[Jennie Rothenberg Gritz wrote:]
Here's the final installment of the final Aspen-based edition of The Table. This part of the discussion dealt mainly with the complicated relationship between Israeli leaders and American philanthropists. Ari Shavit, who has been a fierce critic of the current prime minister (check out his March Ha'aretz column "The Man Without Substance"), nonetheless provided some context for Olmert's alleged lapse of judgment.
The problem, Shavit explained, is that wealthy American Jews, while doing much good for Israel at large, are in the habit of adopting Israeli war heroes as "pets." The Israelis, in turn, find it hard to resist the lure of American power. The result is an unnatural intimacy that distorts the natural covenant (Shavit used the Biblical term brit) between the two Jewish communities.
The Q&A session that followed this session was a particularly lively one. As soon as the floor opened, audience members sprang to their feet and crowded the mic, proving Jeff's and Ari's recurring point that the Jewish people thrive on questioning (or, at the very least, on hearing ourselves talk). Some of the questioners expressed fear, even sadness, about the state of Israeli politics and the internal divisions among the Israeli people.
But Shavit ended the panel on a hopeful note, praising his country as "an amazingly vital society that loves life, and is committed to life, and produces solutions, and radiates energy and creativity." All of these attributes, he asserted, will help the nation move forward and take the right steps toward a peaceful future.
