You are not happy with the situation in Israel ? Join politics and start working to make things change, instead of whining. You are representative of this selfish spoiled pathetic tel aviv spirit. How come this kind of pathetic bullshit is published as an op-ed ??? Seriously ???

Open a page at Facebook and I will join you!!!!!

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4157152,00.html

that he wrote "wondering jew" rather than "wandering jew" I "wonder" what he would say to the prices in Denmark? This guy is clearly a selfish self centered idiot, he also wirtes "and abuse the elderly and weak." Yes run away, leave the weak and elderly to care for themselves you selfish idiot. He also writes about the workers going on strike how it "hurts" him, make up your mind shmucko, they go on strinke to better their position, you cannot have it both ways. Because of your hedonistic ways you will wind up stoned out of your skull in a ditch, or imprisoned in India for drug possession, but don't worry the country you hate so much will spare no expense saving you, cause that is what they do, unlike any othe rcountry in the world

You seemingly feel no part in being a link in a long, long chain. You don't understand your very being here as a fulfilment of the Torah. Please put the US ads back up there - our young friend is going to need them one day.

I'm not all that familiar with a lot of price networks here, but I can vouch for two things. In the American city I made aliya from, you can get a beautiful home, yard and pool, for what a small apt costs here, in an outlying area. The prices in the supermarket are half of what they are here, and even less, plus there is such a wide selection of each product, you never find yourself in the situation of having to take a product from the shelf, if the price isn't "right". The price of gas is way lower, so is the price of hygiene products, make-up and cosmetics, books, school supplies, clothes, and many other amenities we use daily. The cost of eating out is far lower. Having been in London, and a major German city recently, I did a mental comparison and can also attest that supermarket prices are far far lower there than they are in supermarkets here, even the ones that boast "lower prices."

The author says it all in the 1st paragraph: "...in Tel Aviv, which for me is the only real city in Israel." No wonder he comes to such extreme conclusions. Did he consider moving out of the city? Moving to a completely different part of the country? Perhaps, G-d forbid, moving to Jerusalem? It's as if someone forms opinions about the US after living in new york city (I understand that the author grew up here so the comparison doesn't work 100%). Both countries are amazingly diverse in people, geography, etc. and living in one of these large cities has very little to do with living somewhere else in the country.

All you will have are expat Israelis for friends who wish they were back in Israel and mourn that they can't go 'yet'. It is a sad life for Israelis outside of their country and even if life seems tough here, its tougher there.

I do propose paying him a one way ticket and cancelling his Israeli passport. People like him, for whom Israel or Germany is the same are exactly the kind of people we don't need nor want!!!

That Israel is becoming a beacon and a coveted heaven for thousands of asian or african, and even palestinian intruders, dreaming to settle down instead of you? Wouldn't they be better off applying directly to european or american immigration?

Youd better hurry up. If fear that a financially deteriorating situation in Europe and the US will significantly impact a deep world wide financial crisis combined with political instabilities. Dont count on it being better overseas for long. Perhaps youll after all be better off in Israel.

or get out. You don't deserve your country. I moved there, a goya joining my husband, and I didn't find it to whine about. Israel is a beautiful, vibrant country, crackling with character and contrasts. Yes, living there can be a challenge, but it's never boring, and I don't see that any of the troubles noted are peculiar to Israel alone. My thought is that you will be smiting your forehead over your next country of residence, too.

Oh, and when you get to the "Goldena Medina" don't be disappointed when you can't get a job! Heard of the financial mess in the USA and Europe! Liad, here you can be a Jew and be proud of it. There, you are another "bloody Jew" or one of many other less polite terms for our people! Having been a "Diasporanik" for 40 years and then made Aliyah, I am proud to be an Israeli. So you are living in Tel Aviv. Well, in TA if you collapse in the street, someone will stop and pick you up and get help. In other big cities some folk won't even stop and you will be lucky if they don't step on you! Stop whining and remember if you are miserable here you will be more miserable there!

AS my kiddo's english teachers hated me!! And the electric company is a disgrace giving free electric to employees, where many suffer from heat and cold because they cant afford the bills. But Liad has to make his own choices. While he is young enough to build a life, but what happens if he becomes ill, (may he know good health) will he be able to cover medical care...ours is really good compared with many countries. NO country is perfect and avantages are taken by those in power and pension funds fall anywhere..happened in the UK. But we are often a bunch of moaners and just dont realise how bad other places really are.

we can still work it out. No one, not one country, has achieved as much and as fast as we did. Sure, we're not at the level of other countries centuries and millennia old, but we've got a leg up. Israel looks nothing like it did 30 years ago. It won't look the same as it does now, in 30 years. It'll be much better. To all the people who are sure to write that "we don't need you", let me assure you, we do. You can stay and make a difference. We're worth it.

