coming of the moshiach is nearing us. G-d bless Gilad

Maybe it's good the author remembers also some of the recent history. Remember that those places where not empty, other people where living there for hundreds and maybe thousands of years, the natural scenes were enjoyed also by those people. The feeling of homeland was sentimentally enjoyed also by those people. And i claim. as a Palestinian, that our connection is much more that Jews', when you consider these stuff you know that it's the most controversial place to live on. But, unfortunately, it's easy for you to neglect all that and give yourselves pretexts for what happened: Palestinian could live anywhere, they all came from Arabic Peninsula, they're not related to the land but they just want to kill the Jews......Hope one day you will see the truth. Hope you post this comment

But no work and just pray makes Jack a haredi boy. Can you tell me how are my chances to get a decent job in Israel, if I am not computer expert/engineer/sciences expert but, for example, journalist in my native country or marketing expert or something like that? What are my chances to pay my bills regularly? Can I find apartment, cheap one for starters, very quickly? Will I be hungry? Will I do crappy jobs just to get by? Intermarriage and all mitzvot talk is very nice, but even the dumbest haredi knows that he is holy because somewhere, there is the benefactor who stands with both feet on the ground and most likely works on shabbats to earn this charity money. So before you write 16 reasons to make aliyah - try to include in them some very real, not "the biggest Jewish country in the world". Jews still have to eat, you know?

I am happy for jews jews who goes Israel to have a home. JEWS NEED HOME. IT IS ENOUGH TO STAY HOMELESS FOR 1000S YEARS. *** on the other hand THERE MUST BE 100,000S PALESTINIAN REFUGES ALL OVER WORLD. THEIR STUPID FATHERS WORLD'S IDIOT POLITICIANS AND ISRAELI LEADERS VISIONLESS made them homeless too., *** TODAY ! EVERY WORLD JEW IS HAPPLY WELLCOME TO ISRAEL. THIS IS WONDERFULL. YES IT IS. but today not all palestinians make their own aliyahs *** HOME OR HOUSE ? home is much warm. who will help to ordinary, innocent citizens of Plaestine ? IS IT SHAME THAT IF HOMELESS PALESTINIANS MISS THEIR HOMES WHICH ISRAEL HAVE IT TODAY ? *** obama ! I want to see obama & netanyahu brake this bad luck.

I do not know from which country you are but if you are not from one of very POOR african country possibly you have never heard state subsidized bread That is, Israeli state financially Subsidize bread to make it buyable by Israeli people? Ask yourself: Would you really like to live in a country even BREAD subsidized or in a country people cannot feed themselves and survive witout bread subsidy? If your reply is yes GO TO ISRAEL

Yoel Meltzer forgot to say that: 1) only the blind believer can ignore that the Zionist ideology is based on founding myths, combined with past ethno-centric, destructive European style ideologies (colonialism, nationalism); 2) he who continuously sows hatred by systematically humiliating his opponents, in the end will nothing but reap destruction.

"Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that? They may perhaps forget in one or two generations' time”

Yoel Meltzer forgot to say that: 1) only the blind believer can ignore that the Zionist ideology is based on founding myths, combined with past ethno-centric, destructive European style ideologies (colonialism, nationalism); 2) he who continuously sows hatred by systematically humiliating his opponents, in the end will reap nothing but destruction.

24/7 without fearing that I may be thrown out of my home in order to pander to my US paymasters. You dont get it...Do you? I am a free Jew living in the greatest country on Earth...Canada its not a country ...its a world. Till such time that Israel decides it wants to be a Jewish country dedicated to the well being of its Jews, then and only then would I join you. In the interim I will continue to be a free Jew in a huge white all be it frozen land. Hon can you crank up the heat...its a cool -19C this morning.. Canada you just got to love it...Brrrrr

The Jews are the indigenous people of the Land of Israel. They were expelled from that land against their will. They never gave up their claim on that land. Chardon, since you feel they have no claim on that land, please provide the exact year when the Jewish People lost their claim on that land.

Yes, it is awesome living here, and the best place for a Jew to be. It truly is indescribable to someone living outside the Land. However, yes, as John #3 said, how can all Jews come and work for lousy jobs? That is our next endeavor - finding a way to make aliyah economically feasible.

