sRepliesHTML = "";iReplies = 91;mReplies = iReplies;iDiv = 7177
AddReply(212962,"excuses vs reasons","svietka","shomron","06/25/07","u go girl-every word-gold!");
AddReply(210006,"Number 11","Norman Cohen","Los Angeles, Ca","06/15/07","I DON\'T WANT TO PUT ALL MY EGGS IN ONE BASKET.\nI am on good authority.\nYaakov avinu split the family into 2 camps in preparing to meet Esav.\nHashem established the USA as a second camp for European Jewry in preparation for Hitler.\n");
AddReply(209494,"excuses can be legit","sp","fivetowns","06/13/07","I rec this article from a friend who made aliyah and was disturb by the tone in which it is written.  It is unfair for those who have made the bold move to judge those of us who haven\'t.  While I am thrilled that my friend and several family members have made beautiful lives for themselves in Israel, I beg them to remember that aliyah is not for all and to refrain from judging those of us who are unable or even unwilling to follow.  After all, our \"excuse\" could be legit!");
AddReply(209304,"Jews do more in Israel","wrosencratz","exile","06/13/07","Jews do more in Israel. In America, they lobby on behalf of Israel and are successful. Some gentiles resent it, and if they say how successful Jews are, they are anti-Semitic, but Jews can say how successful they are themselves.\nOne day, all the successful lobbying efforts will come to an end and provoke an irrational backlash.\nThat is why it is best that Jews separate themselves and move to their own country and help defend it. I hope to move there one day. I am still not married and not yet working.");
AddReply(209146,"To Sue and Ora","Hadassa DeYoung","Elon Moreh","06/12/07","Ora, Sue may have meant that if Jews had come to Israel when the conditions were very difficult - malaria, facing the Arabs, Bedouins, etc. with no army, general food and supply shortages - they would have perished and not left descendants. The fact is we never can be sure what the safest decision is. At first Jews who stayed in Europe survived better than those who came to Israel and then the Holocaust proved them tragically incorrect. The Jews who fled to America survived also, but look at the condition of American Jewry today. The non-religious assimilated away. Orit has already given an overview of the the religious crowd. In any event we should concentrate on the fact that living in Israel is a mitzva and that second guessing G-d is not a good idea.");
AddReply(209110,":-)","Moshe Schwartz","kentucky, usa","06/12/07","Individual accountability and responsibility first and then accountability and responsibility for fellow Jew.\nEven if it is the politicians who turn there back on their fellow Jews, that does not mean we should give up on Israel. If anything we should have hope that more Jews will band together to keep all of Israel no matter who tries to take it away.");
AddReply(209078,"REDNECK","martin","deming nm","06/12/07","FIRST IT WAS GUSH KATIF. NOW THE GOLAN . WHO WANTS TO LIVE IN A COUNTRY THAT KICKS JEWS OUT OF THEIR HOMES.BESIDES I TRIED. THEY WONT GIVE ME AMORTGAGE SAID IM TOO OLD...");
AddReply(208992,"how bout a few more","glen","toronto","06/11/07","everyone litters\nno such thing as animal shelters\nrude people who dont care whether you buy or not\nobnoxious youth\nbeauracacy like ive never seen\nhareidi who hate anyone not like them (especially gays and lesbians)");
AddReply(208989,"RE: #76","Andy","Efrat","06/11/07","I made aliyah three years ago; about a dozen families moved to Efrat. \n\nOf the dozen families, there were one or two retirees, one or two newly-weds. Most of us were in our late 30s or early 40s ... as an example, 24 new olim enrolled in the elementary school that year. \n\nYou can always be reasons to justify not making aliyah. But some of us find reasons to do it. \n\nAnd as a result, we live in Israel, reishit smeichat geulateinu. And you still don\'t.");
AddReply(208902,"To #71 There were Russians in Gush Katif","Hadassa DeYoung","Elon Moreh","06/11/07","There were Russian in Gush Katif, some religious and some not. Some communities accepted families with a non-Jewish spouse, with the understanding that the spouse was planning to convert. Years before the expulsion there were numerous Russian families who left with unpaid bills, giving the other upstanding families a bad name.");
AddReply(208900,"To Mike, #75 you are mistaken","Hadassa DeYoung","Elon Moreh","06/11/07","Nadia Matar was and is one of the few people willing to do more than protest. Read about what happened at the Palm Beach Hotel in Gush Katif and you\'ll have a better idea of who the Women in Green are.");
AddReply(208893,"Israeli mentality isn\'t a p\'tor","Ben Bayit","Palestine","06/11/07","It is not one of the reasons that a Jew is allowed to leave Israel - Sorry Alan in Toronto.  Not a good enough excuse");
AddReply(208887,"Reply to Sue (#78)","Ora","Jerusalem","06/11/07","Why do you say that Orit, or anyone else, wouldn\'t be around if their parents had made aliya?  People who make aliya actually tend to have more children than Americans, so davka there are many Israeli children of Americans who wouldn\'t exist if their parents hadn\'t come here.  As for letting Hashem lead us, He gives us free choice to keep or ignore his mitzvot. Just as we make efforts to keep Shabbat and Kashrut, and don\'t rely on being led to observance by divine providence, we need to make our own efforts to fulfill the mitzva of dwelling in the land.");
