Brought tears.

AND THE STATE DOES NOT CARE Greece went bankrupt because Government did not collect taxes And with Israel having a just in time Prime Minister and Government, we do not lok like solving our deep rooted social ills

No one but no one will help you in Israel if you get into any kind of trouble, always remember this before plunging in.

Without accusing Mr Silman the tax authorities do need to be strict. I work in a small shop and am horrified by the number of people who come in and want a discount because they are paying cash, assuming we dont declare cash sales to the tax man. Most contractors I have employed have 2 prices, with tax and cash and no tax receipt. It's endemic in this country to cheat the tax man. No wonder they are getting strict and people are falling "foul" of them.

Not. at all true. Social Services are limited (and swamped) and structured not to be too attractive but when things went bad in a major way Bituach Leumi social workers helped me put my life together (okay, I'm far from rich but standing on my own 3 feet--2 and a cane) and the Revacha has been helping me get my special needs child placed. Unfortunately bureacracies sometimes fail because they are what they are. But don't say that they never work or advise people against coming because its not a bed of roses.

a discount when paying cash . I asked it years ago , and de shopowner said , yes , the 4 % i must pay to the credit card company . A big chain does it too , on some purchases , and give a receipt too . 4 % on a 5000 sh purchase is 200 , a dinner for two . Worth it no ? But as you say , some contractors don't give a receipt at all .

Politicians and social elites have NO IDEA what it is like to be hungry, homeless and sick. NO IDEA. Let them live like is for ONE WEEK and see if they develop some sense of what poor people have to suffer. PS: Instead of giving money to Africans before you deport them just to look "good" in the world's eye... give it to us... Holocaust survivors who go to sleep hungry... ISRAELI Jews who suffer in this country while you fat cats live in 5,000,000 NIS a month luxury apartments. Hard to think about it when you never suffered a day in your lives.

The state encourages Diaspora Jews to come and live here - but what does it really have to offer - Unacceptable and exaggerated high prices for food, clothing, rent, mortgage EVERYTHING!!!! Unless you are a gazillionaire, it's simply not possible to live here with any sort of quality of life. They are better off attending fund raisers and remaining in their armchairs.

i think the "Videos from around the web you might like" are not only completely unrelated to the story, but also inappropriate in that context and offensive in any other context. so many important things are written all over the world, and you link "8 celebrities who are aging badly?"

Why would a Jew in America want to live in Israel if the place cost a arm and a leg to live in. Think Jews here are happy living with the Gentiles making tons of money.

How horrible to read of this mans desperation, so much so that he set himself alight. I'm sure this tragedy will have the authorities re-examing their positions. This should never happen in Israel, never.

Mr. Silman tried to commit suicide in 2005 and was released from Tzahal on psychiatric grounds. He also has a history of financial problems, apparently of his own doing. I think it would be wise to hold off blaming the government for Mr. Silman's problems until we know more. As for Daffy Leef & Co., my hunch is that this terrible incident will backfire on them.

be everyones wet nurse. I refuse to believe that the State dd all that the family states. Where the `f was his family may I ask? The man was disturbed, everyoine including his family want to blame someone. They should be the ones whom you ought to ask tough questions.

Countries that care about their people preserve their proprieties when such proprieties are the only one one has. It is evil to take somebody away from his home if he has only one home. This is not the task of a normal government. Where are the religious parties in the Knesset to call for JUSTICE in this land?? Are they there in the Knesset only to preserve the economical wealthy system for a group that they call Religious ? SHAME!

How comes Rabbi Lev did not help him? For what does she calls herself a Rabbi? Traditional Rabbi's wont just listed to your grief but always work hard to get you the help you need.

You are obviously not Jewish so your obsession with Jews is strange. You could not resist the opportunity for a dig at the "rich Jews". Must be our ability and talent that irritates you. To use this event as a platform for your dislike is unimaginative and cheap.

Sit and wait for a rabbi´s help when you are in need. SIT AND WAIT!Because it wont come! Rabbis like to be very,very well fed by "Tzedacah";if the tzdakah is fat,then expect help and EVERYTHING(even a non kosher conversion,brit,etc) from them,if not..SIT AND WAIT! HA HA HA HA HA HAH!!!!! Your post is funny!!

