I read your interesting article till the end, and went back to the Top, reading again, your Title. Making me realize, that you do not understand what God wants from us or understand His Torah, otherwise you would not have chosen your Title " Torah isn't everything" TORAH IS EVERYTHING. People like you, always blame the Source, which is TORAH. People are people, even those Kippah wearing, side curls etc. Yes, dressed like that, does not make them Holy than Holy. Not even Holy. If they act in an ugly way, that is because, they have a serious issue with themselves to deal with. PERIOD But you wish to Trash the TORAH for those actions. If someone is lost, you try to get back on track, trying to better understand the map, not throw out your map. It is Human behavior that has to be adjusted, not the Torah. Respect towards one another is not a Religious thing. It is for all Human being. Yes- even more so "a religious person is also one who knows that manners come before the Torah." TORAH IS EVERYTHING!

el; by this definition most haredim don't qualify, sorry leeches! But you can freely call yourself "god's chosen" (for whatever purpose) , I couldn't care less. Imagine you were gone one day: who'd miss you, what part of Israeli society would collapse? Hevre Kadisha? Trust me, that we can do without your help, although digging graves is at least a form of practical labor that makes sense on your part. Swaying in the wind in front of a wall does not. Let's purge religion from this world, a Soul at a time.....

I so agree with you, you have put your views eloquently, I couldnt have done it any better.

Keep em coming!

Do not forget the wise words of the King of Israel, Solomon and his proverbs. 1 The proverbs of Shlomo the son of David, king of Isra'el, 2 are for learning about wisdom and discipline; for understanding words expressing deep insight; 3 for gaining an intelligently disciplined life, doing what is right, just and fair; 4 for endowing with caution those who don't think and the young person with knowledge and discretion. 5 Someone who is already wise will hear and learn still more; someone who already understands will gain the ability to counsel well; 6 he will understand proverbs, obscure expressions, the sayings and riddles of the wise. 7 The fear of ADONAI is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. This words will change everything to better things.

Lovely Jewish name you have there, and BTW, making hate-filled slanderous comments is not that great. Zaka, Hatzolah, Shaarei Zedek, all run or founded by Charedim. In fact, if not for the Charadi ancestors of all the non-religious Jews they would all have been long assimilated.

....in my opinion, is a superfluous question. I can understand why "Who is a Jew?" is a contentious issue here (Jews can marry only Jews, only Jews can be buried in Jewish cemeteries, etc.), but "who is religious"? EVERY Jew (and non-Jew, for that matter) is welcomed to pray in a synagogue, EVERY Jewish man can be counted in a minyan, EVERY Jew (man or woman) can use the mikva. Putting your life on the line for defending your fellow citizens is admirable, helping the elderly is admirable, spitting on girls for how they are dressed is despicable. "Religious" or "not religious" is such a blurred and unnecessarily label. The last sentence in this article is nothing new - "Derech Eretz Kodem Le'Torah"....

Who is religious? Ideologically, one who accepts 13 articles of faith layed out by Rambam, among those the unity and allpowerfullness of G-d, and holiness of prophets and Torah. Practically, and listen close: A RELIGIOUS JEW IS ONE WHO KEEPS JUST 3 THINGS: SHABBAT, KASHRUT, and FAMILY PURITY. That means that a soldier who eats chometz on Pesach is not religious, nor a traditional family that has Kiddush Friday night, then watches TV, nor a woman soldier who is most likely a prutza. Sorry, but you must call a spade a spade. If soldiers and policemen come to tear down Jewish settlements, and beat up Jews, in short -- to act like Nazis, they must be called Nazis. If a little girl attends a school that was built from the design to be an affront to the Haredim in Beit Shemesh, she may be spit upon. If a woman soldier insults and curses a respected Haredi Jew 2,5 times her age, he has right and duty to insult her back, and "slut" is the least insult he could have given her. Were I there, I would've called her many more and nastier names, like she deserves. Certainly we will not accept religious criteria from someone who says "Torah is not everything"

the fact that one is religious does not mean that one is necessarily a mentch any more than if one is secular he is not necessarily a liberal. The author seems to confuse values and label as if all religious people are supposed to be angels, well it aint! Being observant means one desires to serve G-d but there is also the animal side of the person just like there is with seculars. But it is better to be religious with all of their lackings than to be a secular who denies the existence of G-d with all of their great humanist gestures such as we see with Peace Now.

have the same mistake. Besides the rules that set the way to serve god, the torah sets rules of behaviour between people. Being a good person isnt a bonus. Serving god and being kind and good are both mandatory. If one really believes in god, one cant decide which rule is more important, because all the rules r important once given from a devine source. A man who's truly and completly devoted to the torah must know how to combine both his devotion to god's work and being good to others - because the torah orders both.

Both groups are only half Jews. When all Jews act like KING DAVID, then we will be the people we are supposed to be. Torah in one hand, weapon in the other.

One of the main goals of the Tora is to love our neighbour like ourself. Keeping well the G-D given Mitzvot, fills, as a matter of course,our heart with love and joy. PESSAH SAMEAH.