AddReply(208880,"Who determines the timing?","Sue","USA","06/11/07","It is nice that Orit encourages aliya. However, many of the people that assume every Jew should live in Israel would not exist if their parents had followed that advice. Instead of blaming each other and trying to one-up each other in the mitzvah department, why not walk by faith and trust God to bring those who are meant to be in Israel?");
AddReply(208873,"Orit","Yehudi","Y-lem","06/11/07","What a pagaz, eh? She is very explosive. Six months ago Orit wrote in praise of LA and announced Israel was barbaric because of the expulsion. Now Israel is great because Orit is happier. I am glad for her, but the truth is, Israel is neither great nor barbaric. Nobody is going to bring lots of comfortable Diaspora Jews to Israel, no matter the method chosen. Only self-interest will, most likely self-interest born of pain. People will do what they will, and always have.");
AddReply(208846,"To #67 & #68 ","","","06/11/07","Yes, how lovely - not one middle aged oleh in the video - I wonder why. They are all staying back to die in the Diaspora, I guess.\nAlso, not everyone feels up to living in a dictatorship which is hellbent on destroying the country (together with the Jews). May be they have a hard time coping as it is.");
AddReply(208841,"To #62:  YOU enabled the expulsion","mike","OIF","06/11/07","If you are who you claim you are, you know exactly the reason your efforts failed.  There is no democracy in Israel.  The judenrat of murderers and traitors laughs at your silly demonstrations.  Isn\'t it time you stood up and spoke the truth?  Isn\'t it time you called the Jews to arms against the Israelis?  Only by force of arms could the expulsion have been stopped.  Turn off your preconceptions and look clearly.  Israel is no longer your country.  The IDF is no longer your army.");
AddReply(208796,"Jonathan Pollard ","Shoshana","los angeles","06/10/07","When the people of Israel get Pollard released, we will move to Israel. When the people of Israel speak out clearly against the arrests of religious Jews, we will move to Israel.\n\nWhen the people of Israel stop blaming all evil on the left, we will move to Israel.\n\nAnd the first thing I want to do is make Israel independent of the US which is not pro-Israel.");
AddReply(208791,"Good article","Shoshana","los angeles","06/10/07","");
AddReply(208788,"To Barracuda, J&E and those who left","Hadassa DeYoung","Elon Moreh","06/10/07","We actually did block the entrance to K\'far Darom, as did many other settlements, but in the end we were outnumbered as the Yesha Council had torpedoed any idea that could have saved Gush Katif and the northern Shomron, including blocking roads. It\'s very interesting how many people use the expulsion as an excuse not to come and live in Israel when very few expellees even consider leaving Israel. #57 is correct: the mitzva of living in the Land of Israel is not dependent on the righteousness of the government. And to the expellees who left - were you just waiting for an excuse to leave Israel? Years of Arab terror and mortars didn\'t shake your resolve to stay in Gush Katif and the northern Shomron but you let the government\'s actions chase you out of Israel?");
AddReply(208758,"Nadia, there won\'t be an","","","06/10/07","expulsion from Yesh. The GOI together with the PA will make it unbearable, so the people will RUN not walk back.\nAlso I\'ve seen a comment once that if Gush Katif communities didn\'t keep out the Russian Jews (there were acceptance committees, apparently), there would be 80,000 people and not 8,000. With obvious results. As you yourself state the \"Anglo-Saxons\" didn\'t come through for you.\n");
AddReply(208724,"ten reasons","israela","jerusalem","06/10/07","From what I have seen in the U.S., most of the non-Orthodox Jews choose living an easier life materialistically and seeing their children marry non-Jews than lowering their so-called standard of living a bit here in Israel and having a much,much higher chance of their kids marrying Jews.");
AddReply(208707,"every time im in Israel....","alan","toronto","06/10/07","i leave early.   The Israeli mentality is nothing short of obnoxious, rude and arrogant.  ");
AddReply(208703,"What I\'m hearing here is, \"Things in Israel are bad. We need help.\"","JM","","06/10/07","That\'s all you had to say lady. You need not berate your brothers and sisters. Okay, Israel needs devoted Jews (not more leftists). Make that earnest hope of the centuries, \"Next year in Jerusalem\" count for something. Aliyah! G-d bless Israel.");
AddReply(208682,"Some more reasons for aliyah part 5","Andy","Efrat","06/10/07","I\'ve linked to this video before, but it\'s worth seeing again if you need a little reenforcement of aliyah:\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56hyhPs-4Vc\n\nShabbat shalom from our home in Medinat Yisrael, in Eretz Yisrael.\n");
AddReply(208681,"Some more reasons for aliyah part 4","Andy","Efrat","06/10/07","My youngest, in kita aleph, is getting ready for her mesibat siddur next week. After a program for all 120 kids (yes, 120 at just one of the six elementary schools here in Gush Etzion) they\'ll head to the kotel to daven, and for a tour of the tunnels. At one point during that tour they\'ll stand at a point as close to the holy of holies as one can come.\n\nHow could you deprive you and your families of this? It baffles me how anyone could choose to spurn the gift that we\'ve been given. Israel exists, it\'s full of people living fulfilled Jewish lives in the land God gave us, and you can live here too. Why on earth would anyone look for reasons not to?");
