Jul. 2, 2009 Daniel Gordis , THE JERUSALEM POST I wouldn't be surprised if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were thinking of Tevye these days. Tevye was, after all, a quasi-pathetic character simply trying to make sense of a world changing far more quickly than he might have ever imagined possible. Having granted his daughter, Hodel, permission to marry Perchik the pauper, he wonders, "What am I going to tell your mother?" He didn't choose Perchik, and he doesn't really approve. But he is powerless. And when his wife expresses her dismay, the best explanation he can offer is "It's a new world, Golde." "It's a new ...

Jul. 2, 2009 Daniel Gordis , THE JERUSALEM POST I wouldn't be surprised if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were thinking of Tevye these days. Tevye was, after all, a quasi-pathetic character simply trying to make sense of a world changing far more quickly than he might have ever imagined possible. Having granted his daughter, Hodel, permission to marry Perchik the pauper, he wonders, "What am I going to tell your mother?" He didn't choose Perchik, and he doesn't really approve. But he is powerless. And when his wife expresses her dismay, the best explanation he can offer is "It's a new world, Golde."...

In Perspective: Obama is right, it's time for honesty Jun. 11, 2009 Daniel Gordis , THE JERUSALEM POST In the days leading up to his landmark speech in Cairo, US President Barack Obama said it was time for "honesty" between the United States and Israel. Now he has spoken, and we should respond in kind. For Obama is right - it is time, at long last, for honesty. Too many analyses of the speech have ignored the fact that it was addressed primarily to the Muslim world, and was delivered in Egypt. And in that setting, Obama insisted that the US-Israel relationship could not be upended. He mentioned the Holocaust, ...

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 ...