There is one reason for a Jew not to come home, and that is the Israeli political leadership. After the Kadima regime that refused to enforce building laws on the Arab sector, there is almost no land left for Jews to live on. Netanyahu is working hard at establishing an Arab state in Judea and Samaria that will be able to control Israeli water supplies and attack every Israeli population center with primitive weapons. Netanyahu is working on creating an additional 600 thousand Jewish refugees who will be an unbearable financial burden on Israel. Netanyahu is encouraging Palestinization of Israeli Arabs. As a result, the IDF will be unable to fight a combined attack by Hamas, Hezbolla Dayton's army, and Israeli Arab irregulars.

If I could be paid for writing Posts to YNet Id be there tonite!

Jews were in Judea (call it Palestine or Israel now if you want) before Mohamed was born and stayed here even after Saladdin's conquests. This land was never empty of Jews - not when Arabs unilaterally declared it theirs and not when the Palestinians decided that since there were Arab farmers here before Israel was declared a state, that this is Arab land. Jews are not new in this land - we are returning to what was our home before 'Palestine' was even a word. So let's not even go there.

pathetic person! i just feel sorry for u! bless israel and you will be blessed , curse israel and be doomed eternally. G-d bless Gilad

is based on the truth, i'm sad for you for being jelouse of that but you'll just have to live with it. we own the Torah and Kabala the Halacha, the Tanya and many more maps of life, what do you have? we are the only religeon with so many laws some unwritten , because G-d new you would copy most of the Torah , so he gave us unwritten law. so you see you can go back to your ill informed life and try to make the best of it. G-d bless Gilad

Those are just some of the reasons why Israel is really your home. Yes there were people living here before us ie the arabs... and we should respect their right to live here in peace, but we were here before them! In the history of the Jews, it was not that long ago, but only a non-jew would tell you that time has broken that bond. Only a non-jew would tell you that zionist ideals are a myth... if you doubt me, read any standard prayer book. I'm not even religious! As an Oleh from a western country, I feel much more at home here than I ever did.

This are just the 16 most stupid reasons to make aliyah, I can not believe that Ynet publish this kind of trash. However, John (#3), make aliyah! - The chances to find a decent job being a decent and smart professional are high, even if you are not a computer expert/engineer/sciences expert, and even if you do not speak Hebrew well (or at all). - Most of the people (including olim) make enough to pay their bills so I do not see why you would not. - You will find and apartment and you will not be hungry for sure. Perhaps your first job will not be the best one, but I am sure you can find a job that makes you happy. And you will not need to work in Shabbats if you do not want to. On the other hand, you are right, the guy that wrote this article must be an idiot and his 16 reasons suck, but still come, there is no place like Israel!

Someone trying to sell religious reasons for living in Israel on a staunchly anti-haredi web-site tends to indicate that either there is no news or the secular reason for living here just don't add up. However the most insidious part of the article is that it does not mention the virulent anti-haredi sentiment expressed at every opportunity by a huge proportion of the secular population, the haredi-bating that the media gleefully indulges in, and the misrepresentation of haredi life and beliefs by the media (see Dan Rickman's article in this edition). This is not to mention the generally appalling behaviour of public servants (Oh, I'm sorry. They're not called that in Israel. They are just called bureaucrats, like in the former USSR) but then someone who has lived in NY wouldn't expect any better.

G-d bless Gilad

That is their true home. Since their immigrant ancestors wanted to get rich off the Jewish economy here, they should have put a sock in their terrorism. If you bite the hand that feeds, it just might slap you.

Your list is a crappy one ! If those are the reasons you came to Israel, I understand now why the cultural level is so low here. You said, only a Jew who did Allhya could understand this.... so how come I don't? You left America in order to find a jewish spouse and to run away from Xmas shopping??? That is so lame...