AddReply(208680,"Some more reasons for aliyah part 3","Andy","Efrat","06/10/07","Yesterday my kids came home with their 1st semester report cards, after a day of Tu b\'Shvat parties. Thank God, they are all doing well in school -- currently we\'re halfway through our third year here. The ones who came young are thriving, and astonishingly so are the ones who came in fifth & sixth grade.\n\nMy now-eighth grade son was recently offered a place in what we believe will be an excellent high school for him. Having come from a small community school in Minneapolis with only very weak Hebrew, he and his seventh-grade sister are now capable of reading contemporary novels in Hebrew ... And when they\'re learning Torah, they\'re learning in Hebrew. He spent the first half of the week on his class tiyul shenati (a 3 day 2 night field trip) which they spent just north of Eilat. Long hikes through our land with a lovely bunch of guys.");
AddReply(208679,"Some more reasons for aliyah part 2","Andy","Efrat","06/10/07","Our family were very unlikely olim. If you could describe an \"at-risk\" family of olim, it might well be us. We came with comparatively little money, and useless Hebrew. Neither my wife nor I have careers which could easily transfer to this country, but technology allows both of us to work effectively \"in America\" via our computers (I work in Internet marketing ... She\'s an admin assistant to a radiographer who spends the day working the US overnight shift from his home here in Efrat.) It\'s a strange type of aliyah, but it\'s aliyah nonetheless. We\'re not rich (nor were we in the USA) but we\'re surviving. We need more money -- we were not amongst the lucky olim who sold homes on the East Coast for great returns! -- but we\'re working hard to improve things.");
AddReply(208678,"Some more reasons for aliyah","Andy","Efrat","06/10/07","I wrote this some months ago as part of an email discussion group. It\'s a bit long, so I\'ll break it into a couple of pieces.\n\nPart1:\n\nThen make aliyah. There, I said what I\'ve been aching to say for weeks now.\n\nIt\'s not an impossible dream. It\'s not only for the young / old / childless / large families / rich / poor / dati /socialist [fill in whichever \"other\" you\'ve ever used as an excuse]. It\'s part of the culmination of the very possible dream that the Jewish people have dreamt for 2000 years.\n\nI don\'t pretend it\'s all smooth sailing. We\'ve hit bumps, as have friends of ours. But of all the families who\'ve moved here to Efrat in the last four years, I know of only one that\'s returned to the US ... And they did it very reluctantly, and hope desperately to return.");
AddReply(208673,"To number 12-people like you enabled the expulsion from Gush katif","nadia matar","Efrat","06/10/07","12 says:ooooh-i don\'t want to come to a country that expels its own citizens. The hutzpa of that statement is simply amazing. So let me spell it out for you clearly:\nBecause you and hundreds of thousands of other religious and nationalistic Jews decided to stay in galut instead of coming and settling Judea, Samaria and Gaza- the leftists were able to carry out the expulsion from Gush katif and Northern Shomron. Had you come here in the eighties or nineties, moved to a community in Yesha and thus changed the demographics in such a way that every yishuv would have been as big as Ariel.....nobody would have dared talk about uprootings, expulsions etc...So please look at yourself in the mirror before you make statements like you did and maybe you can act to try and prevent the upcoming expulsion (from golan or Judea and samaria chalila) by moving you, your family and your shul to Yesha.NOW!");
AddReply(208669,"to eitan-#30","","","06/10/07","All the problems you wrote about exist here, somewhat. \nIn Israel you really have to exercize your \"cup half full\" vision, keep your eye on the bigger picture of Geulah. At the same time you have to be realistic in trying to change- first starting with yourself, individually. \nThere\'s an idea that the state of Israel reflects each person\'s individual state..so look inside first.\nMy problem here is that your answer to all of the problems you have is- to leave!!! \n ");
AddReply(208662,"well meant but...","olah chadasha","jerusalem","06/10/07","Orit, I know you meant well,but frankly your breezy approach is offensive, and doesn\'t reflect the experience so many olim. Aliyah is an extemely difficult choice, and the decision to make it should not be a light one. Many of these reasons are legitimate and your judgement against those who hold them is not only unhelpful but incorrect and harmful. I encourage you to look a bit deeper.   ");
AddReply(208615,"Aliyah,the best thing thats happened to me","jan","jerusalem","06/09/07","however most of the pampered Americans Jews I knew, sadly to say don\'t have the determination to make it here.  You have to love it and believe in it with all your heart. BUt. please continue visiting your tourist money is helpful for the economy.-");
AddReply(208608,"NO MORE EXCUSES","Shifra Hoffman","JERUSALEM ","06/09/07","BS\'D\n\n   ORIT...\n     H-ASHEM ITBARACH HAS \n   BLESSED YOU WITH A DEEP\n   INSIGHT AND TALENT!\n     YOU HAVE STRIPPED AWAY\n   THE FALSE VENEER OF SO \n   MANY SO-CALLED PIOUS JEWS \n   WHO PREFER TO LIVE IN THE\n   GALUT WITH JEW-HATERS OF\n   EVERY ILK AND STRIPE...\n   AND  IGNORE THE TORAH\'S \n   COMMANDMENTS TO SETTLE AND\n   LIVE IN THE JEWISH HOMELAND\n   ERETZ YISRAEL!!!\n      UNFORTUNATELY, IT IS \n   TOO  OFTEN ANTI-SEMITISM \n   WHICH SUCCEEDS IN \n   UPROOTING JEWS FROM THE \n   DIASPORA...AND IT IS \n   HAPPENING TODAY!!! \n      *See website:\n      www.shuva.net\n   \n    \n       ");
