Everyone has a right to believe what they want and be who they want to be. But in no place, NO PLACE in Jewish scripture does it say that a man does not have a responsibility to support his family. And I do have to wonder sometimes why I, a single woman studying medicine (which many religious people don't think I should be doing) have to support the family of a man who refuses to take responsibility for the wife he has married and the children he has brought into the world. I am not the one who chose to have more children than I can feed. In a world where education and birth control are readily accessible, there is no excuse whatsoever to have more children than one can afford. And it is criminal to refuse to teach those children all the beauty the world has to offer.

Sick bugger that he is. Loves to rant against those who keep Israel Jewish. Yeah we've come a long way to the point where we have Hebrew speaking anti-semites pretending to be Jews. Piss off Yair and take you're like minded aids carriers with you. I'm a kid of survivors who has two Canadian born kids in the IDF today protecting your sorry ass...dumb clown that you are. Yent wont publish this because they come from the same pond scum you come from.

Aramaic came to us from the administrative language of the Persians? For pretending to be so up on your history maybe you should take a few minutes to open up your Chumash my friend. Were did the Israelite tribes come from? Yaakov's wives Rachel and Leah who were daughters of Lavan the ARAMEAN (according to Midrashic sources the handmaidens were also his daughters from a separate wife). The childen of Yaakov grew up speaking just as much Aramaic in the household as they did Hebrew over a thousand years before the Persian empire even came into existence.

haridi may changed to secular or the opposite but sure the araby will not be haridi or jew secular so there is a confusion about the 40%... second we like to study other language it serve us but sure if any one want to serve a language i prefer it would be his mother language ..i see that i can express my selfe mainly with my mother language

Just another baseless stereotype of the charedi public. I'm charedi living in Jerusalem, I work a full time job, pay taxes (not to mention exorbitant rent) and I still find a way to stretch my paycheck to meet my family's needs and also contribute to Torah institutions as well as a charedi family who needs financial help. So don't tell me that I'm leaching off society because nobody is helping me but Hashem, certainly not you, and I still value helping others because supporting those who learn Torah is the JEWISH WAY! You can put down put down those dedicated to living in the way of our forefathers while you sit back and relax with your non-Jewish-wannabe lifestyle but I'll have you know that these people you think are probably just parasites actually go through incredible self sacrifice in order to be able to live pure and holy lives walking in the path of our Torah just as our people have for the last 4 thousand years instead of just giving in to a live of self-satisfaction and pleasure seeking in the name of "enlightenment and modernity." I don't fit your mold so take your used up stereotypes elsewhere.

If the Hareidim really do become the absolute majority of Israelis and they continue to not work, Israel will go bust. Then the Israeli army or the International Monetary Fund or both will take over. Problem solved.

No stereotype ? and how do you explain that the poorest Jewish towns here are those where there is a big proportion of charidim ? Hashem helps you ? There is a French saying : aide toi et dieu t'aidera . Help yourself a god will help you . But first of all you have to help yourself , and then you can think that a god is helping you .

Yair, with all respect to your Jewishness I see you have zero knowledge of your people. Let poor gentile educate you. Make long story short, I wanna touch upon the points that you'll continue to think of. First, haredim has nothing to do with you, your children etc. They just do not see you poor misguided jew (so, you've gone not so far from me. Indeed, what's the difference between your way of life and mine?). Second, haredim will never change their way of life. They do not need to adopt you proposals, or be adopted to your 'progressive mind'. Third, haredim do not mind on your State of Israel. The real Israel as a State will come to existence when Mashih come. Haredim are waiting for Mashiah. It's realy makes absolutely no change on where to wait Him/Her (rabbanin haven't decided on the sex of Mashih yet). Forth, you (read Secular State of Israel) pay for their (read haredim) needs, so they took tramp on you. Conclusion? No problem, get it. You (read the State of Israel) are FRAYER Sorry, I cannot put a full stop after "frayer". You have to do it by yourself - do not blame all rest of the world for that)

"and how do you explain that the poorest Jewish towns here are those where there is a big proportion of charidim ? " Right! Like Beitar and Kiryat Sefer who have completely balanced budgets??

who are poor .

