Argumentum ad Hitlerum.

Prisoner#24 Talula The questions ares WHAT are they driving, and where they are going? and what are they going to do when they get there? And how can you steer a car when you are bobbing back and forth? And can the vehicle be another color, other than black.? And are motorized vehicles Glatt Kosher?

TO No. 1, Avi Noam: Haredims are not absurd, only stupid {like the mullahs)same thoughts, same approach, same behavior. TO N0. 5, Yiannis: Rabbis going to brothels use only Limos. And it's not even in the scriptures TO No. 21, Mr. Leaman To be narrow minded, one must be in possession of a mind. MY OWN CONCLUSION: How can they be "learned men" if they haven't even perused the "how to" driver's manual.

PROVIDE THEM WITH A HORSE CART, BULLOCK CART ETC..WHATS HAPPENING TO THESE PEOPLE?? MORE FEW MONTHS THEY WILL COMMAND NOT TO BREATH IN A PARTICULAR AREA.??

Y net wrote "Most ultra-Orthodox rabbis oppose the notion of a haredi person getting a license. "It's inappropriate for a person who defines himself learned in the Torah to have a driver's license," Not True. They left out of a SINGLE haredi person. big difference. The army also has rules

Most of us Israelis are very fortunate by not supporting financially the construction and maintenance of real psychiatric hospital for all those deranged hassidims . Contributing to the religious sector of our nation it is much much cheaper. Hopefully one day genetic engineers will find a solution for this disaster of the human evolution......B"H....

THEY DONT BELIEVE IN DRIVING THEY WONT SIT ON MIXED BUSSES Hope they have strong legs otherwise they will have problems What the hell is wrong with somebody learned in Torah to have a driving licence .. are they worried they are going to be sneaking out in the middle of the night and getting into the back seat with a woman? Most ultra orthadox are not against the idea of driving, they need to drive considering they have such large families they need the car. Its just a few backwards haredi who are even more backwards than even radical muslims on some issues but most ultra orthadox jews see nothing wrong with driving.

1. In Jerusalem a car is a luxury. The city isn't all that big, parking can be a problem in some neighborhoods, and there is adequate transportation. 2. If a student has a license, either they are rich enough to afford a car, or using the license to work. If the student is supposed to be learning full time, and is being supported financially on the assumption he is learning full time, why would he have a license (if he can afford a car or is working, let him pay tuition instead of being supported by the community).

What's this? The voice of sanity and reason? How can this be in Y-Net talkbacks? Very refreshing indeed! Thank you Racheal.

they are dangerous , they have their head in the Talmud while driving ( G-d is probably guiding them).

I am personally familiar with tis problem in Yeshiva schools. The Roshei yeshiva have noticed that, once a student has a license, he becomes distracted from his studies. There is a notable decline in the quality of scholarship. This is a move to maintain the quality of learning in the Yeshiva. It has nothing to do with Hareidim outside of the Yeshiva environment.

Your comments wrt to Ford, Hitler and cars is about as logical as still believing that the earth is the center of the universe, because Copernicus, a Christian cleric, proved otherwise.

yes, the hareidim are totally opposed to doing anything "normal": serving in the army, earning a living, or even riding a bus with normal people. and the heads of their yeshivas are quite strict about this. this is not new, and this story is unfortunately not unique. but why do some people insist on posting talkbacks, to defend this idiocy? until the last century, there was no conflict between torah and real life, and you had to make a living, whether you studied torah or not. only if you had a very rich family could a "scholar" afford the luxury of not working. but what kind of "rich family" would tolerate the abuse that these hareidim heap upon their sponsors (the state of israel)? they shirk ALL civil responsibilities, won't even fly the country's flag, and regularly denounce the government in terms that no jew should ever use publicly against non-jews, let alone their jewish brethren. the talmud says not to curse a well from which you have drunk, so what exactly do they teach in these yeshivas? all the greatest rabbis of the talmud had JOBS, which didn't prevent them from being learned, and these "professional students" should only hope to be as great! the mishnah itself says, "if there isn't flour, there isn't torah" - it's a mitzvah, so get a job!

It's funny viewing this article from the perch in the states. Just two states over, we have the various groups of what are known as Pennsylvania Dutch, various groups, including the Amish and the Mennonite. Indeed, between the beards, black and white clothing, including the hats and perhaps even the accent, one could almost confuse them for Chassidim. They take there aversion to most modern ammenities even more severely than the Yeshiva in the article. Indeed, the Amish don't drive at all, and the image of an Amish family in a horse drawn buggy is considered a quaint and endearing image of the community. Rather than dumping on them, it is considered a benefit to tourism in Pennsylvania, and a sign that the community, which abstains from most modern amenities (forget about those video games and cell phones) that is tight knit, and devout in their own way.