AddReply(208606,"So What?  It\'s still a mitzvah","Ben Bayit","Palestine","06/09/07","the mitzvah of Yishuv Haaretz is not dependent upon the system of government or property rights (and the fact isthat private property rights are stronger in Israel than in the USA).");
AddReply(208564,"12 - Yeah, tell the self righteous writer to explain that one!","Zionist","USA","06/09/07","If a neighboring country EVER sent so much as 1 lousy rocket on precious American heads, whether Jew or Gentile, there would be hell to pay. Look at Iraq and Afghanistan. Never in the history of America have Americans been forced from their homes by the thousands to surrender them to those generationally vowed to their destruction. Writer should clean her own house before berating others\' valid unwillingness to live under a government AND populace who counts their lives CHEAP. Secular Jews? The majority of them are in America voting Democratic. PS: You do need pro-Israel\'s advocating to our government for Israel. Get off your high horse, you\'re clearly too oblivious of facts to judge.");
AddReply(208518,"response to choni davidowitz/#2 of orit`s article","shmaya","san diego","06/09/07"," \"settling the land of israel\",is indeed the ultimate goal. However torah tells us that this will only really happen, through a leader, wich will gather the jewish people and bring them to israel,that being moshiach.therefore there are many young rabbi`s and shluchim all over the world who are trying to work toward this goal,and bring moshiach,wich will lead to the ultimate settlement of israel,in the way the torah describes it.");
AddReply(208513,"fool cont 3.","","","06/09/07","will not make it\'s way into the books of infinite justice before Hashem\'s throne? Why are you not afraid to entice the Satan against the MAJORITY of the Jewish people, whom Hashem loves and has chosen from among all the people of the world? Don\'t you know that the Satan cannot bring an accusation against a Jew before Hashem, until another Jew opens their mouths with the same accusation. This is not me making stuff ut, the Chofetz Chaim states the same thing.\nWEIGH YOUR WORDS BEFORE YOU SPEAK. LEARN THE CHOFETZ CHAIM. I\'M REALLY SORRY TO HAVE SAID ALL THIS AND POSSIBLY CAUSED YOU EMBARASSMENT, BUT YOU SPOKE AGAINST MY HOLY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WHOM ARE BLESSED DIRECTLY FROM G-D\'S MOUTH. HOW COULD I REMAIN SILENT. I HOPE YOU WILL FORGIVE ME.");
AddReply(208511,"fool cont 2.","","","06/09/07","The chofetz Chaim wanted to move to Eretz Kodsheinu, but Hashem placed his hand and prevented him just weeks before he intended to go. He was a powerful link between polish Jewry and Hashem and the Torah. The Rambam tried to make Alyiah, but could not, and instead lived in Egypt, where he was probably the most major halachik authority, and the reason that the Teimani Jewish community continued to exist and did not succumb to the sword of Islam like so many other Mizrachi Jewish communities. Moishe Rabbeinu himself never entered the land, due to his leadership role of the Jews (Yes, he hit the rock and was punished as he was BECAUSE HE WAS THEIR LEADER). Yet you have the chutzpa to call him and incomplete Jew. Did you Chas v\'Chalila forget the incident of Miriam, which the Torah commands to remember? Remember she spoke against Moshe and was very quickly punished. Do you think your own sin");
AddReply(208510,"fool cont.","","","06/09/07","OK. I lost the first half of this post, so I am going to just continue with my train of thought.  You are a hypocrite for accusing galus Jews of the sin of the spies, because you were over on the commandment Not to be lik Korach and his followers. You see, you accuse the Rabbis of galus, many whom are holy men, of the worst sins. You claim your superiority over them. How can you do such a thing. Many of these Rabbeim are chaleshing to move to the holy eretz Yisroel, the holy beautiful land that G-D promised to us, despite all of it\'s problems. Yet they have a responsibility to their following, who are often holding to their shirtstrings to avoid being swept away from their life source (The Torah, which was not given is Eretz Yisroel) by the torrent of secular life, and who are incapable, for whatever reason of picking up an going to the beautiful, good, holy land. ");
AddReply(208507,"fool","","","06/09/07","You say you live in Israel. I don\'t understand. I thought Israel is good. I thought the air makes a person smart. In fact, I know this to be true, because Hashem says so. And everything Hashem says is true. BUT YOU ARE TALKING TRASH. For one thing, it is ludicrous to say that all Jews living in America believe America to be their promised land. Many Jews here are pining in their hearts and souls to return home, and for whatever reason, cannot. I know this because I am one of them. But besides that, Your sin is worse than that of the spies. Your sin is that of Korach and his followers, against which there is a specific commandment prohibiting being like him. You blast the many Rabbis, who would love to pick up and go to Israel, but have been placed in galus and have numerous followers for whom they are the string they are grabbing for dear life to avoid being swept under and away");
