On My Parents Scale Of Values, The

Compromise Is Not Popular. It's Not At All Popular Among Young People Who These Days Call Themselves "activists." They Think Compromises Are Dishonest, Opportunistic, Humiliating. Not In My Vocabulary.

A Little More Than A Hundred Years Ago, "tel Aviv" Was Not A City. It Was A Title Of A Novel Written By An Author. The "return To Zion" Was A Name Of Another Novel. There Was A Bookshelf. There Was No Country. There Was No State. There Was No Nation. There Was No Physical Jewish Reality In This Country.

The Opposite Of Compromise Is Not Integrity. The Opposite Of Compromise Is Not Idealism. The Opposite Of Compromise Is Fanaticism And Death. And Yes, I Know One Or Two Things About Fanaticism And Death, And I Reject Them. The Alternative To Fanaticism And To Death Is Not Some Miraculous Realization That Someone Has Been Wrong And He Has To Apologize. No, The Answer To Fanaticism And To Death Is Curiosity And Compromise And Concession.

Now, Israel Is A Fulfillment, And As A Fulfillment, It Is Flawed. The Fact That It Is Flawed Is Not So Much A Testimony About The Failures Of Israel. No, It Is A Testimony About The Nature Of Dreams.

That's My Gutsy Advice To Any Young Writer: Write Only About What You Know Well.