusa is from being a rabbi i will be very appreciative of anything u can spare" One rabbi-who came by bus from Haifa(we r from tlv) did ask us to pay for train ticket and a taxi from station to the hupa. Last year our son was born---we were asked to give moyal an envelope with whatever we thought was appropriate. We know our friends tipped around a 1000, so we did same-but again-there r different prices for this service as well. SO SAGI-before u go on bashing all rabbis and moyals-do a bit of research. Btw-I cant stand u and your hateful attitude and reading yo tlkbk was a mistake i m not going to repeat again

No David, I am not angry nor am I emotional, in fact I have a reputation for being cool and calm.Yes David, I am a product of secular Zionism and very proud of it. Religious Zionism certainly never got his thing started back in the days of Bilu and Hovevei Zion and neither did the Religious Zionists contribute very much through the years. Sorry my friend, just facts, plain and simple.

Please quote where I wrote "no money involved." The point I was making was that no dati Jew I've spoken with has ever raised the issue of money relative to civil versus dati-only marriages. The argument is a straw man. There are difficulties regarding whether offspring of various permutations would be Jews, mamzerim, assimilation, intermarriage, all sorts of complex and difficult issues we've discussed... but never has money come up in any of these discussions. It simply isn't a consideration I've ever seen in datim circles. This is probably because the datim solve the problem of money not by Christian-paradigm free services that rob the bride and groom of their dignity but, rather, through the operation of the gemakh. If you don't know what that is or how it works I'm sure you can investigate it. In any case, the operation of gemakh enables a poor bride and groom to handle the situation like any other bride and groom. If your argument is relative to Torah-rejectors, then I don't think misojudaics who regard dati rabbis as "idiots, perverts, filthy-mouthed" and the like should benefit from gemakh that is supported by datim contributions. I criticize some Ultra-Orthodox rabbis for being supersititious and even pedantic, but yesh gevul and it's far short of slanderous hyperbole. How would Jews respond if non-Jews had made the allegation that, for Jews and rabbis, it's all about the money??? As for "derailed," that's not a legitimate description for historically informed. I think you're influenced more by what slanderers say I stand for than what I stand for. Paqid Yirmeyahu Paqid 16, The Netzarim, Ra'anana, Israel Israeli Orthodox Jew (Teimani Baladi Dardai) Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

To prefer no explanation for life and the universe ex nihilo over an external Singularity Prime Cause is quite the opposite of reason, logic, rational, pragmatism and science. No branch of science, not Darwin nor evolution, pretends to offer such an explanation ex nihilo. Science explains much and theorizes much about how things work, how they have developed and evolved. I'm an advocate of reconciling science and logic with interpreting our ancient record. But no eminent scientist of world reputation that I know of has ever claimed to explain the universe or life ex nihilo. Ergo, there is nothing logical, reasonable, pragmatic or scientific about an atheist or agnostic; merely the facade of superficial understanding and pseudo-science. Contrary to your assertion, you are guided by superficial understandings and assumptions, not science or logic, which flatly contradicts your self-vaunting. Paqid Yirmeyahu Paqid 16, The Netzarim, Ra'anana, Israel Israeli Orthodox Jew (Teimani Baladi Dardai) Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

I do not contend that the act of creation was ex nihilo nor does any scientist that I know of. The case for a prime mover can be broken down very simply. Who was the prime mover who created The Prime Mover. I could go on forever with arguments that are simply put, reductio ad absurdum. The only prime mover that ever existed was chemical reactions that created cells with the ability to sustain themselves in the comfortable environment of our planet. That's it in a nutshell and you kind Sir are sufficiently educated to know this. Why you are in need of a God to comfort you and for you to lean on him throughout life is beyond my limited comprehension. My best wishes.

It seems a bit strange to criticize Rabbis taking money for performing a wedding while taking a huge additional salary from Bank HaPoalim. I think that Lapid should be a little honest from time to time just for the novelty of it.

...but what it all boils down to is that one may find a proof, or lack thereof, for whatever one is motivated to believe. What motivates you? Truth? Personal freedom from and fear of an "unknown entity"? I asked myself, at some pivotal point of deciding my path, if religion would serve as any sort of "crutch" for me, and the answer, when I looked deeply, was -- no. I'm the sort of person who would much rather dive into the abyss of life and taste it all with no regulations....if I felt that was the truth. I'm fearless, or nearly. ...but whether it is a "Prime Mover" or "chemical reactions that created cells...." which lead us to our current humanity and the universe that surrounds -- both are a leap of faith at some point (you may ask 'what created the Prime Mover?', but one can equally ask what created the "cells"). Neither of us were there (though, by your adamance, it sounds as if you were a holy-shaker witness to the event -- dogmatic in a remarkably religious way, but not logical), so it kinda comes down to...what you want to believe and what you would do for truth, depending if that is your bottom-line or not worth that much to you. Now, if one wished to argue from a Nietzsche-esque, perspective (which I also think the very presence of the Universe refutes), I'd say you'd have some basis to even begin arguing. However, as a premise, whether it's 1000 monkeys jumping on a typewriter to create a masterpiece of literature, or "chemical reactions [that came out of nowhere] that created cells" that ultimately created Humanity and the Universe,.....well, that, to me sounds neither "rational" "reasonable" nor "logical". It sounds like someone trying to justify taking the easy way out. No ethical demands, no morality impinging on your way of life du jour. It's simply a justification which motivates your own leap of faith in "chemical" accidents. I really don't believe that you will think about this either -- you are simply a zealot "hiding behind" your own non-religion. You have it all sewn up. Indeed, who is the "cop out"?

Your faulty thinking that because one cannot explain a Prime Cause it must not exist is easily refuted as contra-scientific. No one can explain dark matter or dark energy or gravity. However, scientists do NOT conclude from that that dark matter, dark energy or gravity must, therefore, not exist and those who believe in it need a crutch for their feeble minds. You're no scientist. L Elad (56) is correct.

To # 3 Yair Lapid The jewish state was founded and built by people who gave it their all. they worked hard and died for Israel.And in order to continue, we need more people like them and not Shnorrers. If rabbis need money, they should emulate these pioneers instead of begging.only worthless people beg

B"H Quoting the Rambam to justify anti-Jewish activity is nothing short of - just that: anti-Jewish activity. Why? Because at the Rambam's time there were no "secular" Jews. Jews were Jewish per definition and therefore there was no risk of un-Jewish, illegal marriages. Today, unfortunately, the situation is different in as much as there are secular "Jews", who don't care about what is Jewish Law, about what is Jewish and what is not. Today one has to be extra-vigilant, and the control of the rabbinate on marriages, conversions, etc. serves this purpose. If there is a problem it is precisely the opposite: the rabbis get their money from the state and therefore they are subject to secular blackmail and corruption. It would be a lot better to have an independent rabbanut.