AddReply(208408,"Re. Chani Davidovitz #6","Daniel","Cleveland","06/08/07","What do you mean by \'Wasting time on a few lost souls\'?!\n\nDo you consider Ahavas Yisroel a waste of time?! Is that really the value system you want to espouse as a Jew and as an Israeli?\n\nThe Lubavitcher Rebbe cared about every Jew whether they were in Tel Aviv, Moscow, Cleveland, or Timbuktu. If you consider that a waste of time then you are indeed in a bigger Golus then any Jew in America!");
AddReply(208404,"A few nonsensical points","Oleh V\'Yored","Not Israel","06/08/07","Eitan Michael (#30) pretty much sums it up. A few other quibbles:\n\"Why should your spouse be the oneto decide, while your vision of Israel remains suppressed?\"\nPlease tell me that Ms. Arfa is not a marriage counselor in her spare time. \n\"Or better yet, bring your great talents to the exiled minds of the rabidly secular Tel Avivians. They need lessons in Judaism far more than the average, unaffiliated American college student...\"\nReally? A rabidly secular TA\'an will not spend two seconds listening to some American Rabbi. Many unaffiliated Jews do. \n\"...American Jewry is one big revolving door: for every Jew that enters the fold, another out-marries.\"\nOh good logic, so since some people intermarry, don\'t bring any back to Judaism. 10 points for Ms Arfa. \n\"perpetuators of the galut...\"\nWhat arrogance.");
AddReply(208252,"She should be doing something else!","Sergio","Qiryat Arba","06/08/07","So bad that if I had read it before thinking of coming to Israel, I might never have thought about doing it!\n\nThis lady should be doing something else instead of writing!");
AddReply(208232,"The real reason for us","Shir","Rural USA","06/08/07","You think every Jew in the US has a \"six-figure salary, three-bedroom house, Volvo, and friends from shul.\"? Not us. How about poverty, debt, an unmarketable house, 20 year old cars, and isolation. Rabbi\'s spurn us because we don\'t live in THEIR community. We\'re BT. If we could afford to we would make aliyah in a heartbeat, and so would others we know. WE JUST DON\'T HAVE THE MONEY TO MOVE!");
AddReply(208223,"Way to go Orit","David","Beit Shemesh","06/08/07","You\'re message seems to resound well with all of us that decided to listen to the words we pray and the Torah we learn each day. The longer I am here, the more I recognize the barrier of \"reasons\" galus Jews make for not joining our ranks to live in our country. To barricuda, may you be zocheh to one day remove your head from your behind, speedily in our times.");
AddReply(208214,"To Maxim - please explain","","","06/08/07","exactly how you were rejected because of your place of birth. I find it very disturbing because I am in the same situation except that I was born in the Ukraine. I have not talked to the shaliach yet.");
AddReply(208202,"One final excuse","Chayim Jakob","Galut","06/08/07","I don\'t want to become cynical, pompous and self righteous, like so many others who have made Aliyah, and blame everyone who didn\'t come for all of Israel\'s problems.  I too believe every Jew should move to Israel, but I still love and respect those who haven\'t done so yet. I don\'t want to lose that.");
AddReply(208201,"Excuse #41","J&E Silk","Tamarac","06/08/07","How\'s this excuse? When the expulsion of the Gazan Jews was in the planning stage, many Israelis were interviewed cursing at the Gaza settlers. \"Cancers! they\'re the reason we are having problems.\" Or the smiles seen on the faces of Israeli Jews as other Jews are being beaten by the police and IDF. Or how the IDF is protecting left-wing Jews and  Arabs as they illegally harvest Jewish crops on private property. Or the Israeli Jews now condemning those living in Sderot as \"THE problem.\" Or the Israeli Jews who will soon be tossed out from the Golan, Judea, Samaria, and, yes Orit, Jerusalem.... We will stay here in the U.S. where Jews are still welcome. Thank you very much.");
AddReply(208189,"If all things were so cut-and-dried.","Leo","Fort Wayne, Ind","06/08/07","Israel has many good points.  It is the closest thing to a democracy in the whole of the Middle East.  Israel opposes radicalized Islam.  And it offers much in the way of education and tourism.  But the neighborhood it\'s in right now is populated with armed thugs who won\'t give up trying to destroy her.  And her current gov.t at times seems to be interested in national suicide.  Right now Israel is at best a good place overall to live in.  But with G-d\'s favor it could be the best place on this planet to live.  As a people, if you value Him and value what He has given you, then many more will want to call Israel their home. ");
AddReply(208154,"To #35: Sheeps & Lions","Border Guard","Yesha Israel","06/08/07","Moses the sheperd guides the lost sheep of Israel that wander far away. Judah acts like a lion, and through Nashon blazed a trail even through the Sea of Reeds to come home. Moschiah (may he come soon) will help guide the lost sheep home. Meanwhile, where are the \nLions of Judah? The point is that most Jews are totally lost in a physical & spiritual exile in the Diaspora. In Israel, our exile is only spiritual. The spiritual soul needs to exist in a body to live. Am Yisroel needs Erez Yisroel to live. We are encouraged to wake up like lions each morning to serve Hashem. Be courageous, upright and act like the lion that portrays the Jewish ideal, it may even hasten our redemption. Wake up & come to Israel whilst you still can!       \n\n#35 A positive edit of your words...\n\'come and guard your country and your home\'");
AddReply(208134,"Nonsense","rif","amherst","06/07/07","This article is rediculous.  The opinions of this writer are so far from reality it makes reading this laughable.  It is so judgemental and irresponsible to make the kind of statement the author makes.");
