Quotations

I don't fully agree with every one of the following quotes, but they are thought-provoking:

From the Forward, April 28, 2006:
"Judaism has come to mean very different things in the two places [here in the USA and Israel]. Here it is a voluntary network of associations, beliefs, practices and loyalties. There it is, above all, an existential condition, a fact of everyday life and a challenge to survive." -- from "Deeper than we Know," Editorial (forward.com/articles/7702).

"A coalition of American Jewish organizations launched a groundbreaking initiative this week to improve the socio-economic standing of Israeli Arabs, but participating groups were split on whether to speak out against the inclusion of an ultra-nationalist, reputedly anti-Arab party [Yisrael Beiteinu] in Israel's new government." -- from "Jewish Groups Join in Bid to Aid Arabs..." by Marc Pereleman (forward.com/articles/7708)

From the book Jerusalem City of Mirrors by Amos Elon (1989):
"In our own time, men have stepped on the moon seeking new Jerusalems in foreign galaxies, but so far the old Jerusalem has not been replaced. She retains an extraordinary hold over the imagination...." (p. 5)

"Before 1967, Israelis had been a people with too much history and too little geography. After 1967, the opposite became true." (p. 89)

From the book To Jerusalem and Back by Saul Bellow (1976):
"There are many Israelis who do not believe, but there are few who have no religious life. Life for the irreligious in Israel is quasi-religious. ... Such injustices as have been committed against the Arabs can be more readily justified by Judaism, by the whole of Jewish history, than by Zionism alone." (p. 54)

From the book From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman (1989):
"Wherever you go in Israel today you can feel the past lapping up against society, whispering like a late-afternoon tide that the destiny of Israelis, like all Jews, is to be the victim." (p. 274)