for the nation.

I believe that only 75 % of all Israeli citizens are Jews. So the headline should probably read, 73 % of all Israeli Jews. Wish you all the very best for the new year!

kind shown by the fumme, good-for-nothing airheads of Mea Shearim and Bnei Brak?

Editors of y net - please note that there are very many Israelis who are not Jewish & do not fast !!! How can it be that 73 % of Israelis fast - don't you mean Jewish Israelis A little respect for the rest of us pleases

Yom Kippur is the only day on which it is possible to ride the speed bicycle on freeways in Israel. I drink nearly two liters during my 50 km bike ride, and more than that during a sharav.

If only it were so! Yom Kippur is such a strong feeling that there is no need to coerce. If we ran public transport and opened all shops on Shabbos, the respone would not be one of greater observance.

Reform Jewish leaders say more Israelis would accept Jewish values if we supported reform. In how many Reform temples is there no traffic whatever over Yom Kippur and about 84% of young people aged 18 to 24 fasting?

Yo more rap ,cos I am full of crap , but I like to fast ,I like to make it last ,like a blast from da past ,I wear I white cape and like a cassette tape I fast forwards ,not backwards . I don't eat nor drink and my breath does stink ,but that's the price you pay for this Holy Day . I don't use no telephone ,cos today I like to atone and my praying skills I do hone .

Don't stay home alone ,when you want to atone just pick up the phone ,don't an-ta-go-nize just socialise and acclimatise ,don't be a demagogue .just go to da synagogue , don't shoot pool ,better to attend shul , don't say " Oy Vey " say Kol Nidrei ,the die is cast :YO GOT TO FAST .

You are right. In the news article text one can read : " The Geocartography research institute interviewed 500 people (a representative sample of the adult Jewish population in Israel) " (end of quote). So only 73% of the ADULT Jewish population does fast. Not 73% of the israeli population

I eat yummy Kippers on Yom Kippur wearing my yellow kipa .

part of the seculars who fast in solidarity. What you don't seem to understand is that the Jewish faith belongs to all the Jewish people, not only the orthodox people, since God gave the Tora to all the Jewish people. So , whatever the motivation it is great that 73% of Israelis do fast.

shopping till they drop at Christmas. I guess that's a celebration as well. Fasting on Kippur by the secular is meaningless and devoid of any "substance" (unless regarded as an "insurance policy" in case the Imaginary Friend really exists), but go ahead: fasting is good for you.

Fasting as a solidarity can be right begalut , but here you're Jewish , don't loose your Jewishness by not fasting . Here you remain Jewish , your children go to Jewish schools . Not the same begalut . The Jewish fith belongs to the Jewish people ? but many don't use this belonging . I know people who fast , and then return to their normal way of life , not observing anything . Or you fast , and observe all the religious laws , or you don't observe the tora laws , and then no need to fast . For me it's black or white , no grey . My best wishes to you and all 100 % Jews

I suggest all those who hate religion and especially Judaism check out the You tube videos showing some of the more than 500,000 half a million ... who flooded the Old City this past week the crowds grow larger every year and in the video you will see the overwhelming majority are not Hassidim but healthy strong young Israelis religious and secular. You have to been deaf dumb and blind ( or live in Tel Aviv ) not to notice the massive growth in the religious public already 27% of all Israeli children attend an Orthodox school system of some kind

does have a measure of faith in God, even if he claims not to believe

My best wishes to you too. In times when most things go reasonnably well, people tend to forget that religion is what held the Jewish people together, especially in times of sorrow like the destruction both temples. Also, one has to be "blind" not to see the miracle of Israël today where communities from different backgrounds all over the world gathered

What hold the people together was not only religion . It was the NON acceptance of Jews by the other peoples . Look what happens in the USA . Jews are accepted , and intermarry in vast quantities . Regarding having some "religiosoty" for those seculars who fast , it's not true in my view . They do it because of a certain "tradition" and the they can say "i have fasted" .

The non acceptance of Jews during the middle ages was only when they did not convert to the local religion. Those who did convert, because of pogroms, economical pressure and other reasons, were many. An estimated 50% of Spanish Jews converted in the inquisition. 30% fled and 20% were killed. Every time, when given the choice to convert die or leave, most chose to convert. The big majority of those who remained part of the Jewish people were the faithfull

It was because of the non acceptance by the non Jews that Jews stayed together . Not believing Jews who didn't want to convert , had no other choice than to be practising people , to remain in a community , not to be isolated from everyone . Jews who were not believing , who wanted to come in intellectual circles had to convert later on too . Think at Heine , who said after his conversion : that's my pasport for the cultural world . Or remember Karl Landsteiner [ the dicoverer of blood groups ] who had to convert in order to pursue his work at an univ. And both lived in the 19/20 th century . I'm not talking about inquisition , expulsion or giving a "choice" , it's something very different .

Maybe it is true in some communities but in most not. A big majority of American, French , English , German , Australian and other Jews are barely traditional if not at all and still are member in a Jewish community or association. Since the holocaust it has become easier for Jews to remain practicing and still have a career. The downside is that for those who are not either practicing or attached to the Jewish people it has become easier to assimilate. That's why it is important for Israeli Jews to know what is holding the Jewish people together: the Jewish religion

It's the feeling that we belong to ONE PEOPLE , not a religion , that holds us together . Seculars have NOTHIiNG in common with religious or ultra religious , exept the fact that we are Jews , belonging to one people , to a people with a common history . PS everyone knows that Antwerp is in Belgium

You're an oxymoron generator. Jews were originally defined by the b'rit, and that has never, and can never, change -- despite your apparent monumental confidence in your own authority.

that race -- genes, genetics, "blood" -- is the ONLY determinant that all Jews have in common. Who are racists like?

You show your "level" : insults . What was originally does not correspond to the today's situation . We , Jews , belong to a PEOPLE , not a religion . We ONLY share our history , old and recent . If saying this means to be a racist for you , not important for me as you showed your "level" with insults

The only common history all Jews share is that coming from the Tanach (Tora, Neviim, Ketuvim). otherwise, how can you say that Russian, Ethopian, French, Yemenite, German, Moroccan, American from the USA, Indian, South American and so on Jews share the same history? We had all 2000 or more diverging histories. The only thing we have in common is the Jewish faith and our love for Israël

The Kotel , many places in Israel are a part of our COMMON history . The tora is our HISTORY book , nothiung more for me . We also share a big quantity of persecutions for being Jewish , for belonging to the Jewish PEOPLE . Not to talk about the Shoa , where some were murdered who even did ignore that they were Jews , or who as Edith Stein , a nun , was murdered as a Jew while being converted to catholicism .

you describe is the one written in the Tanach and the monuments like the Kotel massada Hebron and many other places are places where mostly Biblical history took effect. In all those places we fought against invaders to keep our faith. So that's the history we have in common, a God's given destiny. Some communities went in exile 2500 years ago and others 2000 years ago. You are right when you say that we have in common persecutions. But you choose not to see that , wether the christians, muslims or communists, they all wanted us to convert first because the fact that we went on practicing our faith whatever persecutions they threw at us is a slap in the face to christianity, Islam or unbelievers