AddReply(208114,"To # 22 Hadassa, etc.","Barracuda","Jericho,  USA","06/07/07","You cannot expect the diaspora Jews to come and guard your country and your homes. Why did your fellow Israelies not block the roads?\nSee my answer to # 28. ");
AddReply(208100,"Galut Mentality","Zev","Brooklyn","06/07/07","The reality is that the leadership of Israel suffers from a “Galut Mentality”. Namely, we don’t want to be too strong a powerful than the Goyim are not going to like us. As our great current PM said “We are tired of wining over our enemies” and sure enough he followed that through with a defeat in the Lebanon war. Until that changes the situation will not improve.");
AddReply(208093,"I am partially convinced","Charles","Den Haag / NL","06/07/07","therefore.....I will buy an apartement in Nethanya");
AddReply(208086,"To Nachum #15","Barracuda","Jericho,  USA","06/07/07","You have got to be kidding me.\nThe government throws Jews out of their homes that they were encouraged to build in the first place? Thriving business are destroyed by your enemies who now attack you from where those homes stood? The people who were uprooted are not being properly compensated?  And you want to know what MY point is?  What\'s your point?  Are you blind?  ");
AddReply(208084,"To #28","Barracuda","Jericho,  USA","06/07/07","Let\'s not talk philosophy here while Israel is so at risk. Let\'s talk reality. \"You Israelis\" are the ones living in Israel. You are the ones responsible to change things. Why is it that fewer than a million Israelis created Israel (and not without outside help, by the way) fought to keep it, and prospered, but 6 million Israelis are somehow unable to hold onto it?  You think a million more from the diaspora is the answer? I think not. Yes, Israel is good. But you who are living there have allowed the land and the dream to be bastardized by your leaders. It is too late for voting now. You are a border guard? A member of the IDF? Then you need to overthrow the government by force and take back your country. And if you start the ball rolling you will get plenty of outside help and plenty of aliyas - \nI guarantee it! ");
AddReply(208068,"Promises Promises#2","Yitzchok","Any Town","06/07/07","I am impressed that my first message was published. So here goes.EXTORTION religious & secular. While a resident of Bayit Vegan I became aware of male sabras marrying American-Anglo Saxson origin for $.There were several on just my street alone.That is statistically signifigant! These men would father a child, mistreat spouse then extort $ for the GET. Orit Afra knows this.If you can\'t earn a living due to inflation marry into $.The religious courts do nothing to prevent this chilul Hashem.Yet Spend a shabbos at a yeshiva & find out how many rules will be enforced. I\'m not surprised by the Gush Katif police brutality. One shabbos I was walking to shul early morning when two thugs in a police jeep aimed their sniper rifle at me close range and were dry firing their weapon at me.Why? because \"Dosim aren\'t welcome beyond the green line\". I lived in Ramet Eshkol then.The police cover up");
AddReply(208065,"To Joe in the real Golus #20","Choni Davidowitz","","06/07/07","Judaism without TORAH, Nationhood and LAND is incomplete.\nOnly in Eretz Yisrael can a Jew be complete.\nAs for Yisrael being Golus- well that\'s what the 10 spies said, and look what happened to them and all who listened to their Loshen Hara.\nP.S. Look at #2 in Orit\'s message\n");
AddReply(208039,"that\'s why I left","former Israeli","Woodmere, NY","06/07/07","Yup. I did make aliyah and stayed for 11 years...until I was forced out of my home by MY (?!) government.\n\n");
AddReply(208038,"Top Ten reasons for not making ALIYAH","Dawid Keith ","Mumbai,Hodu","06/07/07","Yasher Koakh to Orit!!!");
AddReply(208036,"Left After 12 Years","Eitan Michaeli","Jerusalem","06/07/07","How about (1) Salaries often aren\'t paid, sometimes for months; (2) People rip you off left and right, especially if you are an American; (3) The endless \"sinat hinam\" (hatred) that permeates the country; (4) No constitution, no bill of rights, and the government doesn\'t protect its own citizens; (5) The Israeli youth are horribly behaved and often violent; (6) Missile attacks on major cities disrupt your life, destroy your home and endanger your life; (7) The government can take your house away (Gush Katif); (8) You can\'t change a thing -- you live in a dictatorship, for all intents and purposes.");
AddReply(208032,"Golf","George Albert","NYC","06/07/07","Not enough golf courses in Israel.");
AddReply(208031,"#12 Who are \'You Israelis?\'","Border Guard","Yesha Israel","06/07/07","Jews are also called Bnei Yisroel (children of Israel)\nOn a non-national basis that  makes every Jew around the world an Israeli, like it or not. Your excuse (you\'re not alone) about Jews expelling Jews is a valid complaint, but guess what...only Jews living & voting in Israel, can effectively change this system! If you are a legitimate Jew you could do something positive about your complaint. Beleive it or not there are thousands of caring Jews serving in our security forces that want a part in building our land not destroying it. This weeks\' parsha is dedicated to lashona ra (evil tongue) against living in Israel. Negative talk against Israel is destructive! Israel is very very good. ");