It seems that many people in this country have forgotten that the government works FOR YOU the citizen and not always the other way around. You vote and you protest to inform the government of your dissatisfaction and that you would like them to change, how things are running in this country. It's not a crime, unless you would like to get rid of democracy and live under a dictatorship, where everything is decided for you (perhaps it's easier like that!) This man may have had psychological problems, but this is not the issue here. There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands or millions of people living under desperate financial circumstances in this country and we can't ignore it.

It is telling something that man had to burn himself alive publicly - for the Authorities and the Establishment to look into his case. Israel has huge and unsurmauntable bureaucracy, and the State has a rhino skin. I've tried twice to return hoping something has changed in 30+ years since I left after being brought to zero by dishonest partners and bureaucracy - but no. It's all still there. Only worse. No affordable housing, with people who came from Russia good 15 years ago still having to duplicate the same "communal flat" conditions they had to bear in USSR - because there is no housing and rent eats more than half of their income. Absurd for a country that considers itself a modern and developed customs rules and regulations, the Standards Institute that checks towing hooks on cars that arrive from Western Europe and are fully legal in EU, one can go mad with all the idiocy of that maze of Ottoman rules and little important bureaucrats everywhere stifling anything that is a bit out of their understanding. They will examine his case now, when the whole world saw this poor man burning himself in protest - what about many thousands of others like him? Should they also burn themselves publicly to be heard at last by that rhinoceros of State bureaucracy?

Prayers for Moshe Silman.

that his financial problems were his own doing. You already investigated this case and found that the government did its job right. You should walk in his shoes for a mile. There are lots of cases in Israel and everywhere else of the little man crushed by bureaucracy. You should be a spokesperson for Assad. Defend the establishment.

It has ALL to do with religion. Knesset has many religious MKs that are there supposedly in the name of religion and religion is about JUSTICE and not about filling the pockets of one sector of the country. I am not even against their interest in filling their pockets,but I am against of a group speaking in the name of G-d while sucking the rest of a majority of Jews in the country.They are not only sucking the rest of the country by obliging others to fight while they confortably sit their asses playing studies,but they are sucking the country by not doing a social ,trully religious job TO ALL ISRAEL,what would avoid extreme situations as we have seen. THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO SPEAK IN THE NAME OF G-D AND ACT UNG-DLY AS THEY DO!

The clerk at the social services who rejected,the branch manager and Dafni Lief for incitement.

Let's not make some kind of hero out of a very sick person. And who's going to pay the fire department for putting out the fire? Sick humor ;-) And please ... Let's not compare this sick person with Buddhist monks who sometimes do a similar thing to bring attention to Tibet.

One needs to simply call one of several religious organizations and they will deliver food to your door, for free. You obviously have no idea of such things. I see vans being loaded and I know somebody that delivers it. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned this because the freeloaders will soon be claiming poverty?!

The Aliyah scandals alone are enough to make the Israeli government the most immoral in the world. They just want to get Jews back in Israel, they couldn't give a damn what becomes of them the moment they set foot on Israeli soil. They'll promise you everything. Help finding a job? They'll promise it. Help finding a house? They'll promise it. Help for the kids to learn Hebrew? They'll promise it. Better schools? They'll promise it. Anything you ask for, they'll promise it. Then the moment you set foot in the country, they simply ignore you. Where's the help finding a job that you promised? Sorry, that's your problem. Where's the help finding a house that you promised? Sorry, that's your problem. Where's the programs to teach the kids Hebrew and help them integrate? Sorry, that's your problem. Where's the better schools? Oh, did we say that the schools were better? Sorry, you must not have heard us right. Aliyah ruined me and my family, financially and socially. The government told us that we needed nothing, just pick up and come to Israel, we'll handle everything else. We believed them, we dropped everything and came, and we found nothing. To anyone thinking about making Aliyah, I say to you personally, don't. It's all a lie, everything that you'll be told, it's all lies. There is nothing waiting for you in Israel besides broken promises and lost dreams, and I consider the decision to come here to be the greatest mistake of my life.

We must know the details before coming to judgement. Perhaps the govt and social agencies can be faulted for not providing assistance., but the real cause of his homelessness are probably rapacious lawyers and their judicial accompkices in collecting debts that Silman unwisely accrued,

I suggest you tell Steinitz that it is ok to purchase a couple of dozen BMW's for your dear Ministers, at half price of course, and while you are at it please tell him to increase the stipend given to the black coated freeloaders.

It is the shocking fact that nobody gives a damn about the social issues, least of all the prime minister who is always after the fact. Potential immigrants, if you don't come with buckets of money, life is going to be very, very tough