Misguided and pathetic people. Seems that all the teachings didn't help the 3 month old baby bitten and beaten to death, not to mention their vile behaviour on yom zicaron or the smashing of internet cafes in Jerusalem. Seems they need a little secular teaching. Pack them all up and ship them out. We'd be a happier people for it.

do not resort to violence, physical or verbal, when their wishes are not fulfilled, this is called coercion and it leads eventually to anarchy which in turn leads to the breakdown of society. Violence must be met by appropriate punishment.

avraham gal has the unmitigating gall to state that only 2 percent of jewish education goes for non orthodox (charaydiy ) education . this is totaly false unless you assume that the state educational schooling system is not jewish education. but, perhaps he is right and the state educational system which teaches the prepnderance of israels children is not jewish education. since that is the case it is no wonder why our "israeli" children do not consider themselves jewish. Do not blame others for the shortcomings that the secular and non orthodox school systems willfully perpetuate. in contrast the state spends over 300 million dollars to teach diaspora children that " they " are jewish. Are not israeli children entitled to learn that they too are jewish? mayer horowitz jerusalem

If the Govt. was so interested in giving real Jewish eduction to Jewish Kids, they would appoint more , if they employ at all, Rabbis and Melamdim to teach the secular Govt School kids and not non religous people / teachers who would no doubt give a miscontrued side without any real commitment to Yehadut. How can we expect kids or any person for that matter to receive the real love of Yehadut , if from the start it isn't there!! Mind you with so many Goyim in the Public school system I'm sure a certain sector here would scream "racism" out loud. What are people afraid of?? Jewish kids learning real true Yidiskite and not Watered down Reform or Conservative "Judaism" !! Lets wake up and save our future generation / s, it's our responsibility!!

because of people like you Mr. Gal in 10 -15 years people will ask an israeli kid if he's Jewish and the kid will say huh? ma zeh yehudi?!! keep on blaming the religious and comparing all religious to one or two crazy people, or one certian very small extreme group, like num 1 does, and thats what kind of educated kids we will have. just dont forget that these kids are our future. I'll tell you what when push comes to shove, all the kids who got a solid Jewish education like the "settlers" everyone loves to condemn over here, and the religious, they will be the ones who will be fighting to save our country in years to come. At the rate we're going, i can only hope that by then the issue wont be whether we should "disengage" from Tel Aviv or something like that, cuz the poor poor arabs /palastinian myth go through too much "humiliation" at the hands of the "racist Zionists"

Well Chabd is keeping it strong thay just made a bar and bat mitzvah for 1000 kids

Obviously, Mr. Gal believes that his non-commited Gentile approach to Jewish Education is superior to the traditional approach, which stresses loyalty and commitment to G-D, His People, and His Torah.

Like A.B. Yehoshua said, who needs Judaism when you have Israeli-ism?

Are you saying that orthodox and charedi are the same? I thought the charedim were the ultra-orthodox, which is not the same at all.

What is the Apocrypha in Hebrew?

Unless they're forced to like Orthodox kids, it's very hard to get kids in today's world drenched with the moron culture, rap music and computer games and MTV etc. etc., interested in Maimonides and Talmudic disputation. The author of the article would like the world to be a more pleasing place. So would I. But in the real world, the secular-Israeli Jewish identity focused on nationality, land, language, holidays, and some sense of Jewish history and peoplehood, is probably the best one can hope for. It could be richer, but it's at least real. It self-perpetuates. Haifa and Tel Aviv have been predominantly secular-Jewish cities for decades, and they continue to be, and are in no danger of evaporating.

Unless they're forced to like Orthodox kids, it's very hard to get kids in today's world drenched with the moron culture, rap music and computer games and MTV etc. etc., interested in Maimonides and Talmudic disputation. The author of the article would like the world to be a more pleasing place. So would I. But in the real world, the secular-Israeli Jewish identity focused on nationality, land, language, holidays, and some sense of Jewish history and peoplehood, is probably the best one can hope for. It could be richer, but it's at least real. It self-perpetuates. Haifa and Tel Aviv have been predominantly secular-Jewish cities for decades, and they continue to be, and are in no danger of evaporating.