Of yeah! Quote that fantasy as fact. According to the Rabbis, Racheal was a the mother of Judaism. Oh wait she was a pagan. So I guess we are all pagans. She ust have met a Rabbi to get a conversion certificate, right? Blahahah. When you stop quoting out of a book that violates practically every law Moses ever communicated, you really have not one foot to stand on. Too bad because they teach you can sum Torah up while standing on one foot yet it has ten levels of understanding. Baffling the Hebrews with BS to steal their power and their souls. Yehezkeil 13:18 point and case. Nice tables at the malls but no Torah is recalled there as commanded. Wonder why? Lehadlik Nir for a second point, now you can draw a line to the abyss. (G-d never said this why lie to His face when he forbid it?) Friars?!

Both Labor and Likud must get together for two days. On the first day hange the election law that allows exrtreamist and religious groups to hold the balance of power, On the second day restore Israel sanity and democracy. Call for new elections

We are not your haredi friend; we are your haredi enemy. If your car is coming to a halt, driving uphill against nature and against reason - that is the way of life you chose. If you are desperate - I am not surprised. Just wait another five years and your friends the secular politicians will have sold and gambled the country away, then you will be desperate. Which country will you chose to go live in? Your kids offer haredi kids snacks? Are YOU so far removed from our lifestyle that you don't know that a haredi kid would never accept food from a secular because it is not kosher? And what exactly are your hang-ups with English? You've mentioned it before, but I still don't get the point, even though I am haredi and speak read and write English. Perhaps deep in your heart you know that 'Israeli culture' is simply a caricature of the US and needs English to survive. Or perhaps even deeper down, you know that one day you will leave Israel and relocate in an English-speaking country, away from the destruction you and your ilk have wreaked. Your kids can't talk about computers geography, history etc with haredi kids? Well, then, do they bother to discuss such subjects with their friends, or is the latest TV soap, or worse? As for literature, what literature? We have our own, thank you. Do us a massive favour and keep away from it. Stick to that of the French, English, Russians, Chinese - anyone except the Jews. Oh, and also, don't even bother to mention the names of the rabbinic authorities you so despise, to me.

yair why shouldnt your children learn yiddish so they can also continue the beautiful culture and religion which was flourishing in europe.

"an entangled combination of Hebrew and German". What kind of arrogance and ignorance would prompt you to say that? It was a rich, thriving LANGUAGE of literature and study that characterized much of Jewish history and culture in Europe for the past millennium!

I find it a little ironic that every single person you claim has the opinion that sitting and learning all day are allowed, themselves had full time professions. and while were at it, why don't you check pirkei avos and see what that says

Yes. No chip. Why ? Because they are systematically ruining this country. I happen to love this country and they have turned it into a complete mess.

Both the language and the culture are disgusting and best forgotten. The worst period of Judaism throughout our long history is the "Yiddish period". We were downtrodden and despised and eventually an attempt was made to annihilate us because of this language and culture. Yo want to revive this. It should be forbidden by law.

The Yiddish speaking folk often talk about "der heim". If that was "home" then please go "home". If this is not your "home" then leave me alone because it is mine.

and it brought us to near extinction. if it suits you I am "arrogant and ignorant". But I would far rather be an "arrogant and ignorant "Israeli with a rifle in my hand to defend myself than be a speaker and practicer of a a gutter language and culture which lead my forefathers and yours to the killing fields, to the edge of the pit which they dug with their own hands. You are proud of this ? I am ashamed.

But they must enact government approved curriculum. The Haredi schools do no such thing!!!!!