AddReply(208028,"excuses","Pini","Israel","06/07/07","To all those who added excuses about the bad government or anti-Jewishness, I tell the following story:\n\nAs I college student in the US 40 years ago, I attended a lecture by Ben Gurion.  Afterward there were questions. One student asked how we could go on alyah to a country that was so ant-Jewish, etc.  Ben Gurion\'s answer: COME TO ISRAEL AND HELP CHANGE IT.\n\nI did (30 years ago).");
AddReply(208027,"Kol HaKavod","Ben-Yehudah","K\'far Tapu\'ah","06/07/07","B\"H Orit, I\'m glad you took this approach.  \"Their is no love w/o rebuke.\" Most of our brothers and sister don\'t even know that they are living examples of the punishment of the spies.  Sometimes we have \"latet lahem al harosh!\" And until they arrive, I\'m afraid they won\'t be able to understand our catching, Hebrew code phrases! :-)\nTop 12: http://esseragaroth.blogspot.com");
AddReply(208017,"To #4","Aaron","","06/07/07","You say that we have an anti-Jewish government? Well it just so happens  to be a democracy, so the blame is on you for not coming over here to vote.");
AddReply(208016,"To #12","Aaron","","06/07/07","Did you seriously just go on rampaging, \"Your country!\" and then blame us Israelis for what\'s happening. Well guess what, it just so happens to be YOUR country as well, and if you don\'t understand that, then I am afraid you understand little about Judaism. So start acting like a Jew, and instead of pointing your finger at the problems in Israel, come over here and help us fix them! ");
AddReply(208007,"Vote with your feet","Hillel Levin","Yerushalyim","06/07/07","Everyone who looks at all the difficulties of Israel: gov\'t, response to terror, giving away land, etc. Fail to see that if they showed up here. In the era when you can come first class with glatt kosher and become a citizen within 12 hours of leaving Chutz. You can have a significant impact on the CHANGE necessary in Israel. For more info on english speaking job opportunities, get in touch with me: hillel.leib@gmail.com ");
AddReply(208005,"Barracuda, the expulsion could have been stopped","Hadassa DeYoung","Elon Moreh","06/07/07","If every Jew in the diaspora who was against the expulsion had been in Israel, even just blocking the highway, I\'d be sitting in my house in Gush Katif today and so would all of my neighbors. Either you can sit in galut and complain about how lousy Israel is, or you can come and demand a change.");
AddReply(207997,"\"high isrtaeli litriture\"","shmo","tel aviv","06/07/07","what a oxymoran , just like burgs new book . God save us");
AddReply(207995,"To Choni Davidowitz","Joe","Sydney","06/07/07","There is also Golus in Eretz Yisroel- in fact it is even darker there!! The lubavitcher Rebbe sent his shluchim to make jews in remote countries be more aware of their judaism. It prepares the world for Moshiach if every jew does one extra mitzvah. That doesn\'t impede the Geulah, thinking zionism and the state is the \"ischata degeulah\" does!!\nzionism is not the answer, torah is!!\np.s. I\'m not NK, just a regular frum guy.");
AddReply(207990,"can\'t change things from afar","jew","yesha","06/07/07","");
AddReply(207982,"additional excuses","Y","Israel","06/07/07","Excellent!  Others I\'ve heard from my American acquaintences:\n\n11.  If all the Jews live in one place (Israel) they can, G-d forbid, be wiped out by a bomb.  So I stay in the US as insurance for Jewish survival.\n\n12.  I\'m waiting for Moshiach to take me to Israel on a magic carpet when the Beit Hamikdash will come down, already built, from Heaven.  Besides, Israel is still galut today.\n\n13.  From the US I can influence my congressman and senator to be pro Israel - Israel needs US support to survive.\n\nThe only really honest reason that I can\'t argue with is:  I like my standard of living in the US and am comfortable here.\n");
AddReply(207979,"Promises Promises...","Yitzchok","Any Town","06/07/07","Been there done that. FOOL ME ONCE SHAME ON ME, FOOL ME TWICE SHAME ON ME.The Vile Muslim propoganda is second only to the rubish found here.Once you arrive reality sets in when you realize they just wanted my money they could care less about me, my family & my future.If you were promised a job,it may vanish as occured to my cousin. If you were promised an apartment with loan guarentees get ready for those foxes at Misrad Ha-kill-eat-you to play games & tell you \"you americans can afford to buy on the open market don\'t bother us for a loan!\" as was said to us.Your children WILL recieve substandard education as happened to me.The country is rife with corruption, we had to pay extra for the basics telephone etc. The goverment opens peoples mail. Messages like mine are supressed. Need I continue ad nauseum!!!");
AddReply(207976,"everyone elso does the dirty work","Moshe Schwartz","Kentucky","06/07/07","I am planning to move to Israel the year with my 2 sons. Enough talk, if you really have a desire for Israel Hashem will open doors. Fear of Heaven should take over fear of Iran. I am just sorry I did not decide to move earlier. By the way I speak no hebrew and realize me and my children will serve in the IDF. We can also change Israel from within alot easier if we are in Israel united under Torah than outside of Israel.");
AddReply(207972,"Responses","Nachum","","06/07/07","Sara: There\'s just as much of a nuclear threat to the US as well. Most American Jews live in prime target areas. Take your choice.\n\nBarracuda: The *government* of Israel kicked people out of their homes. Neither the *state* nor the *land* did. So what\'s your point?");
