Award-winning author Amos Oz spoke at Brandeis on Sunday night as part of a daylong workshop sponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. A founding leader of Israel’s Peace Now movement, which advocates a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Oz is a professor of literature at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel. His acclaimed books, such as his 2003 memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness, have netted him a hoard of international literary prizes and inspired translation into at least 44 languages.
Oz delivered his address, titled “Israel-A Personal Perspective,” to a full house of over 200 people in the Hassenfeld Conference Center. His remarks were broadcast live online and to an overflow audience in the Shapiro Campus Center. As Provost Marty Krauss told Oz during her opening remarks, “You’re viral now.”
Introducing Oz, Prof. Ilan Troen (NEJS) described him as a “superlative educator,” and stated that his background in education was the primary reason for Oz’s presence on campus, rather than his reputation as a virtuosic writer and prominent political voice.
Indeed, while many in the audience seemed well?acquainted with the social and political conditions in Israel that Oz described, they listened eagerly to his nuanced descriptions. Oz’s comments ranged from affectionate anecdotes to grandiose metaphors, incorporating centuries of Jewish and Israeli history and slipping seamlessly between the Hebrew and English languages.
Distinguishing between the violent, reactionary “Israel of the CNN” and more complex real-life conditions in the country, Oz asserted that “the feud with the Arabs and the Palestinians … is deeply corrupting Israeli society.” He deemed the conflict “a clash between right and right … or more recently, between wrong and wrong.”
The attendees applauded when Oz predicted that someday there would be a Palestinian embassy in the Israeli state and vice versa. Warning them that they had clapped too soon, Oz added that these embassies would be within walking distance, one in East Jerusalem and one in West Jerusalem. About half the audience applauded again.
Even in his eloquence, Oz wasn’t afraid to play the clown at times, poking fun at the foibles of his countrymen and himself. While calling for political compromise in grandiloquent tones, Oz fell back on the old joke, “I know how hard compromise is because I’ve been married to the same woman for 50 years.” His speech also elicited knowing laughter from the audience when he characterized Israel as “a nation of 7 million prime ministers, of 7 million prophets and messiahs” all arguing about the country’s future.
“Israel is neither a country or a nation,” Oz continued. “Rather, it is a fiery collection of arguments.” While he celebrated this cultural characteristic, he also found that it had detrimental implications for Israel. “No one ever listens,” he mourned. “Except for me-I listen sometimes, that’s how I make a living.” Oz expressed a great deal of optimism regarding Israel’s future. However, as he conceded at the beginning of his speech, “Unfortunately, it’s not in the nature of hopes to be fully fulfilled, especially when those hopes are contradictory and mutually exclusive.”