means no more than the fact that a drunk man is happier than a sober one. I would rather know I believe the truth than lie to myself with religion to make me happy.

Many appear obviously very unhappy, dour, sullen and resentful. (I am an observant man myself).

I am religious and find beauty and comfort in religion, but I also know many Orthodox people who are very unhappy.

These studies go both ways. A recent US study showed a close statistical relationship between locations with high religiosity and high sexual abuse, alcoholism, violence, etc. And I seem to remember a report only a few days old showing that Haredi communities have the highest sexual abuse in the country. But I guess having a free reign to abuse your wives, children and neighbors wives and children, without having to worry that any discussion of it will leak out of the community, has a way to make a man happy.

For everthing I am today.For their guidance and teachings.I have been a rebelious jew myself, but as I grew up, i began to discover the beauty in Orthodox Judaism.I remember my Rabbi told me many years ago, " Yitzzy stard by doing one comd , you will enjoy it " I must tell you I am blessed in so many ways that words are insuffecient to express the beauty that comes along, But than I also back slide, and at time it si hard to be a jew, but i go forth and move on within my limitation.At time I rebel within and with G-d. But I give in to G-d and it is a good feeling to see my freinds are happy with my decision eventhough i suffer thye detrement.But I am not religious . I am the worst among the lot. But I am happy. Most times it is hard to let go of the pains from the past, But somehow I manage to move because I daven. Everyday id meaning ful when I starp on. When I cover my head it is a real love affair,just cant get out. and just waiting to go into the presence, the Shema Yisrael, is very meaningful.The miracle is every shabbat, I have friends joining us at home. It is a wonderful experience, that opens further new paths,Exploration of inner dwelling a mystical fragarance,it is an awarness of light in darkeness. The unedning days of light fro Yisrael, The joys is from within and ther buy such joy is contained in the combinations of ceremonies and activities, with family , freinds, strangers who sometime i dont even know, whm later we know.it is a very special athmospere within, with the inner dwelling.It all a lot or chores to cleaning and cleaning,preparation and specific details to welcome the Sabbath as an honored guest, the bride of Israel. At duck the mistress of teh house light two candels, which are symbolic of the original light hidden by G-d.. The fesival meals starts with kiddush, blessing of bread home made challah and of course the yapping of the mistress of the house wo harps " go read the torah " !!!! Everything radiates a special glow. Guestsn travelers, strangers, poor and deprived people ask waht it the secret of teh Jews. so we say, keep teh Shabbath :-)

There are all sorts of studies that Jewish religious people suffer from many basic problems like vitamin D deficiency.

Of course they are. It is what happens when you have no morals and listen only to your own Rabbi disregarding laws

Why do religious people smoke so much? Not a sign of contentment. Not being able to smoke on Shabbat must be real suffering.

It's not something that "observant" Jews have known all along - it's something that has been known all along for centuries, by the religious and irreligious alike: Ignorance is bliss. Or, as Chaim's spot-on analogy (#1) noted, a drunk man is also obviously happier than a sober one.

In small doses. Too much can be harmful to your mental health. Moderation is an excellent principle in all things. In any case, what would you expect a rabbi to say? Religion is good for him because he makes a living off of it. That said, observing traditions & customs is very pleasureable & adds a great deal to a feeling of well-being.

Precisely why those who attack Judaism have to come back to the Torah. It is indeed strange to me, that those who wear tefillin half naked while making an obscene show of themselves are considered to have realized the "truth." Yet those like myself who wear tefillin out of devotion and realization of a higher purpose are simply backward. Tell me, what is the religious divorce rate in comparison to seculars? For once, stop taking the words from the media to reinforce your already closed and made up minds, take a good look at a religiously observant community and you will see something that secular society is severly lacking. Devotion, purpose, and important values. Indeed, ignorance is bliss, that is why many choose to stray away from the Torah and use artificial means to find happiness. Yet all they found was a world of rape, murder, drugs, alcohol abuse, high divorce rates, child pornography, all in the pursuit of "truth." Yet I am the ignorant one, I seek something more than what we have. Perhaps I should just be at peace that we cannot improve ourselves. We should do away with the "outdated" mitzvot, after all the human intellect is infallable. It would certainly put me at a state of bliss.

Is it really BECAUSE of religion or observance? Maybe people who are religious have more in common than religion itself.

We have a study by two people that none of us have ever heard of, no definition of "happier", no indication of the methodology, and a supposed conclusion that living by a myth rather than truth is good for you. Oy veh!

organized Christian and Muslim religions , Jews gave up Judaism because it was so deadly to be Jewish, Jewish meant to the Jews suffering, torture, death, exile, being refugees, fighting, cursed, discrimination, isolation, limitations and most of all poverty. Jews were and are targets, the rest is a rationalization for assimilating to safety, blending in, preaching tolerance and understanding to ingratiate and integrate demands for Jews to minimalize his religion.

Rebbe Brackman has proven on several occasions that he is not worthy of the title Rabbi. A man who does not know how to think brightly must never have a column of his in an international newspaper

For all those who think its a man's world in the religious world. I have news for you , that's only the book cover. The book is the woman.

We are here, on this earth, to carry out a duty or duties. Whether we are happy or not doing so is the height of irrelevance.

If Jews do not know Hebrew the whole religion is out of reach, even graduates of modern Yeshivas in the US, if maybe 10% can study independently the class can be called a success, guess how many can study independently who went to public schools, noone. That is American Jewlry

LET ME TELL YOU, THEY ARE CATHOLICAL, EVANGELICAL, "CANDOMBLÉ BELIEVERS" (AFRICAN RELIGION), AND WATHEVER OTHER RELIGION THAT THEY CONTACT WITH. ALL THAT AT THE SAME TIME AND MIXED. DEFINITELY RELIGIOUS, RABBI, BUT DON'T FORGET, ABSOLUTELY GUILTY FREE, BECAUSE AS A FAMOUS BRASILIAN COMPOSER WROTE IN ONE MUSIC: " THERE IS NO SIN AT THE BOTTON SIDE OF THE ECUADOR" AND VEEEERY HAPPY.......

I am very glad that the religious are happy...I would also be equally happy, if they were just to mind their own business and leave me alone.

Good for them, enjoy, but please keep it to yourselves, stop judging and slandering people in the name of religion , impossing your beliefs telling us what we can and can not eat, when to drive our cars , when we can go shopping and what to wear!

From your postings it seems you are very angry and consumed by hatred. Your reguary encite hatred and violence towards gay people (gay jews) . Judge and slander others , protect corrupt religious politicians and defend child molestation in the Haredi community. Is this the beauty you talk about?

Living in a religious community for many, many years, I found an extreme reluctance to complain about ones life, since everything comes form G-d. How could a survey determine whether religious people where unhappy? Definitely not by asking!

After the article I wrote about the absence of religion but the creation of a people since the constitution given at Mount Sinai conferred upon the Children of Israel the degree of nationhood, YNET has shown its utter disagreement and ignorance plus by preventing others from reading that view. Lucky that YNET wasn't at Mount Sinai!!!