The chances of finding a spouse in this country depend on many factors, not the least of which include age, city, residency, fluency in Hebrew, and financial status. Israeli society is incredibly age-obsessed in comparison to most other western societies. A good looking accomplished guy in his mid-20s may feel like a kid in a candy store when it comes to meeting women, dating or going to social events, but a guy in his mid-40's will be off the radar screen of most women in this country for various cultural reasons. The upshot is that making Aliyah is not a panacea to finding a spouse, as there are many singles who have made aliyah explicitly for this reason and failed to realize their objectives. It is usually better to come to Israel already happily married when you are in the beyond 35-age range, to tell the truth.

country surrounded by layers of hostility????????? ...i don't think so !! enemies everywhere around you and it is getting worse . both Muslims and Christians consider this one of the (end of your game ) signs . plus ,and the most important ,ethically ,it doesn't make sence ,you will be taking someone else property and Land ,for shame .. so in conclusion : if i were you ,i would wait until the country i am moving to has a an internationally recognized borders and ( a JUST ) peace with its neighbors . you don't want to move here to be drafted and then killed or ....kidnapped . LOL for # 4 reason ,most of the financial rewards from Christmas goes to the stores owned by jews ....i found that very ignorant ...and insulting to our intelligence . the other reasons are just lies and truth distortion .

Your people descend from Arab/Ottoman conquerors. Please look at a map. Arabs have quite a bit, and I hate to burst your bubble, put the acquisition was anything but non-violent. Israel's Jewish population consists of Jews who had to leave Europe and from Jews expelled from the Arab world. Israel has always been the Jewish prople's spiritual homeland. Just admit the truth. You are simply sore losers. The Arabs launch a war to exterminate the Jewish state and time after time they lose.

to most secular Israeli's, their Jewishmess is at best an irrelevence. They feel Israeli, not Jewish and couldn't care less about finding a Jewish spouse - indeed, we have hundreds of thousands of Russian non-Jews, illegal foreign workers and 10s of 1000s of sub-Saharan Africans economic migrants claiming to be refugees trying to make Israel their home. So what is so Jewish about Israel? We have high taxes, terrible job opportunities for Olim (with no chance of improving career prospects), low wages, an education system that is collapsing, terrible public transport, increasing violence, increasing religious / secular polarization, huge levels of corruption at all levels, huge problems with illegal migrants from Sinai (still coming in at several hundred a month because the government doesn't bother doing anything about it), one in three children living below the poverty line, a haredi population that doesn't work expected to become the majority within a few years, and a growing Arab population. Did I mention the brain drain and the ever increasing divide between rich and poor? We are hated by many countries in the World, the conflict is never going to be solved, and we very will soon be either a bi-national or apartheid state. There is no future for us here, and many Israelis who can get out are leaving (including the children of prominent politicians). Only a parent with complete disregard for his childrens' future would bring them up in Israel. The army is incompetent (as seen in Lebanon) and our politicians are snakes. Would you want to send your children to potential die in a war for a country where most people don't even care that they are Jews? We are faced with an existential threat from Iran, and even the CIA says that the State will not exist in 20 years time. Remeber that the vast majority of Jewish Israelis are here because they couldn't get into another country. Moroccans who couldn't get into France or Canada came to Israel as nowhere else would have them. Same for Russians who couldn't get to Germany or the US, etc. Even the majority of South African Jews find themselves in Melbourne, not Ra'anana. So forget the romantic 1950's BS and understand what Israel is like in the early 21st century. A bureaucratic, polarized racist State with no future, no chance of peace, and which is increasingly becoming overcrowded, unpleasant and expensive to live in. Some 50% of Olim go home after 5 years (for Americans the figure is far higher). Yes - we have great weather here. The food is good, and some of the people are wonderful. But after 15 years, I'm outta here with my entire family and with no regrets. Come on Aliya if you want, but you won't stay for very long, and you'd be crazy if you did...

israil started with aliyah and it will be ended with ALI. COM

Ill be moving there in 12 days so Ill see ya guys then.

yes when onetrily feels the land is there home it is not dependent on who else is living there. The mere fact, that Palestinians refused to return after Dayan asked the arabs to come back is rather puzzling. By contrast, Jews returned to Israel when given the opportunity after 2000 years even though the Land of Israel consists of southern lebanon,Jordan and the west bank. Yet, the jews wanted their home and realized 25% of a home is better than no home. Yet when the Israeli government offered 95% of the west bank the palestinians refused because they didn't get 100% . Your right the Palestinians don't have a home because they are more interested in throwign the jews in to the sea than to be a normal people that truly desire a home.