It is dishonest for the author to blame the haredi parties for lack of Jewish education in Israel (the author is so ignorant that he doesn't see the difference between Orthodox and haredi). Based on data made available by Feiglin, most Likudniks would support more Jewish education. My guess is that most Jewish Israelis would, too. But Left that runs Kadima, Labor, and Meretz do not want it, and they will not provide it. After all, Israeli Jews might decide that there is more to being Israeli than one's Israeli citizenship. In fairness, Shas knows perfectly well that Merlot would never support Jewish education in "secular" schools. So, why not make sure that the money earmarked for Jewish education goes to haredi institutions?

"And so, alongside a society of hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox parasites," Mmmm... I wonder if he has a bone to pick?

B"H I disagree with the author's quote: "Reform and Conservative Jews – are considered an abomination, and are hated by the religious political leadership far more than the secular public." In the United States, the only public funding goes directly to secular schools with no religious content. I think the situation is vastly improved in Israel for those dependent on public education, and there are options at least beyond just secular education.

The real issue is that the state of Israel tries not to identify with the jewish religion. It's clear that it is impossible to have a jewish state and not discriminate since by definition a jewish state means a state for JEWS. To balance the secular ideas the israelis need to abolish religion from their jewish culture so they can also enjoy "seperation of church and state". Clearly it is the secular world who could care less about the funding for teaching judaism since judaism is a religion and the goal is to abolish religion in order to creat a "free" country. Four fingers can point at someone else but only one points to yourself.

Another article in Ynet talked about closing businesses on Shabbat. With a decent Jewish education at public school, the Government would not have to force people to rest on Shabbat (davka - rak b'Israel!), because most would be aware of the meaning of the day and would refrain from work (even if they don't go to beit knesset, they'll spend quality time with the family).

On the radio, reporting on Chanukah I hear how many sufganyot where eaten. The most improtant thing about Pesach, per the radio, is what the statistics are on the ammount of Maztoh eaten per capita. Regarding Christian and Muslim holidays I actually here something about the meaning of the holiday. Sir, Instead of blaming the orthodox, look inside. The founding fathers of this country wanted to make a new Jew, not connected to tradition, to G-d's Torah. So they sterilized Judiasm: Chanukah means sufganiyot, Succot means some sort of harvest festival and Purim means costume parties. So now we have the new Jew empty of any real meaning for his existance. Now you blame the Orthodox for the failed experiement-what chutzpah

The "orthodox" do care - but just imagine the uproar if the "orthodox politicians" tried in any way to influence the curriculum in the mamlachti schools - religious coercion! return to the dark ages! etc. etc. If Avraham Gal and other non-orthodox want Jewish content, in the mamlachti schools, they are going to have to work to make it a priority for the secular ministers and law makers who have diluted these subjects in the curriculum. Blaming the religious partys is wrong, and won't get Jewish content into secular schools.

Attempts to introduce serious Jewishness to non religious state schools are shouted down by those like Mr Gal and his Shuni/Meretz type friends with such hysteria and frenzy , that you would think the AIDs virious was being brought in. Then he complains!!!

I live in both religious and secular worlds through my child's Chazara Bitshuva. Unfortunately, the only hatred I see is among the secular Israelis, especially those who pride themselves on values of liberalism, humanitarianism and tolerance. How hypocritical and two-faced! But I suspect it all stems from a deep sense of emptiness and low self-esteem vis a vis the depth and fullness of the religious world. I am a secular Israeli who feels a great loss in our pursuit of the "good life", the god Mammon, while forsaking the most meaningful and deepest load granted to us in our heritage.

Mr Gal, your concern is a "pose", your panic is real. Join them, just for one day of study, and you will see how ahavat Israel and the glory of "the giants" (by the way they were all orthodox) is the absolute source of inspiration. But again, when your vision is distorted by jewish borout and fashionable hatred, you might not see anything but "parasites". What a pity.

The true source of hipocracy is the orthodox/ultra-orthodox who claim to bring religion into our lives but in fact they only further everyone else from it. Myself I am a reform jew and it always amazes me to hear what they think and say about Reform and conservative judaism. They have absolutely no shame and compare us to Nazis, amalek , etc. It is no joke- these people prefer that a jew who is not observant be completely secular rather than reform and that is the reason for the ridiculous division of funds. And by the way I actually enjoyed Tanach class (in the Israeli secular high schools). Maybe because it was not run by them....

Using the Hareidim as a straw-man to strike at "orthodoxy" is dishonest. Further, this ignores the fact that Shas does a great deal of outreach in the sephardi world and that a signficant portion of their seats came from people who are traditional at best.