Gershom Gorenberg at Sixth & I

[Mosby]

This past Tuesday evening I had the immense pleasure of attending Gershom Gorenberg’s talk at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, DC: “What We Talk About When We Talk About Israel”.

About seventy-five people were in there, mostly from the older generations and with the kind of focused interest that could only come from voraciously consuming news reports and commentary on Israel, from being fans of Gershom’s blog http://www.southjerusalem.com/, or both.

Gorenberg, a journalist and investigative historian, as well as an American-born Jewish Israeli, ranged across a number of topics. He mentioned the recent violence in and around Aza, 1967 Israeli government decision-making, anecdotes from his Israeli life, and the kinds of documents he uncovered while researching his book The Accidental Empire about Israel’s settlement project on lands conquered in the Six Day War. And during his time behind a small podium looking a lot more “charming uncle” and a lot less “love guru”-ish than you might expect from his online headshot, he even took some chuckle-worthy swipes at the last American administration, beginning his remarks: “It’s great to be speaking here in liberated Washington…”

Interestingly, many of his insights were psychological in nature. In short form, here are a few tidbits from his talk that stuck with me:

http://jewschool.com/2009/02/06/15133/gershom-gorenberg-at-sixth-i/