If anything the money that goes here should be cut back and reallocated to the reserve component of the IDF. Has far has I know there is no prohibition against working and studying, Having the wife work, having less children, Its all a matter of choice.

I find it hard to respect or sympathize on anything she writes after she wrote her column on how proud she was that she got out of the army.

Sorry but not everyone thinks that torah is so important. If these people want to earn money then they should work, its not fair to complain when you have made a choice to follow religious study instead of working you should not expect to live a life above the poverty line. Stop complaining about choices that people have made themselves! Any of them could stop learning and go out to work if they chose to.... Im getting a little fed up with these whiny religious articles..........

If preserving our Torah heritage is as important as you say, why not give them all they need, and more. The Levites and the Kohanim of old were supported by all of Israel in their holy work. they recieved a tenth of all produce, even though they were only one thirteenth of the tribes.

there woudn't be anything in my cart either. Zero, zilch. Studying Torah is indeed admirable but I'm sure that G-d did not intend that people who study his word should go hungry . Work, eat and study but not study and starve. Get a life.

where you can Tali, and make the most of what Torah can give.There is a very fine line at times. I walk and pitch my tent where I can, but must take care of my family. G-d has blessed me, within what I have and see in my TENT. Meat can make the mind heavy.

If people were to stop for 5 seconds and ask themselves a simple question: "Does this make sense?" the world would be a lot different. Most of what we do and what how we act is a result of what we are told. Does it make sense for 19 and 20 year old kids to marry without a pot to piss in because that's what the norm is in Bnai Brak? Does it make sense that generation after generation of children grow up in poverty because their fathers spend all day pouring over religious texts? Do women have to feel pressured into having a child every year or two when they don't have the resources to care for them? It's about time that our leaders stop being politically correct and have the courage to stop cycle of poverty. And as a taxpayer, I'm sick of paying the price.

It's a tough balancing act. On the one hand we are commanded to work 6 days and rest on Shabbat; on the other, scholarship is a full time occupation and not a hobby to be pursued in one's spare time. Good luck!

Almost every single one of the Tanaaim, Amoraim (sages from the Mishna and Talmud era) had vocations. They all made a living by working. The Rambam (a later sage) suggests that a person must work to earn a living (Hilchot Talmud Torah 1:12-1:14). The Book of Genesis states that God cursed man after the apple incident to have to work for survival. A person who refuses to work, does not believe this part of the Torah. Mishna in Masechet Avoth (1:10) states explicitly that one should go get a job. Now, of course, here in New York City, we overkill this and there are no guaranties as God provides our sustenance in a measure he sees fit BUT here's a suggestion to all those who want to fill their carts - BECOME GAINFULLY EMPLOYED.

You made your bed, you lay in it. Indian yogis and Buddhist monks and Christian monks are the equivalent of our yeshiva boys. These people made a choice so they don't complain about it. Yogis live in utter poverty, from donations or just starving. That's part of their sanctity, this is what they are willing to sacrifice in order to be closer to their God. Christian and Tibetan and Japanese monks live off their own labor, and they eat as much as they produce. You don't like it - change a lifestyle. If God is so important to you, maybe being hungry is not that relevant. Besides, I don't think there's any God that preaches for his servants to be parasites on the society's body. There're just some people who abuse the name of God to avoid real life, with all its hardship and hard work. There're plenty of hardworking, army-serving Israelis who can barely make the ends meet. I'd much rather help them.

Every time you write an article Tali, I understand why many secular Israelis hate the Haredim. Come in America and discover a working Torah world respected by the secular Jews !

Pushed all your buttons. You are so dumb to fall for this drivel.

Something tali said is right: many {too many, may be} of these yeshiva students, warm benches. They have it easy, they receive their stipend and don't work. No other way these guys would be studying if not for the money they get- they are lazzy parasites using Torah Study as an excuse for their economic irresponsibility. Now you also have the rare luminaries who should- in my opinion be studying all day, and I don't have any problem of funding their study time with my tax money. But again, these are rare. Torah Study around the clock is not so much a matter of sanctity in some circles as a matter of social status, without which you wont "properly" marrry off your offpring, let alone be accepted into their "system". We should separate the wheat from the chaff, we shouldn't force on the whole population to foot yeshivot either. At the end of the day gifted scholars may be lost in the workforce or suffering in dire strights -while loads of "protectsiot" are just warming their seat.

Since when does a job guarantee an abundance of food on the table, ever hear of the "working poor"? Does the State not support University students through grants, subsidies and stipends? Is this support predicated on the knowledge that all of the university students will work and make money? Israel is not the USA, it is unique. Its uniqueness is that it is a Jewish State. The Jews are that by virtue of the Torah. If the Jewish State does not make sacrafices to insure that the Torah remains connected to the Jewish people then what right will we have to a Jewish State. It should be that if you want money? come to the USA. You want Democracy? go to Europe. But, if you want Jewishness Come to Israel. These people are doing us all a favor let's help them out.

I agree. IF we don't maintain the Jewish character of Israel, there's no reason to have it, with all the struggles involved. At the same time, the Haredim (including the undistinguished writer of this article) don't bother to protect the Jewish State by anything other than a prayer. IF so, soon there will be no Israel. So the fair trade off would be for the Haredim to be grateful to the seculars who fight and actively build this country (the malls they like going to during hot summer days, for instance, or doctors who fight cancer and infertility) where they can pray and wait for the Messiah, but in return they should relinquish all financial and political demands. If anything, it's the likes of Tali Farkash with her expensive wigs and all the time free of any civil duties, that should take care of the poor in her community. Instead of blogging absentmindedly, writing down every inane idea that crosses her mind without really analyzing the social mechanisms behind the adverse events she sees, Tali could establish a charity for the poor people she knows, and not to hide from them in supermarket. Feeling guilty, Tali? You realize that you don't deserve to have more than they do, yet you're not doing anything to eradicate this injustice? Or will you find some God written justification of it, or you can always blame those awful yuppies who work for a living and then have even more than your Daddy gave you? We know what Farkash buys wasn't created by other starving Haredim, or by God's hands for that matter, but by underpaid, overworked and abused foreign workers/slaves who she wouldn't even spit at since they are goyim.

