want a marriage that lasts, find a religious spouse. There are very, very few divorces in the local Orthodox community. Religious men are much more likely to treat their wives with respect and wives are much less likely to want to dump a jewel of a husband. You can call the laws of family purity stupid and nonsense all you want, but if daily sex is all you care about, why bother to get married, just moan and groan. Marriage is about loving someone and having children and going through hard times as well as good times and you get that strength from religion. The rules are there for a reason, hate them if you will but if your want one marriage to last for a lifetime, the rules are a good place to start.

Ill just repeat it : Very Shallow ! This girl is too shallow to tackle this subject, and it is Ynet responsibilty to know that fact, and let her know of it, so next time she can right about...say ..why you need a helmet when you ride a bike...etc...

Marriage has to do with protecting each other rights while living together. What's next? Having children is religious institution because it is only allowed in marriage?

When culture is all there is... When complete assimilation occurrs... When the majority accept Jews as ordinary people... When we intermarry and change our names from Ochs to Oakes (NY Times owners), we become them and lose ourselves and our Judaism. Perhaps that's why the are no more Jews in the USA today than there were in 1940!

Hi Stacey, I have just read all your articles and like them. Very easy to read and understand what you are saying. What are your feelings towards a person who is a believer in Jesus who has a Jewish mother and father. And this person (persons) desperatley wants to move to the Homeland. Is he or she a Jew and be allowed to make Aliyha? Is a person a Jew because what he believes or because of what he is born as?

There is nothing wrong with the Orthodox religious marriage laws but they should not impose it on those Jews who may not have Judaism as their religion. The time is ripe for a civil marriage process in Israel. This would be a step forward towards a true Democracy.

I am a secular jew. I am a jew in the sense of being a member of the tribe, jewishness is a national identity for me. But, I dont believe in judaism as an organised religion. I dont believe in all the myths and legends; clearly all these are just cultural expressions which evolved over hundreds of yrs , no more and no less. Israel needs to move forward and seperate religion from public life, i dont want the haredi people to tell me how I should live my life. Time for the secular enlightened jews to say enough is enough of orthodox judaism coercision and dictats. A british politician once said, we dont do god, and that how it should be here too. Imagine ........... (say no more)

Only 17% of the Jews in Israel consider themselves secular (recent polls). The large majority (like myself) may not be keeping all the laws but we want to be connected to our Jewish roots, values and customs. When we get married we want to do it like our fathers and grandfathers did for thousands of generations. Not only that, but the numbers are growing rapidly. More and more are reconnecting to their Jewish roots everyday. This is not opinion but FACT and anyone that is out there, hangs out, has friends, knows whats going-on. In summary: The author only represents a small percentage of Am Yisrael which is slowly disappearing. The only thing the author has in larger percentages over the true Jewish majority is control over the media.

Together we stand..divided we fall... Because my wife's conversion was done by Conservative rabbis...Orthodox/Chabbad won't recognize them as Jews (Wouldn't let my son attend Hebrew School!). I say "As Kosher as you want to be"!

Strange. when you say "we", I'm not inlcuded. Don't try to speak for all Israelis, when clearly you can only speak for yourself. If you want an orthodox rabbi to marry you- by all means. I want a conservative rabbi and my neighbour doesn't want a rabbi-- will you deny me the right to marry the one I love unless an orthodox rabbi performs the marriage. What a sham!

Being a jew is a bind. Any religion teaches a person of tradition and history.The jew tries to be more perfect and falls very short.Religion is only an outllit for the scared .Believe in oneself is difficult so blame the wrongs on some idol or god The bible,torah or the koran are good history stories turned into a religion.

Uhh...yeaaah.. we are kinda into the idea of not giving birth to basterds, so we try to keep to the Halakhah, it's a bit more complex then you are (apparently) aware of. plus, if i'm not mistaken, the continuity of our people, is thanks to the traditions of the rabbinite, not those who defined judaism in their own way, not to make little of those who practice the religon in a personal way, as i do myself.