First of all religion is Man's greatest folly. From the very moment in history when Man first concieved the idea of Gods and worshipping idols and imaginery entities in the heavens, there arose amongst him others, slightly more sophisticated, who immediately unfderstood that they could control the feeble minds of these sorry individuals. Thus arose phrases such as "the fear of god" or "the fear of the devil". Secondly, the so called Haredim have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the ancient practices of the Israelites and our history and heritage in our land, Judea and Samaria. Thirdly, to put it mildly, they are quite obnoxious with the attitude that they have adopted towards the State and its citizens. The purpose of a uniform is to draw attention to it. That is fine when we are considering Police and security officers and military personel. When we are considering religious folk, whether it be a cardinal or a haredi, the purpose of their uniform, outlandish I may add, is to draw attention because they are disturbed individuals with various complexes and deficiencies. It is possible to believe in god without all the ceremonious clothing and disgusting behaviour such as spitting on women and indeed holding them to be inferior beings. It is possible to believe in god without telling others what to do and how to conduct their lives. It is also possible to believe in god and to serve the country of your residence, to love it and not to deride it at every opportunity. Those who do not wish to live and behave according to the norm should be deprived of all rights and in extreme cases should be stripped of their citizenship and deported to greener pastures, greener from their point of view, where perhaps they would be permitted to spit on others to their heart's content with impunity.

TORAH IS EVERYTHING!

Confusing wearers of Uniforms mostly Chukat Goiim, in this day and age, is quite common. THis comes of ignorance of Torah; Etz Hayim he le'mahzikim bah.. Live it don't pretend you follow.. I have no time for these show off people who practice sodomy to avoid touching a niddah.

what is the intention of this article? To strengthen klal Israel? To strengthen the jewish people? We do not have to worry about our enemies, we jews will destroy ourselves. Sagi, needs help, her statements are outrageous.

NOT ALL CHASIDIM / RELIGIOUS ARE EXTREMISTS... these are just a few nutters, and i agree with you but spitting on a girl is against torah values as it is said embarrassing someone is like killing them

One who spits at an 8 year old is an "avaryan" One who eats on Yom Kippur and works on Shabbat is also an "avaryan" One who who cares for t he elderly is a Gomel Chesed. One who puts on Tfilin is a Yarei Shamyim. The category "religious" is bogus.

Will Moshiah wear a Straimel ? Will he have white socks ? What type of hat ? probably no hat at all..... Did he had two kitchens ?

HOW ABOUT THE HASID THAT DOESNT SPIT but does plenty of kindness and follows Torah. HOW ABOUT the Jew in street clothes what you call 'secular' that also follows Torah and does kindness. YOU SAY: How simplistic and shallow it is to define “religious” and “secular” based on superficial, irrelevant criteria. i ASK YOU:How simplistic and shallow is YOUR view of TORAH AND JUDAISM to define Jews as only 2 or 3 types. MY ANSWER: very simplistic and ignorant. Try finding a Torah orthodox rabbi that will fit your personality to learn from. There are covers for every pot if you really want to know the answers.

The State of Israel has provided scholars with a haven to study torah for sixty years... what are the achievements of these haredim? Is there a new Rambam? New teachings or interpretations that expand our understanding of the torah? What exactly are they doing in their full-time study? Do they enrich our religion? If there is some great development in talmudic scholarship, I'd like to know what it is. Otherwise, they should start doing the mitzvah of feeding their children, paying taxes, and defending their people.

What makes a person not religious is defined in Jewish law. He can visit all the elderly all day but if he violates shabbat he is a bad Jew. Spitting on someone dressed imodestly has its sources in our Talmud. In fact it may make such an act a mitzvah. Protesting a gay parade as well is a mitzvah.

torah fails in light of science and anthropology etc torah is collection of myths assembled by people with superstitious mindset. that's includes koran as well. spitting on eight years old child indicates that the person primitive & irrational being. behavior resembles to baboon.

The problem is that the State defines religious as Orthodox, even though Orthodoxy is a small minority of World Jewry and a minority among Jews in Israel as well. Once there is separate of religion from State, then the definition of religious and secular will be a personal, subjective one, based on individual beliefs, commitments to, and membership in religious Jewish communities (kehillot/synogues) whether Ortho, Conservative, Reform, etc... Religious should NEVER be a part of politics or a State apparatus. NEVER.

SOCALLED JEWISH LEADERS SEND YOUNG DUDES TO FIGHT THE BANKSTERS WARS ...

As a secular person said: Spitting on kids and on elderly people and hitting kids and elderly people will not be reported by secular media because it's almost the norm by us in the secular world. On the other hand, if it's done by a haredi once it will be reported over and over again because it's such a rare occurrence. And yes, he said, we are JEALOUS of the holy and beautiful life led by haredim; they heed the Torah given to the Jews at Mount Sinai without any compromises; their schools have no violence and students respect their teachers; children respect parents and grandparents; they have the least crime in Israel and don't join the IDF simply because of the immorality in the army. In short, haredim ought to thank the One Above for being from the most righteous Jews in the Jewish world.

Yes, the man who doesn't put on tefilling but helps the elderly is just as 'religious' as one who puts on the Tefillin. There are 613 mitzvot, not one or 5 or 20. Only GD knows the Cheshbon. So, no, spitting at an 8 year old while wearing a kippah on your head doesn't make you religious. But neither does helping someone cross the street in a humanitarian gesture if you are eating pork for lunch and shtupping a shiksa for dinner.

are as credible as peasants ,mocking Einstein s relativity theory.