You are right. It is a personal choice. The difference is that Buddist monks and Christian priests are celibate. They are adults and if they want to live a religious lifestyle in poverty, that's fine. Haredi men have children - and lots of them - who suffer the consequences of their parent's inability to live in modern society.

"Every time you write an article Tali, I understand why many secular Israelis hate the Haredim. " Wow... something to really be proud of.

While those outside the cloistered world of the haredim can only be distressed at the large families, poverty, and national service deferments, and the like, they are all connected through perverse policies current in Israel. When Statehood was declared, some 400 students were granted service deferments and social support so that Torah would not disappear from the land. The number of deferments exploded after policy changes during the Begin era which, sadly, lacked any limits. Some 20,000 are now exempt from service. And given Israel's socialist foundation, social services expanded to fill the gap as more and more withdrew from the workplace. With no disincentive from large families, and the safety net of welfare, haredi families (as well as Bedouin and Muslim Arab families) exploded in average size as well as poverty. Locales like Bnai Brak and Jerusalem thus have lower workplace participation, and thus higher levels of poverty. Nowhere else in the world would this be tolerated. Haredim in Antwerp, London and New York are expected to make a living because the general population will not support indolence in the name of "Torah study". Israel should be no different. In early Mishnaic times, it was deemed a parent's *obligation* to teach one's child a trade, because they were expected to make a living. Nor were the sages exempt. Was not Akiva a woodcutter, Rashi a vintner, the Rambam a physician, the Baal Shem a digger of lime and Isaac Luria a dealer in spices? It's time the haredim relearned that lesson.

i don't see why yeshiva students can't work. there is nothing holy about learning and living off of the state and other people's tax shekels. learning is great and should be encouraged but the yeshiva student should have to do some sort of sherut leumi and should be supported in finding a job. torah study should not be in place of work. all of our great hahamim supported themselves-why can't the yeshiva students today? frankly perhaps more hilonim would be more open to their yiddishkeit if they didn't associate learning with NOT working? and frankly learning in and of itself is not holy if the person then decides that he is more holy than a person who has a 9-5 job. if the rabbanim can only convince their students to learn by telling them that hilonim and those who don't learn are not kadosh-well then that is a real shame. all of am yisrael is holy and should be treated as holy. the doctors are holy, the soldiers are holy, the nurses are holy, the people who work at the gas station are holy. we are all holy. get your head out of the sand tali.

On 3 stands the world. Torah, AVODAH, tsdaka. In my world, he who does not make an effort to provide for himself and his family does not deserve tsdaka, providing of course that he is fit and able. He may find solace in Torah, but sustenance not.

Well said. I am becoming more and more inclined to believe those posters on talkback who are convinced that Tali Frakash is either a fake, or someone who purposefully provokes ynet readers. I mean, cmon...Tali claims she is so religious, that she has a $2000 wig to conceal her real hair, because that is the 'modest' thing to do. How can anyone take her seriously?

Enough with giving parasites money. I do not want my tax money going to these free loaders. I have to work seven days a week including holidays to make a living.Let these bums go to work.Let tali stop her crap.

Is there anything we can do so you can stop writing nonsense. Are you married? go an inscribe yourself on some shiur , get a life, get pregnat but stop writing and trying to imitate frum people. you re so far away of being frum . Get a life!!!!

Dear Tali, Don't you think society would be better served if people would work to support themselves? This is an issue of individual responsibilty. Those that sit in yeshivas studying the same text over and over again have no one to blame but themselves if it doesn't turn out to be terribly remunerative....

A normal Haredi girl would be embarassed to have her photo on the internet in view of thousands of men, she is what real HAredim call Hardalim or Frechim or Shababnikiyot. She is not talking on behalf of haredim who learn in kollel, because she has no experience of it and therefore has no right to represent them. She may of course express her opinion, but because her opinions are not well thought out, and because she has not investigated thoroughly, her opinion doesn't count

While I agree that Tali is not a real Hareidi and I agree with your point, you should be extremely embarrassed to join Hardalim with Frechim and Shababnikim in the same sentence. Hardal means Haredi Leumi. Rabbis much greater than you are considered Hardal, including Rabbi Shmuel Tal, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, Rabbi Yaakov Ariel and Rabbi Shlomo Aviner. Frechim is a derrogatory term usually referring negatively to Sepharadi non-religious Jews. Shababnik is is a person from a haredi family who thinks secular but for cultural reasons dresses with a Kippa and like a Hareidi. To compare Hardal in those derrogatory terms is offensive to giants in Torah and you should apologize for your disgusting post.

Do you ever wonder if some study Torah to avoid having to face the world? They should get a job. If they have signed a ketubah, they owe it to their brides. They should live a little, and get their hands dirty. They owe it to the people they would teach. They are not priests nor levites attending to a Temple as in ancient times that we should support them. But, they are not beggars. When they finally realize they need to grow, they will.

chardalim (chardaliyot) chareidi dati leumi - DON"T Wear Sheitals - they cover every inch of hair - they are more machmir than so called chareidim like you and the rest of your comments are blatantly racist - which shows you are a rasha and a phoney