Thursday morning roundup

"Is this really necessary" is always my first thought when I come across very long articles in the New Yorker. Having said that, I barely noticed this one as I read it. It's insightful and heartbreaking.

I don't understand.

People like me are getting sick of the '100% certainty, with us or against us' bully tactics on the part of people like my mother, with regard to Israel. It's a really good article:

They do not belong to a synagogue and do not attend services or belong to Jewish organizations, yet they consider themselves Jewish — bound in a web of history, culture and DNA to their Jewishness, and by extension, to Israel.

and

All said that they had voted for Mr. Obama, supported his efforts to prod Israel and believed there would never be peace in the Middle East without determined intervention by the United States.

Nonetheless, “It makes me angry that the Israelis are always blamed for the problems and asked to make concessions,” Ms. Creed said. “You know, the Israelis are not the ones launching rockets and placing fighters in houses with children inside.”

and

Mr. Moore, the headmaster, expressed frustration that the voice of Israeli advocacy in the United States was monopolized by what he called the “Israel right-or-wrong” camp.

Israel is not just the homeland of Jews but of Jewishness, he said, and should be known for its embrace of the values at the core of Judaism — truth, fairness, kindness, freedom.

That is what he would tell those hard-line relatives of his, he said, “though I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t change their minds.”

Although I think the dude who wrote this question is kind of a prick, I find it interesting because Carolyn makes a good point: everyone's needs are different. For example, I kept needing my RM not to ask me how my day was.