We, the people of Israel, no less than the people of Palestine, are hostages of our history and of our present leadership. Our extremists – perhaps the only inspirational speakers we have – bludgeon us into feeling that we must resurrect a glorious past which is not only impossible to recreate, but which blocks us from moving on into a livable future.
We could use a good man like Barack Obama. We need a man who has an awareness of his own limitations, and a sense of the boundless promise of the nation and its people. We need to be uplifted. We need to heal. We need to be able to triumph over our own habits and preconceptions, our grief and our grievances, our prejudices and our blood grudges.
We need someone who can see the horizon we have long ago stopped seeking. We need to resurrect the most battered of our values, the belief in the power of reconciliation and cooperation, the faith in the sheer existence of possibility.
~ Bradley Burston, Ha’aretz
Commentary coming soon
Rabbi Jesse Paikin 