While President Obama's speech was addressed to the Arab world, it had been nervously anticipated in Israel, as well. In its aftermath, some Israelis are quibbling with word choices or wondering whether he is naïve in believing that Hamas might renounce terror or that Iranians can be entrusted with civilian nuclear capacity. Others are assailing his comments about settlements. But the real news is that contrary to what many expected, or feared, President Obama assumed positions virtually identical to those of Israel's political center -- namely, that the Palestinians must renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist, while Israel must cease settlement building and permit a Palestinian state ...

In Perspective: For the sake of clarity, a thought experiment May. 14, 2009 Daniel Gordis , THE JERUSALEM POST He was in his 20s, the young man with the question after my lecture. He couldn't have asked it more kindly or gently. Without a hint of cynicism or anger, he expressed what was clearly on the minds of many of the people his age in the crowd: "Can you justify a Jewish state," he wanted to know, "when having a Jewish state means giving up on so many of Judaism's values?" Here's what he didn't say: Israel is the root of evil in the Middle East. It's the cause of checkpoints, of roadblocks, of a big ugly wall that runs ...

A number of years ago, we had a bit of a motley crew over for Shabbat lunch.  I remember that my brother was in town, visiting from New York. Another friend, a significant player in the Federation world was also there, as was a high school friend of one of our kids.  And we were joined by one more friend, an Israeli Arab woman whom we'd initially met through my work. It was an interesting, though hardly relaxed, Shabbat afternoon.  (The conversation took place in English ironically, since even though the Arab woman spoke a mellifluous Hebrew, our American Jewish leader friend didn't. But the abandonment of Hebrew on the part ...

Amos Oz's autobiography captures the flavor of life in Palestine before Independence in ways that virtually nothing else I've read does. The passages that describe the events of November 29, 1947, the day of the UN vote on Israel's creation, and his discussions with a Kibbutz member of whether the Arab "enemy" is really a "murderer," are literally unforgettable. The entire book is a masterpiece.

Kashua is an Israeli Arab, who interestingly writes in Hebrew only. Funny and sad, he is far from an apologist for the "Zionist narrative." He tells a story of a community that belongs nowhere, and exposes the complexity of Israeli Arab life. Watch also for his second book, "And It Was Morning," not yet in English.

I read this book both in Hebrew and in English, and didn't love it. But I'm a minority. Most people loved it. And it clearly reveals slices of Israeli academic, judicial, Arab and romantic life. It's a good yarn, if a bit long, and gives a rich picture of dimensions of contemporary Israeli life.

This is a controversial book, and not an easy read for lovers of Israel. But Benny Morris is part of a group of historians whose work must be encountered. He shows that the Palestinians people have causes more complex than Israeli narratives often admit, and that Israeli behavior has been varied. To my mind, a serious engagement with Israel means thinking about these issues as well.

By pure coincidence, I happened to be in my old Los Angeles neighborhood on Election Day, and like many others, I found the extraordinary power of that day difficult to articulate. At the polling places in which I'd often voted, but had never waited in line, there were lines around the block. Friends who had voted regularly with no more than a mild sense of civic duty now spoke of participating in a moment that - whether they themselves had voted for Obama or McCain - they'd long remember and would tell their grandchildren about. For me, the tears that flowed in Chicago's Grant Park that night were beyond moving. One need neither forgive nor forget Jesse Jackson's abhorrent comments about Jews and Israel to ...