B"H I can't believe you used that word! It is the "n" word for the disabled community. I thought you put yourself above such use of language. You should be ashamed!

This is rediculous. I have respect for the ultra orthodox and following all mitzvot, but there is nothing prohibiting getting a license. IT doesnt even talk about a car. Shame on this Rabbi. Sounds like he needs to learn some more before teaching others.

An old joke. A Jewish woman is on the subway in New York. Next to her is a man with a white shirt, black pants, a hat, and a beard. She looks at him and says :"Why do you Orthodox Jews have to embarrass the rest of Jews by dressing so antiquated?". He says: "Ma'am, I'm not Jewish, I'm Amish". She replies: "Oh, I love the Amish. You're lifestyle is so simple and good and you don't get into modern competitive materialism." Nu?

How dare you lump us pious devotees of all which is holy with those Amish idolators. One may perceive just how uncommitted to truth they are by their heathen practice of Rumspringa. Unlike them, we do not make exceptions in our eternal commitment to the Law. Rumspringa, indeed...

For some, everything is a potential distraction from immersion in Torah studies. TV, a job, a woman on the street, etc. Heaven help the yeshivah student caught with a library card. He might get ideas not approved by his rav or, worse, an education! There's a Talmudic reference to one sage who chastised another for taking a moment to remark on the beauty of a flower. But that's never been an accepted attitude. It's also remarkable how dependent these people are on others who do things forbidden to their charges. That said, some people shouldn't talk. Mohammad in Sydney (#11), for example, decries "Such a backward religion, scared to embrace society". We're not reticent about critiquing our own who "go too far". What does *he* say to his co-religionists who won't let an 80 year old woman marry without her father's permission (Iran), won't let their women drive or travel without a male family minder (Saudi Arabia), permits one to murder his daughter for "family honor" or sanctions marrying child brides (too many to list)?

benefit by not driving cars, and getting more people to use mass transit. Fewer cars on the road, less Carbon Monoxide getting into the atmosphere and increasing global warming. It's not 'black hat', but 'green hat' Judiasm. I should have gone into marketing :-)

You probably meant CO2 Carbon Dioxide, And WHO really cares what hareidim do??? This time they are not telling others what to do !

What are all these stupid Orthdox laws about what is forbidden and what is not? What has a driving license to do with ones commitment to God?

I was also astonished by reading this article . How is it possible i tought . By reading explanations of the why of this , i understand . First of all this is not a law , it's the rule in this Yeshiva , only there . You have always to obey the rules of the society you are living in . Secondly , they want their students to STUDY , They are there to do it , six days a week . If they are not living at the yeshiva , having a licence and a car can make it easier for those students to come to the Yeshiva , loosing less time while waiting for a bus , stay untill night maybe , and have more time to study finally .

There are a lot of idiotic things to write about, but your fixation with printing articles that bash Orthodox Judaism of any faction (from Chassidic, to Yeshiva to the West Bank varieties) and make it look as idiotic as possible is bordering on obsessive compulsive. In this article you cite no REASON for the driver's license-ban at this organization and you do not quote a single verifiable source; you mention not one name (as with most of the articles of this nature). Being that the "Ultra-Orthodox" do not generally avail themselves of the internet, you are are regularly kicking an entity that will not fight or answer you back. That's not fair-play. Cite your sources. Have some verifiable facts. You know....it's called...journalism. By the way: I live in a predominantly Ultra-Orthodox city and watch a constant stream of traffic that is FULL of Ultra-Orthodox drivers of every stripe. What tripe!

automotive exhaust is CO, not CO2. I remember reading articles in the press every so often about people who suffocated from Co poisoning, and some of the causes of that tends to be automotive exhaust. Either way though, it's the carbon emissions (whether mono or di oxide) that cause the global warming issues. Personally, I think that what is 'driving everyone up a wall' is that on its own obtaining a drivers license is not really a big deal in the world (aside from your average 17 year old). Moreover, driving itself is not an immoral activity (except for the those road-rage participants) and therefore shouldn't be regulated by the rabbi's who have declared obtaining a licence to be 'trayfe'. The subsequent black listing of students over this issue is, at least from my perspective, overkill and certainly over regulating (or over psaking). Likewise, the punisment appears overly aggressive. To bar and blacklist these students over what is directly, a neutral act, seems excessive.

Israeli journos love to come up with these stories which leave everyone agape, it gives them a feeling of power.

They're a "benefit to tourism" in the same way that circus freaks are. There is little risk of all of American culture going nuts in the same way the Amish do, but the Haredim are more dangerous in their potential to steer Yiddishkeit into their shed and remake Israel in the image of Saudi Arabia. Criticising Amish is still productive, but criticising and diminishing the Haredim is imperative.