AddReply(207957,"Israel! Israel! the Promised Land!!","Ruth","Florida","06/07/07","The land promised to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob! The land ruled by David, the man after G-d\'s own heart! The land of milk and honey! I could go on and on. It reminds me of the old song, \"And the redeemed of the Lord will return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy will be upon their heads\" Isaiah 35:10\nNow if I were Jewish.... oh well at least I will make Succot pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:16) very soon, Lord willing! Gotta learn Hebrew...\nP.S. Dear Elchonon, that will only be a reason until the US reinstates the draft...and the way things are looking up, it won\'t be too long! Wouldn\'t you rather fight for your own people?");
AddReply(207920,"#1","yaakov","Jerusalem","06/06/07","but its ok to let the goyim fight for you in passiac, I am a ex-vietnam grunt who fought in essaus army, but now B-H, I live in eretz yisrael, there are 6 million reasons to thank Hashem we have an army, thats a bs excuse PASSIAC");
AddReply(207915,"Here\'s my favorite excuse:","Barracuda","Jericho,  USA","06/06/07","I don\'t want to live in a country that expels its own citizens from their land, only to turn it over to an enemy that the leaders damn well knew beforehand would behave in exactly the manner that they are now doing, and on top of that, doing NOTHING to help these innocent and hardworking people. America surely has its problems but because we are a vast and powerful country we can afford these kinds of lapses - ISRAEL CANNOT AFFORD ITS LEADERSHIP AND YOU ISRAELIS ARE DOING NOTHING TO STOP IT.  If this isn\'t a good enough reason for you then you are completely ignorant of what is now destroying your country FROM WITHIN and I feel very sorry for you.");
AddReply(207914,"English speaking jobs","kobi","","06/06/07","I think many English speaking Americans don\'t realize that there is a demand for English speakers, maybe you can write more about this?");
AddReply(207913,"good","j","","06/06/07","\"bring your talents to the exiled minds of rabidly secular tel-avivans\"...now there\'s an eloquent call for ahavat yisrael! i think many american jews don\'t have any idea how much their knowledge would be appreciated in israel by jews who are secular. very important idea!");
AddReply(207892,"you forgot one","Elchonon","Passaic, NJ","06/06/07","You forgot a big reason - a lot of people are afraid of having to serve in the army, or having their kids serve in the army.");
AddReply(207891,"Aliyah- ","Shoshana","LovelyNeve Tzuf","06/06/07","YOU GO GIRL!!!!! From one Fellow native-Los Angelean to another!  Came a year ago and have no regrets- NBN rocks! \n\nIf I may add: EMUNAH. Israel needs Jews and Jews need Israel!\nSimple as that, everything else is saturated fat!\n");
AddReply(207873,"Reform and Conservative?","Orthodox Jew","Israel","06/06/07","I was with you until you brought up reform and conservative Jewry. I love every Jew, including the misled reform and conservative, but please, don\'t ask me to respect their errant ways.");
AddReply(207868,"Great message","Choni Davidowitz","","06/06/07","Great message Orit, especially # 2\nI am sure the Lubavitcher Rebbe would have approved and sent many of his followers to their real mission of settling the Land instead of \"wasting\" thei efforts on a few lost souls.\nThe so called shluchim and Rabbis in the Diaspora are only impeding the arrival of the Moshiach.\n");
AddReply(207864,"G-d has not told me I am to Go now.","American ","Chelm","06/06/07","Or Machiah has not come yet.  The more honest ones tell me that they cannot live in Israel.  I get no answer to my retort that I do with barely enough Hebrew to say Boker Tov.");
AddReply(207863,"Excuses","Maksim","Birmingham, AL","06/06/07","I agree with everything that you have said. However, I have two reasons why I am not making aliyah. Firstly, why would I want to move to Israel if the government is anti-Jewish? They have allowed the settlements and then they kick everyone out. What about Sderot? Why is the government silent when their own citizens are being attacked? Secondly, when I tried to make aliyah I was refused, because I happened to be born in Moldova. Sadly, I am a Cohen and a descendant from Rosh of yeshivas, who is a US citizen, who had a letter from a rav, who had graduated from Jewish Day School, and who had attended most of the Zionist seminars around the country.  If Israel does not want Jews to come to Israel who happen to be from former USSR, then why should I come to Isarel?");
AddReply(207859,"Well said","\'Walter\'s World\'"," Arutz 7","06/06/07","Those are exactly the reasons why I have not made aliyah!!!\nSeriously \'though: I know that you, who live abroad,  support Israel in your own way. But is it fair to use US as your life insurance, so that Israel is there for YOU when your life as Jews will be made intolerable in the countries you foolishly consider as yours?  And believe me, it\'s going to come. If not in Your lifetime, then certainly in that of your children and grandchildren.  Because of them, you have a duty to make Aliyah.");
AddReply(207851,"Iranian threat","sara","galut","06/06/07","This is a big one for me - the Iranian threat.  How seriously should we take it?  Did the Jews in Germany take the threat seriously right before World War 2?  Some did.  Some didn\'t.  ");
AddReply(207850,"non aliyah","sheila boofty","jerusalem","06/06/07","well done on this excellent summary of what we all know and hear all the time.  very inspiring\n\nsheila");

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