noticed that sentiments like Liad's surface in previous places I used to live too (and they were different from each other like day&night). Disillusioned people are just that: devoid of hope& drive, maybe with good reasons(?) One could arrive at similiar conclusion regarding Life itself (just think for a second: it's pointless!) Ad: "Looking for fellow Travelers to the Great Beyond. We meet on the 13-th, on top of Tour Eiffel"

i honestly cant believe this is a news article. is this guy really 32 because he sounds like a 16 year old girl. i grew up in the US and to hear this guy (and others like him) who think that life is so easy overseas and everyone is rich the minute they walk off the plane is just idiodic sounding to me. yes israel has its issues as does every "enlightened" country, but the biggest issue israel has is the self hating citizens who think that the grass is always greener on the other side and everything that is wrong with the world starts with israel. its not a bad idea for this guy to move to the US for a while... maybe he can learn a little something about patriotism from the americans.

...have a safe trip.

If it is hard for you as a Sabra, imagine how it is for us who made aliyah in the last ten years! Most of us who are not yet pensioners are literally out from Israeli society, also exploited and discriminated with no chance to contribute decently with our professionalism, skills and experience. Most of us who came to settle in Israel did it out of optimism and believing that there may be room for us. Not to mention the Ethiopians and other Jewish ethnic minorities living here. It is a real shame. All we see bluntly contradicts what and who we suppose to be as Jews. As your grandmother pointed out, the local mentality does not honor what we suppose to be. If this is the predicament inside our country, I don't want to imagine what may happen to us when we have to face a real war threat.

I don't get this dude...I would give everything if I could serve in the IDF, I applied through the Mahal program, but due to health reasons I was rejected. That life would be much more risky for me and harder than where I live in Europe, but still Europe means nothing to me, all I wanted to have military carrier in the IDF as a dream. Life is not easy, but he should be lucky he was not born in Congo or 70 years ago, and that he is part of the Jewish nation. If the Jews had been like him in the 19th when lawyers, doctors gave up their super cool life for the "desert" then there wouldn't be Israel now.

32 years old and already so disillusioned. Marry, have children, and life will seem a little more beautiful for you. And do not think emigration is the solution of your problems. New problems will overwrite the old, and you will not have solutions for them. And what will you do then? Emigrate again? and to where?

Or in other falling part of Europa. But don't forget that there, maybe the supermarket is cheaper, but you will have lots of additionnal expense (gaz for heating your housing, parking lots, taxes for rich guy like you, taxes for waste treatment, taxes for water treatment, taxes for solidarity..., and other taxes) Everything look always better outside for child like you who thing that Tel aviv is the only real city in Israel, that just paint your despitable trueunpolite and snobbish face.

Bring back the palmach but with the Tradition of Tuvya the milk man

Thinking that Tel Aviv is the only real city in Israel? That's the attitude that pulls real jobs away from the rest of the country, people are forced to move to Tel Aviv to find work, this drives up the population which drives up the cost of living (of all the months spent living in Northern Israel, this is the most common economic complaint). The socio economic situation is similar the world over, in the UK pensioners are living below the poverty line, we have strikes, we have a poorly managed finacial sector. In the US public medical care and those who work in the sector are severly underfunded, also it is a ridiculously complicated process to get a software job these days. I hear from Americans with years of experience a litany of complaints about the current recruitment requirments for a simple C++ programming job. Fed up with the cost of living in Tel Aviv? Try Rehovot.

US Dollars for a place to live. The foods Cheap as well. They are currently trying to fix all their plants that were flooded. They produce electronics...Might be a place to consider. Don't think we aren't looking over the fence at the green grass. The United States has its problems too.

Liad, The issues in your article are very serious and real. This in fact shows that there is indeed plenty of work to do in the State of Israel, especially in helping improve this society. That is exactly one of the reasons I left the comfort of my home in the United States. I came to help build society, and to help improve these issues. Keep in mind, we are a young country, and our accomplishments in 63 years are unprecedented. If comfort is what you seek, then help mold your society, your country, your home into one that is up to par with the level of comfort and economic prosperity you seek. Never take the easy way out. If the early Zionists came to this land 120 years ago with the same mindset as yours, there would indeed, today, be no Israel, and our security as world Jews would be compromised. I encourage you to read an article published on April 6th, 2011 entitled "Why I choose to return" by Eran Davidi. He is another Jew who chose to leave the comfort of his home and life in the USA, despite the reasons listed in your letter. I wish you all the best and hope you choose to stay in Israel and help build the young country. Yoni Mann

There is no utopia anywhere , and there are social problems everywhere. For the majority of people all over the world life is a struggle , and you have to struggle so that you might become a success story.Or would you like to live in a socialist country ? Anyway , no matter where you go you will face challenging problems. At least here you have the freedom to move elsewhere !

Liad, you have to do what is right for you. Sick of Israel? Go live abroad for a few years. If you feel so good there, stay. If you die of homesickness, come back but I think it will be with a greater appreciation of what there really is here. I came here from the States. No plans, no Zionistic inclinations and my motto has always been, "I came because I liked it and I'll stay till I get sick of it." Not much to pin an ideology on but I'm here for 40 years. Don't complain. Just do it.

Well, then leave. Go wherever you want. Good riddance, you pathetic, whining fool. Incredible to imagine that you would mention supermarket prices first, so while awaiting your flight out of Eretz Israel, please google "Tzena."