I agree with 100% of this article but what I don't understand is why we allow this to be our reality. If Israel is "OUR" country why don't we treat it and eachother with reverance and respect. Why don't we clean our streets and our coroption like we all clean the insides of our homes and bodies and clothes? Why are we so insular and selfish these are all contrary to the foundation of the state. I am at this very moment waiting for papers from another counrty and in comming months will leave Israel. I have long lost hope of my children missing the Israeli experiance. Bamba and Pititim are sold abroad. What's left? Without a colective mentality of "keeping' Israel we might as well just all leave!

Ridiculous answer from the one, who lives in Manhattan

This is weird. Prices, supermarkets, public transportation... enlightened nations. But the climax comes when he invokes his Jewishness to explain why he wants to leave: the wondering Jew!!!!!! There's no such thing. He heard, perhaps, about the wandering Jew, a piece of Christian medieval folklore, which depicted the Jew as The Wandering Jew, a celestial punishment for having not recognized in Jesus the Messiah, the living god. This is preposterous, disgusting. But it is also a mirror: a mirror of some people who so completely lost their connection to their Jewishness that they don't understand anymore the meaning of Israel: to end, once and for all, with the condition epithomised by the "Wandering Jew". One wonders if to laugh or to cry, when reading things like this.

the religious dictatorship here. Y'know fella, my guess is that you are a compulsive intellectual - a slave to cerebral dictates and suffering severely blunted emotional responsiveness (which probably explains why you would be good at computer programming). A striving for significance and a management of existential issues are light years removed from your (cerebrally dictated) values. Your life will be just as flat wherever you live. I suggest you remain in Israel and, kicking and screaming, let the temper of life here carry you. Mind you, had you added a word or two about the religious dictatorship here I would sincerely have sympathized and half agreed with you.

Dear Liad, You are 100 % right about the feeling of many 30’s young professionals in Israël and your description about rent, cost of living, etc…is correct. Two important missing points. First, the situation in western world is not better for young professionals. They too have to face high rent with no perspective in sight to purchase a flat in a good location, high cost of living, in the US, high medical cost …. Secondly, an historical illness, anti-Semitism. If you read books about Antisemitism in history, how several Jews reached power and prosperity (only a meagre percentage of them) in several now defunct empires or countries, Poland, Moslem countries in North Africa and Middle east, etc, you can just also read how they all finished, Shoa being the ultimate blow. Liad, wake up please, contribute to create wealth to the country of Israël but put pressure on your managers that the profits being distributed inside the company, put pressure on the government of Israel to make change to the monopolistic systems developed by socialist trade-unions, fight professional politicians who live well on false promises, vote and do not despair ….. and do not become an idiot tent protester in Bld Rotschild !

Normally this hits at about 40, so he's a bit young. Could it be that his generation is so used to exhilaration, to excitement etc, that they have difficulty settling into a stable lifestyle?

Guy is right. Nothing as changed in 23 yrs since I eft, except that the social gap got wider, as relates to rich or poor. I stuck it out ten years, had. Gra job, but...didn't like what I saw around me as materialism trumped Zionism. I'm happy here in the USA , work hard, make ends meet, and do it on my own, without schnorring from the State or my family. In Israel, the only way to make it thru the month s by schnorring and scheming.. It's a shame that the Zionist dreams of 100 years ago have turned out this way...

e... they come to israel, because they cant make it to the US or the EU... you must have missed, how many of them risk their lifes or even die on their journey to europe... its much more difficult and expensive to get there, than to israel... in europe one need refugee-status, to stay... in israel, you need cheap labor...

isnt this what liad says ? in addition, he seems to miss any prospect - there is no improvement, but in contrary things get worse by the day... where has been anything improved lately ? what plan(s) are currently seriously looked into, to improve life in israel ? what is your goverments reply to the social unrests ? ah...they promised to build more housing in the settlements, then there is the NGO-bill, the slander-bill, the egypt fence, the increase of the defense budget, the iran attack... anything else ?

This is a shallow opinion holding this country to standards that it cannot uphold. The reality we live in does not allow us to enjoy the luxuries of most 1st world countries. We are not here to be comfortable we are here to be Jews and not fear being oppressed for it. I came from a developing country and believe me we have it very good here. This is our country and we cannot fall into the trap that our neighbours have of deciding that because we have problems we can either leave or wait for someone else to solve them for us. The history of our state glorifies the 3rd option which is fixing it for ourselves. So stop whining about everything thats wrong with our country and start doing your part to fix it.

The Jewish heart leans socialist but the Jewish mind thrives in capitalism. If Israel would lower taxes, allow competition, and cut regulation, folks wouldn't have to choose between coming home and making a living. The writer expresses some legitimate concerns but fleeing will not fix them.

The grass isn't greener elsewhere. Sometimes people are, though. Nicer, I mean. But as far as money and jobs and housing is concerned, the grass isn't greener.

Discrimination in Israel is a true shame. Had a Jew been treated abroad like Jews - and Arabs - and others - are treated in Israel... Oiva! Only one word for this - discrimination.

Sound she is bored or needs a girlfriend

I made Allya 7 years ago from France,