Not Lapid fans

Sir, – I was appalled to read that a new poll shows Yair Lapid and his party winning the next election. The Jewish state would be destroyed. Call his Yesh Atid (There’s a Future) party Ein Atid (There’s No Future).

The younger generation, Lapid’s big voting base, has no idea what it’s doing, no idea what’s right and what’s wrong. It longs for a completely secular country, preferably non-Jewish, a little America. It has no idea what it means to have a Jewish state.

I long for a leader like Menachem Begin. When asked what kind of prime minister he planned to be he answered simply, “A good Jew.” Doesn’t anybody understand what that means anymore? LAURIE BENTNER

Tel Aviv

Sir, – I was somewhat undecided when I entered the voting booth in January. I really wanted fresh faces in the Knesset. I started to reach for the ticket with Yair Lapid’s name on it, but some force from above moved my hand to the right, kind of like the legend of Moses as a baby.

I am so thankful today. Who needs a hate-monger for a leader? Why doesn’t Lapid put an emphasis on mitzvot as a form of national service? No sin in that. The haredim do mitzvot all year but don’t get the credit.

The secular population should serve Judaism somehow, with a year of religious studies as a requirement for an honorable army discharge. Ideally, the whole IDF could be revamped along the lines of the “hesder” model, combining army and religious studies. JUDY GREENBERG Netanya