Factually the Israeli tax burden is lower than most of Western Europe and even Canada, as are food prices - health care is ranked among the best in the OECD and with the lowest cost. Sorry some fees are too high for you at a bank, but our banks are stable and profitable and our ecnomy is not crashing like the rest of the worlds. You complain about fees on your pension, but under Israeli law EVERY Israeli gets a pension in addition to social security - 90% of Americans do not have a pension. Sure Id like to see better infrastrucutre and better spending in some areas but we are a small coutry with lots of needs and it takes time. The only reason to leave is either depression, aversion to your own Jewish identity, or greed.

So, go abroad, have a lovely Christmas and please don't invite me to any of your non-Jewish children's simchas!

I have just spent 1 month in Tel Aviv. I noticed most things are less expensive than in my hometown Amsterdam. Fruits and vegs taste much better in your hometown and I found your hometown people friendlier. You will miss the Israeli sun when living in Amsterdam. You will also be shocked about the Amsterdam real estate prices and rentals. Same problems with our pensions etc. Increasing anti-semitism due to increasing muslim immigrants in European cities, as well as increasing crime rates. Despite all of that....you are welcome down here!

I truly sympathise with Liad but it is completely apparent that he is only seeing the negative - of course there is some negative but OH MY GOODNESS - Look at the positive. Every single situation that one finds himself in one needs to look at the positive - the jewish people are back in their land and are thriving. Look at the positive - at our wonderful people and country. Maybe the only short term solution for liad is to go for a few years to Chutz laaretz. It is only once you live in Chutz laaretz that one truly appreciates what we have.

Just leave, why must you drag Israel down with you because you are a bitter man? You need everyone to go with you?? Perhaps you are more like a child. The grass is always greener on the other side. I moved from Canada to Israel, made aliyah. This is a great country, if you think people don't struggle everywhere it's probably because you are naive and sound like it with this frankly stupid article.

My husband after being in Canada after military service for 32 years lived in Canada. We moved back here a year ago with a house paid for and quite a bit of monies to retire. WE are leaving Israel as we find it more expensive to live here than in Canada. Work Opportunities are so limited, its so sad as this was our dream to come and retire here and now we need to go back and work as it is just too expensive to live in Israel.. Ontario (Thornhill area has a beautiful Jewish area, very established and all the help you would need is right there.) Just an opinion

My sentiments exactly,the people are taken advantage of by the electric company as well ,that claims that it is losing money and needs to raise prices every few months, yet continues to give its employees FREE ELECTRICITY ! Te educational system here is horrid as well, not only do they refuse to pay teachers a livable wage, but many of them are incompetent, unable to teach the subjects they were hired to teach, this is found mostly at the elementary school level, Where my daughter has been exposed to science teacher that thought the rubber on a screwdriver is so that it doesn't get hot when used; to saying there was no such temperature measurement as Fahrenheit ! To teachers hired to teach English, who could not speak it properly and my daughter had to correct her! We are fed up with a mediocre life here, things need to improve 100% or there will be more people leaving !

Let him do what he wants to do. Why does he feel the need to publicly justify his actions. I could write a similar article about why I left the USA, but what difference does it make?

Your living in an unreal world. There is more to it than your article. If as you say you make a decent salary and live a life of tranquility - what more do you want? I think your outlook is very unhealthy and you have a psychological problem. From the way you describe your life in Israel, you would have the same problems where ever you are. Its true we are ripped off in the supermarkets, but try and find a job in Europe or the US today. You should think again, there are other places in Israel other than Tel Aviv to live.

There is no peaceful future in Israel. So, get out of there as fast as you can. As an Israel, I am very disappointed that the elite Jews, with all their wealth and power, could not create a more human friendly country for their people to live. It's a disgrace.

You seem to be wholly a worshipper of the capital. Then covert to Islam and go and live in Saudi-arabia to be sure. Arn.Sweden.

coward. many jews are coming back in Israel and you leave? Coward.

For every one jew in israel that wants to go live in the usa, there are 5 american jews that would like to move to israel. Educate yourself please on whats really happening in the usa, first off food prices here are sky high, when im there I shop at ampm and it s way less than what I pay both compared to nyc and here in CA. Rent in LA or NYC is way higher than tel aviv, and the quality of life is 100x worse than tel aviv. You have junkies, and crime here all over the place, in todays ny daily news, look at the write up about how 500k kids in nyc live in homes that dont have money for food, up 37% since 08. Many israleis are moving back to israel, the day im able to to, ill do the same (I was born and raised in the usa) but spent time in israel and work with many from there. Tech jobs will pay you better there than in the usa, and youll be with motivated people in work not with a bunch of problem people.

Why is this purely personal matter being aired here? If he wants to leave, then he can leave. Why does it have to be always that Israel is somehow to blame? Life is far from perfect here, but this is a truism for essentially the whole planet. Some places are better or worse in different ways, have good and bad points. Yet Somehow everything is always Israel's fault for people of a certain mentality. If the grass is greener on the other side for this young man, then maybe all that he is really deciding is that he doesn't belong here by his own reckoning. I wish he'd leave without blaming my country. Lots of people have criticism, but give it graciously and with the compassion of those who love their people and nation and hope for more for everyone. Besides, how does he explain all the content people here? And you can sign this "from a 100% Israeli who is not a sabra"

this is like some guy from mea shearim lecturing me on the beauty and torah world of Los Angeles.