to this "paqid" . This word does NOT exist in his vocabulary and certainly not in his behaviour .

Oh boo freaking hoo. Am I supposed to feel sorry for these fools? What are they afraid of? Honor killing? Face it, the worst, the very worst that can happen is they will no longer be welcome at the family Shabbat table. And why should they care, they hate their families anyhow! These wolves should peel off their sheeps clothing and hang with their new friends at YNet.

Sorry Charles,i don t participate in lashan hara.I hope you will understand ;remember, i told you i study:Shmirat Halashon from Hafetz Haim,and try to keep the rules.

Don t worry,dishonesty has no future.

I appreciate,Charles ,you did not make any comments on the Haredi.Thank you.

Is telling the truth also "lashon Hara" ? When a shopkeeper has a FAKE Kashrut certificate , and someone honest tells you : attention , he is not Kosher , is this Lashon Hara too ? If you want or insist , i can make comments on Charidim , not THE Charidim . A difference ....שנה טובה PS : you never answered : are you French speaking ?

I am horrified at some of the commenter's here. I am ashamed to be Jewish in such company. How many of you have given up on all you know and hold dear, including your own kids to choose a life of the unknown? Coming into the fold is easy with the support networks there are and that they need. Think about that. There are none for leavers. Haredim are not well equipped to deal with secular life, that is a fact. So how just how would you deal with the fallout having lost faith in the fundamentals that are Judaism? Have you tried being there yourself? Apparently Jews are no longer compassionate, shy and generous, are they?

Telling the truth can be lashon hara if it is not done for a useful purpose.If i had answered you i don t think ,it would be for a useful purpose. I speak six languages and understand seven,but none of them perfect.The things you said in the tbs,make me believe ,we are from the same town.I chose a nickname,because i want to stay anonymous.

I wouldn t say Jews are not compassionate.They are.There must be people who understand this situation.For example,religious psychologues,who would listen to their problem,which i think, is not only religion,and could help them to choose the golden middenway.They don t have to go from one extreme to the other.The psychologue would talk to the family,how to handle the situation.Shana Tova to all the would be leavers.

Is'nt it usefull to tell that someone can't be trusted ? But OK , i do not insist . Your belief : i had a same idea . Not to be ashamed about this origin . My name can also be a "pen name" .

Thye big fear i think that would-be leavers have , is the REJECTION by family , friends . They have to begin to build their new environnement , enter a society they don't know so much . My mother ZL had an uncle , a Satmar one . His children left his way , and he did'nt talk to them anymore . As they were four, or more ,, they were not alone . It was maybe easier for them . I know another case , where a father , Orthodox , does'nt speak to his son anymore since he became secular . I have'nt heard about any secular who rejects a child that become "ba'al tschuva" . I can't imagine that i would reject a child who does this .

When i spoke about lashon hara i did not mean you,i meant me.I had a comment on what you said,but i refrained from doing so.Amazing how small the world is.

How can one reject a sick helpless own child ?

How ? because of his education , belief . Those i knew were , and are , not sick nor helpless , but sad that their father rejected them . When this grand uncle was shouting at one of his sons , he responded : Tatte , i want to choose the way i live , your anger will not change anything , If you don't accept this , it's very sad for you and for me .

If you are from the same town as i am , you certainly know where the two seats of the Kehillot are . One with three steps at the entry , and a Jewish [ charidi i think ] laundry as a neighboor . The second , a 50 meter farther in an other street , in sight of the first one , with a satmar institution in the vicinity . It's this town you are from ?

After nine years you remember all these details?What a memory!The three steps,the laundry and the satmar institution does not say me anything,but the two kehilot in two street not far one from another,yes, and they are near the park,were Jews go for Tashlich.Do we talk of the same town?

I think it was even sader for the father,to lose a few children,this way.As i allready said,people don t know how to comunicate,how to express one s needs and principally how to listen to other one s needs.This happens in all the societies.If we could emprove that,so many angers could be avoided.

Of course that we talk about the same town . I lived in the proximity , came almost daily in those streets and even sometimes in those communities too . The last time to have my certificate that i'm Jewish , needed to make Alyah , from the Ultra Orthodox Kehillah , that i received without any problem as they knew me and my family . When i wanted to have my cutlery kasherised , the Dayan there was'nt at his office , so i went to the other community and the Dayan explained me how to proceed , i had of course taken the knives with me . To kasherise ? yes , the kitchen at my home is Kosher , with two sets of everything . And so all our relatives and friends can eat at our home . In our town of origin [ were you born there ? ] Kosher food was , and certainly still is , very expensive , here not I always wondered how it was possible that the town was'nt flooded after Tasshlich . But i was told that the responsibles of the water lowered the level before Tasschlich . [ LOL !!!! ] For me the fathers were at fault , why not accept that a child changes ? It's difficult , yes . Is'nt he or she his child anymore ? What did they obtain with this rejection ? Nothing , only unnecessary sadness and anger . Again , שנה טובה

If you don't want to be religous, than don't be religious. So much Woody Allen-esque 'angst' among the New Jews of Modern Zionism. What happened to the brave, fit, non-hunchbacked hero they brainwashed us with here in America for decades? Same shtetl-like divisiveness and nonsense not even worthy of Sholom Alechim. People change and reinvent themselves all the time. What are we dear readers so to do.. hold their hand and wipe their nose while they make the teap to, or from, an observant lifestyle?! Must be a v-e-r-y slow newsday @ Ynet.

They lost also the joy of grandchildren s presence at their home. SHANA TOVA and lots of nahat of your grandchildren.

As ex-muslim, I lot of the article sounds very familiar to my own experiences. I would urge the those in the article to have courage and take the last few steps and raise their children free from the oppression they have suffered from for so long, you don't need religion to be a decent human being or raise decent human beings. We got lucky folks, more than anything, a stray thought that we entertained for more than a fleeting moment, allowing us to escape a form of brainwashing with a such a deep rooted and vice like grip.

This is very sad story my dear Jewish bros and sisters why would someone taught the right way and have good influences turn to be so bad?All Bani Israel have duty to Elohim and to ancestors honor!who cares what the outside world does with there bad horrible unmodest ways let them be animals but for you and us my dear bros our ancestors were Great and did good things so we in turn must do it.It is not a question of wanting this or that its a question of honor duty and bravery and i must say from what i read this man has no honor no bravery or no sense of duty to Elohim or his ancestors before him.May he find the right path and make good for his treachory

The comments here are a continuation of the journalistically truncated lives and times of the people this story describes. Such is the limitations of the written word. We can't know everything about the very real people in this story, or on this board. Yet there is some good truth being spoken....along with the sadness of losing connection with something greater than the egocentric self and becoming lost. And found. And surviving. Or not. My prayers go to the children that were left behind when the father abandoned them to suicide. Nothing we can say here can come close to what they will live with because of his actions. Thanks for posting so thoughtfully! You (and I) are now part of that eternal moment that that can make us conscious and aware of our shared humanity. If we so choose. This is the most intellectual web commentary I've run across in a good long while.