Do you recommend also taking away the right to vote from Israeli Arab citizens, denying them jobs and higher education and even drivers licences? Oh no that would be "racist." We don't Israel to become a Haredi theocracy but with your suggestions it will become like North Korea. How is that better?

I have heard this concern expressed increasingly in recent months, that 5 years from now we'll have a Dati as our Chief of Staff. Imagine someone like Effi Etam in that post. One well known Israeli 'shomer mitzvot' philosopher who is a critic of the fundamentalist tendencies within orthodoxy and is anxious about the emergence of Hardalnikim - Haredi,Dati, Leumi, ultra-orthodox, religious, nationalist - says such people can justify any act - criminal or otherwise - with a Pasuk, and there are plenty of P'sukim to choose from. Which ones would a Dati Chief of Staff use to justify Cast Lead 2, or flotilla fiasco 2, or the lunatics who shout loudly "let's take out Iran!" We are under attack from within and daily our democracy - such as it is - is being corroded by anti-democratic anti-human rights, anti-the-world, demagogues who pander to our red-neck constituency, without a care for the cost of this to our future survival. We have to take back our country before there is nothing left.

All I can say is I feel really sorry for you . I hope you can develop a little love in your heart and a tolerance for other peoples truths besides your own. I wasnt calling anybody names I was pointing out that our bigotry and hate sounds not too different from what was said and is said today about us. I wish you the best and really hope that you can do the same for your fellow jew who is not like you .

You write that it's both our fault and theirs for this gap in Israeli society,but you place all the onus to change on the Haredim. Perhaps if elements of Israeli society stopped embracing every Western fad and value, if more seculars invested themselves in Torah study, then the Haredim would feel less need to go to extremes in word and deed. Both sides need to change, and saying "both" while meaning "them" does not make for change. Those who really want to bridge this gap and save the country need to put their time and energy where their mouths are. That's our real challenge.

you're 100% right!

I suppose that when we give those lovely folks, the palestinians everythng they want, because that's what you do when you negotiate, one party gives the other evrything they wantm Israel will be recognizable to the secular public? Really, dude!

Haredim are helping to keep the Arabs from demographically overtaking Jews in Israel. Keep their allowances but do everything possible to integrate them into the IDF and to further their education. They are not your enemy. Do not make war on them. Work with the young generation. Give them a little time and they'll evolve into a more participatory sector of society.

More and more of our young educatecd secular sabras are leaving the country and Israel is becoming more and more part of this region of the world led and run by religious idologues.

iam not a jew but iam with this author in one thing it is to study evry thing not torah only ..i can not believe tat these haredi do not study lnguages or science only torah i think you can be both secular to study learn and religouse to study torah .is torah is too hard to study withother science or to work and study torah .. there is some dalse in this i think it is the money but sure it is not the freedom of thinking

Dear secular, marry earlier, and visit your wife more frequently. Israel needs 14 million Jews, reigious and secular alike. Compete upwards, not downwards.

they should have more children. The truth is that without the chareidi and religious Jews, we would have been an Arab country years ago.

I do not need that you should feel sorry for me, however thank you. You hope that I can find love in my heart for my fellow Jew. I do, I love my fellow Jew with all my heart. I do not view these Ultra Orthodox folks as Jews, they are a renegade offshoot with poisoned minds. They have zero respect for anyone other than their own ilk, they have zero respect for public property, they have zero respect for the State of Israel that my family and I helped to create and maintain with blood for four generations. I personally have three sons, who all served in elite units, who have left Israel, they are fourth generation born and bred on the land, they have left with their children, fifth generation. Do you want to know why they left, not because they could not make a living, not because they went to study, not because the grass was greener on the other side. They left because of the bearded wonders who are nothing more than a bunch of freeloaders and my children were not prepared to keep them in easy street. Now you still want me to "find love in my heart", no way.

"visit your wife more frequently". My wife lives at home as do most wives. Of course, you were just trying to be polite, you mean "be fruitful and multiply". No dear, we have respect for our wives, at least I have, they are not baby machines.

I doubt whether English will universal language in 20 years time or in 2040. It could well be Chinese, or Japanese. So I wouldn't worry if the Haredim don't learn English. By 2040 the computers will be doing all the maths etc

they will take over, and have an army and an economy ready for them. they are not so stupid. the rabbis will know when it is time to put their people to work. the israel of the future will be one of a haredi super majority, with a jewish population growth that is huge, and the rabbis will say that now it is time for them to serve in the army and work. because if they don't, the arabs will come and murder them all, just like the nazi's did to their forefathers...

