Many are overseas, some in Sinai, but the majority are probably at the various Batei Kaffe around the country. It's a major pastime nowadays. :)

Mark

I think more religious people take off from work or kollel for col hamoed then secular. On a Saturday or Holiday you will probably find only secular people in these tourist places.

who do you think was filling all the parks ON yomtov?

As a secular Israeli who can go on family trips on Shabat during the year, we try to not go to parks - zoos etc. on Chul Hamoed because they are so crowded. We just stay close to home (NOT at batei caffee..).

Went to Begin Park in TA yesterday. There were plenty of secular-looking folks.

Went on Tzadat Latrun today. (A 6km hike near the tank museum.) There were hundreds, maybe a 1000 people, and only a small fraction were dati and virtually none were Chareidi (probably too Zionistic for them).

Did a hike yesterday -- plenty of secular-looking people. Picnic today at Gan Havradim in JLM had mostly religious-looking, but Gan Saccher nearby seemed to have more variety.

I am happy to hear they are out there too, and not just in small numbers...

mostly non jews here in new york city lol.

The safari was full of secular folk but a secular friend once told me that they only go to places that they think the "dossim" won't go to - like the safari which is too expensive, or the beach.

Agree with shlomo- they pack into things like the paid entertainment for kids at Park Ranaana which is too expensive for Dosim.

We went o Beit Guvrin yesterday and it was a very mixed crowd (fantastic hike the kids loved it) and the day before we went to the Iris preserve and a KKL park in Netanya which was also mixed.

Something else in these Chol Hamoed outings. I've noticed many large groups of, what appear to be, extended families. These groups seem to include all types of Jews comfortably having a great time together.

David landau was the editor in chief of haaretz. on all matters he took a very left wing view of things, sort of a mix of meretz and shinui. but once he wrote an article about this topic which i found to be very sensitive and to the spot. at the time there was some debate going on about changing the work week to monday - friday and having sunday off.

landau wrote that for the average person living between gadera and hadera, haredim are people you see on tv at a hafgana. they just aren't seen in these areas (i can state that working in areas in tel aviv/mercaz i rarely see them). on shabbat the secular go to the beaches and parks and then none of the religious are seen.

suddenly comes cholo shel moed and boom, the parks are filled with these people and the secular are all like "where did they come from?"

landau felt that part of the objection to changing the work week came from not wanting to see the frum on sundays. if sunday is a vacation day like in the US, then the yeshivot will be closed as well and people will travel and then everyone is going to have to hang out with everyone and the secular don't want that.

interesting. I never heard that before...thanks, Ben

you know, those of us living in religious areas, such as Bet Shemesh, Gush, jerusalem, Bnei Braq, Petach Tikva, religious areas in other large cities such as enclaves in Haifa and Beer Sheva, etc. etc. think the religious are so multiplous and expanding.

The religious are, but nowhere near the proportions we think of. if you walk around Tel Aviv, or most other areas of the country, seeing a religious person is rare enough (though plenty of people are traditional and you will also see religious in tel Aviv and other places), seeing a hat and jacket is almost non-existent, except during vacation times.

So while the religious are growing in number and expanding, it is still mostly within very specific areas.

sorry, this was just a comment/observation based on Ben's comment.