Stuart Schoffman

NCIS Tel Aviv?

Published on June 21, 2012

Every morning, at my kitchen counter, I leaf through two Israeli dailies, both of them in English. The Hebrew papers I read in cafés, not every day. I watch the TV news at 8 pm, on Channel 2.

After Jerusalem Day

Published on May 30, 2012

On the morning after Yom Yerushalayim, I walked past the prime minister’s house on the way to the dentist. The house sits on Balfour Street, named for the British lord whose famous Declaration of 1917 paved the road to the Jewish state. Half a century later, the Israel Defense Forces recaptured the Old City and unified Jerusalem, a momentous event commemorated on Yom Yerushalayim.

Running off the rails

Published on February 29, 2012

On the 4th day of Adar, on the front page of Haaretz, there appeared a most curious story. Its headline read: “Israel Railways planning to build 475-kilometer rail network in West Bank.”

Opinion: Jews, Christmas and Chinese food

Published on December 19, 2011

I got a cute e-mail the other day, with a photo of a hand-lettered sign: “The Chinese Rest. Assoc. of the United States would like to extend our thanks to The Jewish People/ we do not completely understand your dietary customs . . ./ But we are proud and grateful that your GOD insist you eat our food on Christmas.” Followed on the bottom, left to right, by a yin/yang symbol, the words Happy Holidays!, and a Star of David.

Nation might not be safest but it’s the most interesting

Published on May 15, 2008

Not too far from my home there's a street named for the German poet Heinrich Heine, a baptized Jew and metaphorical Marrano. Sometimes on Shabbat afternoons, I take a long Jerusalem walk with my son, soon to be a soldier, and Lizzie, our German shepherd, a breed of dog that in my wildest Diaspora dreams I could never imagine owning.

A Matter of Mindset

Published on February 24, 2005

For an Israeli who lives in Jerusalem, it's strange being the only Jew in the room. Yet that's how it was on Jan. 10 as I gave a talk on the current political situation to an international conference of Catholic bishops at the elegant Knights Palace Hotel in the Old City.

Fervid Moderation

Published on October 9, 2003

The horrifying images on Israel's Channel 10 were probably the most graphic I had ever seen on television. A suicide bomber, a Muslim religious teacher from Hebron -- himself the father of young children, had blown up a Jerusalem bus filled with ultra-Orthodox men, women and children on their way home from worship at the Western Wall. Twenty-one innocent people were murdered, scores were wounded and maimed, many of them -- so many of them -- children. The following morning, the mass-circulation Yediot newspaper ran front-page photos of some of the victims, a heart-breaking picture of a 5-month-old baby girl in intensive care and the opening paragraphs of four Op-Ed pieces, including one by Israel's most famous author, Amos Oz.

Looking at

Published on March 13, 2003

We live in an age of anxiety -- to put it extremely mildly.
By the time you read these words, Iraq might be in flames, Saddam Hussein (or
at least one or two of his doubles) may be history -- or on the other hand,
maybe not.

A Homeland Paves the Way for Lieberman

Published on February 6, 2003

Is America a great country, or what? By the time Joe Lieberman (Yale '64, Yale Law '67) had propelled himself upward by means of first-class education, the country had changed dramatically. Kennedy had succeeded where his Roman Catholic predecessor, Al Smith, had failed.

Peace and Processing

Published on April 26, 2001

On a recent Tuesday even-ing, 24 hours before the arrival of Yom HaShoah, I attended a symposium in Jerusalem on a subject both intriguing and urgent: "To Acknowledge the Suffering of the 'Other': Religious Obligation, Psychological Challenge."

Draining the Swamps

Published on April 12, 2001

It is a truth nearly universally acknowledged in Israel and the United States that we offered the Palestinians peace, and they chose bloodshed. More Jews and Arabs are killed almost daily. Clearly this situation is untenable. How to end it?

Topsy-Turvy

Published on March 8, 2001

How do you feel about what's going on here in Israel? How do you think you're supposed to feel?

Symbol of All Hopes

Published on February 15, 2001

About 20 years ago the Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua wrote an essay called "Exile as a Neurotic Solution," in which he endeavored to explain why so many Diaspora Jews, for many centuries and in our own day, have avoided coming to live in the Land of Israel.

Safe and Sound

Published on December 14, 2000

A bagel and lox and cup of coffee later, the captain announced officially that we were beginning our approach into New York's JFK and that America had a new President, George W. Bush. Gasps and moans were audible throughout the cabin.

Too Much a Mirror

Published on October 5, 2000

The Lion’s Roar

Published on September 28, 2000

Anyone in the Old Country who still believes that Israel is a creamy "blending of the exiles" should get on the next plane to Ben-Gurion airport, hop a cab to Ma'asiyahu prison in the nearby town of Ramle, and geb a kuk, as my grandmother used to say, at what's going on.

A Tale of Two Liebermans.

Published on August 24, 2000

"Is America a great country or what? (APPLAUSE)
Yes it is. God bless America, land that we love."

- Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Los Angeles, Aug. 16, 2000

Like most American Jews, I'm a Democrat by tradition and temperament. Still, I understand why some Jews might not vote for Joe Lieberman. Nowhere is it written that you should vote for someone just because he's a Jew. For some American Jews, Lieberman is too liberal. For others, too conservative. Another reason why I like him: He doesn't quite fit in any box.

Selective Memory

Published on June 29, 2000

It's not easy being 52, especially when you're a country. Israel and I are the same age, and I get the feeling it's harder on her than on me. The other night my high school classmates living in Israel got together for a 35th reunion. There were 116 graduates of our modern-Orthodox day school that June long ago, and today 12 of us live in Israel, four men and eight women. Half the women are grandmothers by now; one has a granddaughter the same age as my daughter. Jeepers, how time flies.

The Greatest Gift

Published on May 4, 2000

During the Passover holiday I went on a picnic with family and friends.

An International Symbol ofNormalcy

Published on May 21, 1998

May 1998. Israel turned 50. The weather has beenfabulous. We got a new dog. Otherwise, things are morecomplicated.