This article is an embarrassment to the author, YNET and all those who took part in interviews. The article is completely void of content and is propaganda targeted against a specific population. Luckily from the feedback it seems that the general population is not brainless as the author had anticipated. YNET claims to be an authoritative source for news – they should either redefine the service they are providing or start providing news rather than unintelligent, hateful, emotional rants.

Really, this solves the problem of single-issue parties using their voting blocs to force coalitions to grant benefits while the receiving constituents are not working in the formal economy or serving.

PART 1: Before the talkbacks start rolling in, I would like to first tell the readers of this comment to: A) lower your guard, this isn't intended to spark a debate, and B) hear me out until the end so that you can fully understand my point. I am and Oleh Chadash, I made aliyah for one purpose and one purpose only; to develop a country that Is mine. A jewish state that I can call home. Yes there are the fair share of cracks in the system, that often make us want to throw our hands in the air and say "Forget it" (not with such proper speech, but you get my point). but all in all, Israel is my home. Four months ago, I was serving in a Combat Intelligence Unit in the IDF; i volunteered to go to a combat unit, and was told that the army doesnt even want me, I was 24 years old at the time, with 2 degrees from a very respected university in the United States. I was a newlywed, married for a total of a month and a half, and because of my and my wife's love for the jewish state of Israel we both agreed to not see each other very often during our first year of marriage, and for me to serve in the army, I came home once every two weeks for a day or two; just so that I can feel like i did my part in protecting this Country of ours. One day in the middle of my service, my platoon commander took my company aside and asked us a couple of controversial questions, to spark up a conversation between the religious yeshiva kids, and me and my not so religious friends. the first Question that he asked us was: Do you believe that the state of Israel should legalize gay marriages? I literally felt like someone put me on the stage of a jerry springer show; soldiers were yelling their opinions, papers were thrown in the air, desks and chairs flew across the room, hell, it was a war zone. the next question was if people should be allowed to keep their stores open on yom kippur? again the war between the religious guys and us! Finally he asked if non-kosher foods should be allowed to be sold or even manufactured in israel? obviously all of this was intended to make us realize that we all come from different backgrounds and that at the end of the day, it doesn't make a difference, because we have to put our differences aside, as we are all unified by our uniform, and we are all here to protect what we believe is israel; whether it is praying at the Kotel, or going out to Tel-aviv on friday night; we all Define israel differently.

Israel is currently fighting a civil war between the Jewish state, and liberal front; those who believe in change, reformation and an extinction/ evolving of the Jewish people, This new enemy of mine is a people that don't believe in Jewish values but call themeless jews. Now please, I'm begging you, argue the point that "people who aren't religious are jewish" or that "I shouldn't cut out a whole group of people because I don't share the same state of mind as they do". Or that "their are different levels of judaism", or even the simplest point, that "These, Hareidi people don't even consider me a jew, because i don't dress like them, or because i don't light garbage cans on fire on motsei shabbat, or because I served in the Army, or because I have a very good job and don't spend my days in a yeshiva whilst neglecting my family." Here is my answer, GUESS WHAT! MAYBE this is all true, but at lease I keep the basic beliefs of KASHRUT, SHABBAT, YOM KIPPUR, and ohh ya, I MARRIED A SOMEONE FROM THE OPPOSITE SEX. So to all of those who want to expel the Jewish race, and no this isn't a new Idea, its been attempted before, a couple of times throughout history, Understand this, your stabbing yourself in the back by erasing what your parent and grandparent and great great grandparents fought for. have a personal thought, be original, but why self destruct? Now on a side note: try to get this one: Imagine that and Enemy of Israel was to commit terrorist attacks against our allies, under the Israeli flag, In the hebrew language, and adopted our national anthem, and beliefs, but for the sake of changing them and making a country of his own. sounds familiar? Call me crazy but just because you had a bad childhood experience it doesn't mean that you need to rebel against judaism, and start going against every basic rule that it asks of us. I Agree that The current Educational system is garbage, but for G-d Sake (pun intended) A Jewish state should have jewish beliefs. and not try to copy the jewish name for the sake of having a country to live in and dumping its history.

If the haredim were not there the name of the writer of this shallow essay would have been Muhammed or George.So shut up and be thankful to our haredi botrhers ans sisters for preserving our identity.