Not only Yddish isn't a beautiful language but the fact that Jews only spoke Yiddish and spoke say Polish with an accent condemned them to death during the war as they could be immediately identified. Anyway it is dead and should be buried. All this nostalgia is neither here nor there. You should speak Hebrew not the language of slaves. And the Herdim should work for a change and not lemalmel

translated into English. He said writing in Yiddish was kind of like approaching his subject in a "ghost" language which gave his subjects a peculiar and eerie existence. Singer (Noble Prize winning author) was an outstanding example of the greatness which flourished in the Yiddish world in its heyday. At its best, it proved that even under the most deplorable conditions, we could not only survive but thrive. While we have nothing to be ashamed of when we view the role of Yiddish in our history, we no longer need to emulate the cultures which Yiddish was part of as the founding of Israel has given us a new start and a new/old language (Hebrew, of course). Incidentally, Yiddish was an amalgam of Hebrew, German and whatever eastern European language most prominent in the geographical region where it was spoken, i.e., Polish. It always had a distinctive flavour, however, and is not considered a dialect but more properly a true independent language representing a distinct culture(s), eastern European Jewry. It represents a significant historical presence of our people and, as a result, we do not wish to lose it. I would say the same for Aramaic, incidentally, the "lingua franca" of the Jewish world in the time of the Roman incursion into Palestine. But, as noted, we do not need to deify Yiddish. We have revitalized the Hebrew language and this represents a triumph for our people and should be recognized as such. If we last long enough, a new Jewish culture will be recognized for its greatness and Hebrew for the language associated with that culture.

Ah, the classic debate. Would you prefer to whitewash and ignore 2000 years of Jewish history, or acknowledge it in its rich complexity and depth? I'd prefer to honor the heritage and memory of my forefathers and yours. Don't blame the victims. Do you really believe Yiddish caused the Shoah?

"subdued way of desperate individuals" Desperate individuals are not subdued.You are not subdued. You are desperate to restart' "shinu"activities. You are desperate to run to the knesset.

Firstly, You are focusing on economics. There are bigger groups to pick on that are making less of a collective effort to improve - arabs, kibbutzim, others. they cost taxpayers more, without an end. In addition, secular Israelis have actively diluted and practically deleted any type of national culture. This is a jewish state. The only thing that will enable to future of the state is an identity. the economy is strong. the culture is dying...almost dead. Instead of focusing on the lack of hareidi education, you should look in the mirror and focus on the lack of jewish education in the secular world in Israel. That is killing Israel faster than anything else.

You've hit the nail on the head, but Lapid is focussing on the economy because he already knows your arguments. The kibbutz movement for one is an anachronism, a joke, a relic of nineteenth century idealism, supported by the State as the only thing Zionism has ever invented. But Lapid is deliberately obfuscating to avoid the fact that he wants to see every Jewish value disappear. He is obsessed with English so that Israelis can draw their values directly from the USA. He wants everyone to spend their days not watching Israeli TV garbage, but reading Tennyson, Shakespeare, Goethe, Dostoevsky and Dumas (all in English, of course), to realise the true moral values of enlightened society. This is exactly what Herzl wanted as well. A Viennese coffee-house culture without a vestige of Jewish identity, but where Jews would feel safe. Lapid is actually the sole surviving true Zionist. Lapid should be preserved in formaldehyde as an exhibit of a dream that nearly came true.

yair,nobody got ever poor helping a friend,so go on helping your haredi friend.

He's got no future in politics . Secular parties + Religious ones will devore him alive . He hasn't got the guts ....

Yair Lapid's letter is adreesed to the wrong address,the Haredim like the chinese before Deng, expect the government to provide them with what the chinese described as the 'iron bowl'from cradle to grave,it covers the basic needs bread, sugar,cooking oil,and a pigeon hole,it's not much but it's worth it, because the Haredim do't have a secular education, they are fit only for manual jobs,so.with the cover of the 'iron bowl'they dont have to dirty their hands with manual jobs,the real culprits are the secular politicians who do nothing to force them out from this mental getho,even more,are guilty the Haredi leaders and their Rabbis who exploit them for their own benefits,a Rabbai who just came to the the US vent to the late Rabbi yoel Teitelbaum,asking for his advise,what to do in the new country,rabbi Teitelbaum told the rabbai,shorten your long coat and seat down by a sewing machine and start working,this advise is stiil valid today for the Haredim.