Those of us who are still Jewish today are so only because our recent ancestors were Orthodox. I mean grandparents or great-grandparents. And the only place it is written that we have a right to this Land is in the Torah. Non-religious Jews in the Galut will almost totally disappear within a generation or two. Only the Orthodox will remain Jewish. You are from the US. Just look at the situation there: intermarriage and assimilation. You've only been in Israel a short time so you can't possibly understand very much about life here.

pride training class ..... hababi you said about the religion as if you tell about this class ... hababi

If u talk about the ideological offspring of Judaism - they are pretty much PSEUDOLOGY without any internal value. But Abraham and Moses tried 2 get people not 2 murder each other any more - so ppl had 2 develop all the time. And especially NIDA gives women and men the freedom 2 find themselves again and 2 deveolp each other. So considering a Family a NATURAL DEVELOPMENTAL COMMUNITY, especially Nida shows ppl how important and true Judaism works. Marriage simply is not only male/mechanical masturbation of bare bodies, but a union into an outer and inner future of real relationship. How can feminists not be Jews happy with NIda and LechaDodi - Queen of the Family?

Why does Israel try to impose Orthodox standards on a population that is increasingly non-traditional? Where did you get that from? I'm secular and MOST of my friends in Tel Aviv (North Tel Aviv) are Baalei tshuva (born-again religious Jews). And there's nothing wrong or bad about that. I enjoy Shabbat dinners and dvrei Torah and the whole enchilada. Orthodox Judaism is also a beautiful and increasingly present part of our culture. From my experience, I completely disagree with the speculation that you turned into a fact! Besides all over the world a lot of places shut down on Sundays and everybody seems to be ok with such lack of "cultural sensitivity." I think it's a great idea for children to ride their bikes and people to walk freely on streets without cars on Shabbat. Pity we don't get that in TLV (yet).

"Last week I was hanging out at my friend’s moshav having a few beers..." oh well... good thing is once we get the US out of our system, we grow up, become more pensive and learn how to write meaningful articles. Now that you've made your point, your friends and claque have patted you on the back, are you done? But wow, have you really been to a moshav? That must have been an "exotic" experience. What puzzles me is that NOWHERE else in the world would someone who just got into a country write a column that requires a deeper understanding about the ethos and pathos of the local community. But you can always write about the best place to get shwarma and hummus.

You write that we are all connected because we are born Jewish. If we no longer keep religious practice, and we marry whomever we choose, then that won't be true for the next generation. That's when we lose our right for a Jewish state.

I can have a marriage devoid of any religious accent. But more often than not it entails emotions, taxes, and political connotation. The historical upsurge in Christian marriages was in fact a way for people to avoid joining the roman army.

Someone who is kind and accepting of others regardless of their economic or social status. Sadly, outside of Israel you don't see a lot of Jews who do follow that. In Israel, the good thing is, most people are not really well off but are equal with others. Outside of Israel, you find a getto of rich Jews who consider themselves greater than the rest of the city.

There's always someone that calls rabbis "Taliban" in these threads. Whether or not you poo-pooh Jewish laws and customs, the end result of these laws is that Jews have continue to exist for thousands of years, despite enormous efforts to eradicate them. Some would say that accepting the yoke of heaven is what protects us. Some would say that our laws and customs and refusing to follow the ways of the surrounding nations protects us. Either way, the result is the same. There is a reason we survive despite our small numbers and our enemies do not. Look at how the numbers of secular diaspora Jews dwindles while the proportion of orthodox grows. Look at how birth rates of those that follow family purity laws exceeds that of secular. Is not every civil marriage of Jews one step toward oblivion for the descendants of two Jewish souls?

jewish state by ethnicity, is racist

Jews Should Marry Shiksa if they want to be happy lets send Jewish woman to Africa American Men and Arab Men! and Spanish Woman for Jewish Men! Life would be easier!

Jewish men are wimps and Jewish Women are stuck up and are crazy in very deranged! Shiksa are the greatest I only go out with shiksas! i love them i am a Jewish man and they satisfy me, I once went to a Jewish party for single and the ladies where in the late 30 and 40s and where used up! Shikas folks trust me and forget Shabbat a waste of time!

Judaism isn't a culture buddy. You're mixing things up. Just because 95 percent of the world doesn't keep to their religion doesn't mean that those who do should be criticized. If marrying out of religion is an issue for you, convert or leave the country. Plenty of room here in US. Stop whining so much, if u studied the bible and have a problem talk. Don't talk on silly opinions. Peace

Do u like to read Heeb? Or is the Forward ur thang? Want to hang out? I'll get tickets to a Sarah Silverman comedy gig. Then, my place r urs, baby? Who needs "marriage" that's for dweebs.

When was the last time 500,000 seculars got together to celebrate a secular festival? 1969 at Woodstock?