I agree with you that the rants of hatred have become unbearable, but probably the option of having to wear long sleeves instead of bikini, or not having the possibility to eat creepy crawlers like shrimps drives some to madness. It's so sad when we have so many enemies around us to focus on your own family as enemies. Divide we fall.

perhaps I should implore my representative in Congress to stop funding Israel - from here, you're all Chasidim! Grow up and learn how to get along. You leftists aren't always going to get your way. That's right - the party's over, and you lost. Avraham Avinu was the richest man in his time and he wasn't secular, so don't assume you have to be a secular to have money and know how to run the world.

This can be the only expaination for a Diaspora Jew to be sentimental with Haredim. Forget about what's going on in Israel (to which this article points out certain "facts on the ground"), even from our vantage point, the shenanigans surrounding Jews attempting to make Aliyah, or those attempting to convert to Judiasm, are all connected to this self-righteousness sect and their increasing influence in Israeli politika. This State is/was fought for by those who worked hard and died for ALL Jews (as stated eloquently in #43) and is the only sliver of land on the planet as a Jewish refuge. When this is ultimitely threatened, it is as concerning as if Israel was existentially attacked. No apologies necessary it that offends you .

What about all of those thousands of people who made aliyah and considered too old to serve in Tzahal, like myself? Would you deny me the right to vote and whatever "handouts" the government would give me (not that I want them, but let's face it, it's not so easy to make ends meet here) just because I was told 24 is too old to serve? Oh and for the record, the Charedim, as much as they scare everyone half to death, preserve our Jewish Identity. Show them a bit of respect and they'll do the same to you. And it's pretty clear you haven't been to the high-tech areas in Ramat HaChayal or Har Chotzvim, where there are definitely Charedim who are working full-time jobs.

Stephanie - why do you sit in Toronto the Good and think that we taxpaying, army-serving, Torah-observing working Jews in Israel should have our hard-earned tax shekels get skimmed off by fat-cat rabbis lining their pockets? Never in the history of our people have we ever had such a disease of immense proportions where an entire segment of religious Jews were convinced that they are all talmidim chachamim worthy of the community's money for their parnasa. Throughout the ages, Jews always gave money to send the best and brightest to the best yeshivas. Suddenly, we are told that every haredi shmendrick's job is to "learn Torah" and every last one of them is a talmid chacham. Sitting in Toronto you have no idea of the intense corruption surrounding this entire issue. You don't know about the bribes, the fictitious yeshivas with the ghost students - all designed to suck off the tax money of hard-working Jews to support a bunch of people who spit on us for serving in the army and sending our kids to non-haredi yeshivas or schools. My family members here proudly learn Torah, proudly work to bring parnasa to their families and communities, and proudly go every year to serve in their reserve army combat units. There is NOTHING preventing haredim from serving the Jewish people by working, defending aretz koidesh they live in, and making parnasa for their families. Nothing, of course, except for the corrupt rabbis who warp the words of our Gdolim and convince their sheep that work is for other Jews, and their parnasa comes from welfare. As my bubbie z"l used to say: Feh!

I had wished that people with such a outstanding style as yours, would use it to spread the right message.And this is that Israel is not a state like other states.It exists ,not only because our brave soldiers,but also because during more than 3000 years YOUR ancesters by keeping the TORA alife transmitted to our generation, that Israel belongs to the Jews.Israel has a special meaning to Jews,that we only know by learning the Tora.(It were the religious jews who refused Uganda as a jewish state.) In the same time as your forefathers who got rid of the Tora learning,there were religious Jews who also worked with their two hands,to make of this land a great fruitful land.Their children and grandchildren were thaught the real meaning of jews living in Israel.These grandchildren don t even think to go elsewhere.They know it is a privilege to live here. If your children left because the Haredim,they did not realize that they are despising their own roots.The most beautiful flowers have ugly roots,and by plucking them,and putting them in fresh water,they get more beautiful,but for a limited time.It is the same for our youth.Abroad their jewishness is at risk. You only know the Haredim by what you read in the papers.You do not know their inside story,the story of YOUR ancesters.Most of them are loving and respectful people.You don t read about these people.If you want to know more of them,there is a wellknown organisation,who explains to the secular ,everything they want to know about the inside story of a religious way of life. The best way to have your grandchildren back to Israel,is to inform you,and to write to them in your beautiful style.May your heart be filled with love.

"Maybe we too will reach the point when we will realize that without teaching children about Darwin, without teaching them computers, Israel will be annihilated" How did this guy ever get his doctorate ?

That's what he got his doctorate in!! Contemporary nonsense PhD!