But to peace of mind. Religious people who believe in G-D, with all their soul, are happy people.

What a silly statement! Despite all hardships and tragedies the Jews are the example for all nations how to cope with tragedies and live on and enjoy every moment of your life. How to keep the faith and how to remain a human being. As for happiness - it looks to me the author haven't ever seen the God-forsaken places in Sri-Lanka, Pakistan, and frankly in my home country - he clearly doesn't have a clue about what being happy/not happy is.

I am not religious and do not believe in god and yet I am perfectly happy, even to reply to your ridiculous talkbacks...my responses to you give me a sense of wellbeing. Thank you, ORA.

An international poll has just put Israel in the top 10 countries of happiness quotient. To say Jews and happiness don't go together doesn't know us. Total garbage.

... with the topic of the article...! I don't understand why Ynet decided to bother publishing this author - he has an attention-grabbing headline, throws in the sentence completely randomly throughout the article, but writes a piece that has nothing to do with it, and definitely has nothing to support his claim! The research was interesting (maybe because the author didn't research it...) but where does he come from? why??

The trouble is that if you are not religious it is utter misery living amongst them

Barnea usually writes stupid articles on politics. Now he is writing a stupid article on happiness. Happiness is a personal decision which has nothing to do with race and religion.

I grew up in Denmark and now I live in Israel. Comparing the two countries, I find that Israelies live as if theres no tomorrow - busy, active. In Denmark the atmosphere is more relaxed, but also much more boring.

because our lives have meaning. Jews believe in a future that is good - indeed, Jews gave the world the idea of a world at peace, lion lying down with lamb. This means that today is part of the journey to that future and so if today is difficult, even impossible to bear, we know that it is not the end of our story and that in the end it will be part of our celebration. This surely sustained Jews throughout our exiles, knowing we would be ingathered one marvelous day. And we Jews in Israel experience living in that higher reality - that meaning- infused reality (whether we are religious or not) - every day. We know we are participating in and building something good and important in the world. So we have big families and raise them in joy even though we stull have to send kids to the army because there is no peace. Even on blood-saturated days of terror, even on days the Arab propoganda machine churns out creative lies about Israel as the Western media take dictation, we know it's not the end of the story. We believe that the good guys win in the end. We believe that our God - whose name is The Good - sends us challenges that we can overcome by coming together. And we're getting better at it. We ARE good guys - not perfect guys, of course, there is no such thing - and that makes us happy and brave. Come visit and get surprised. :)

Happiness is indeed partly ( if not greatly ) related to good life but you seem to miss this point... When you have good health you should be happy... When you do not suffer from poverty or deprivation you should be happy... When you do not constantly live in fear but rather you feel secure you should be happy... When you have a big sense of achievement ( success in work , studies , fulfillment of ambitions , etc...) you should be happy... When you play a role in helping others who need and deserve help you should feel happy... When you love others and feel others love you too you should be happy... And when you purify your soul and make it clean, clear, and chaste without having any feelings of hatred or rancor or malice you should be happy... And when you have all of the above-mentioned blessings you should indeed be happy - without necessarily believing in any god...

and Haifa is a nice place to live in. And if you work at the Technion, this is a reason more to be happy :-)

If Israeli's drove better and more civic mindedness.

in short: happy. It's a Mitsva.

they choose to ignore the lack of evidence for the concept of Torah mi-Sinai

are perfectly happy. But i have my doubts about that, since it is insulting that gives you a sense of wellbeing.while happy people feel so by doing good to others . Have a fine day,Michael.

If there were evidence, we'd call it science. Faith does not demand evidence, it relies on the veracity of the one who transmits it. In Judaism, belief has passed from parents to children for millenia. As the medrash puts it, we were all at Sinai.

Israelis don't need a drink (alcoholic) to be relaxed, enjoy themselves and even be happy. Compare that to most countries, from Europe to America, South Africa and Australasia. Get it?

1) Ma'im ganuvim yoter m'tukim = stolen water is sweeter 2) friar = sucker On the basis of the many years I spent in Israel here is my conclusion: many (not all) Israelis are happiest when: a) they do not feel they have become anybody else's friar b) they have made others into friars either out of i) greed, vindictiveness, the basic desire to game the system or ii) simply as a way to neutralize others and prevent them from possibly turning said Israeli into their friar.

drink problems.

To be happy : to feel okay ,humorous, well-tuned towards yourself and the others , without fears, without agressivity, no frustration ,able to interact, able to socialize. Hapiness: not a single " one size fits all " definition will cover the whole range of feelings. Money, health, social recognition, frienship , family , love etc.. In Israel, there is not many choices ; adapt or get out, ze ma she yesh.So to be happy means also to have to make do with what you got....

I agree with comment 9.

In Venice, California, on the beach, not far from Los Angeles. And in graduate schools at California universities right before they get jobs in the Silicon Valley near San Francisco. Every couple of years Israelis visit Tel Aviv to refresh themselves linguistically and to explain why their peaceful life in California is better.

they r bored n unhappy..................read articles about their society. at least here there is a purpose to live. yes - we do have problems......but they can be all solved and we are a special country! that's probably why so many others hate us. life might be "easier" in other countries but here u r fulfilling a dream.

I really enjoyed reading the comments. I think opinions like #9. for example are closer to the truth. Jews have a primordial purpose in life even if most of us do not know exactly what that is. And a person does not have to be religious to feel this purpose. Being in contact with the general force of reality, whether we call it G_d, or the general, overall force/law of nature it does not matter. Until about 2000 years ago our predecessors lived in direct contact with this force, living by its laws of "Love your neighbor as yourself" and "mutual national responsibility" instinctively. And through that experience, this feeling of purpose, having that capability for this direct connection separates Jews and Israelis at least a little from worries in the material life. If we recaptured this direct connection again, and took on the mission of teaching it to others (Light onto the Nations) we could transform not only our own life but the whole world. And not in the "next world" but here and now.

His book was on the NY Times best seller's list for many many weeks. What is happiness, Mike? Happiness is whatever makes you happy....I think