The liberal President reminded us that liberals were always on the side of those who sought self-determination, including Palestinian self-determination.

Why is it that, despite our diverse politics and passions, so many American Jews continue to feel a special tie to Israel? I believe there are four primary reasons for our continuing sense that our own identities are inextricably linked to Israel and its ability to thrive.

Contemporary political Zionism, in Butler's view, has constructed a very slanted narrative of Jewish history −- one that glorifies the kingdom of David, the Maccabees, Masada and Bar Kochba, all equated with the type of bellicose masculinity embraced by some early Zionist activists.

If Zionism has been based on a set of values -- any values -- that "override whatever injustices statehood has brought," then it has taken us as far as one can get from the set of values that undergird liberal democracy.

We have had 64 years of building a homeland for the Jewish people, an heroic task that has at times succeeded beyond our wildest dreams, and of which we are immensely proud, and at times let us down in deep and painful ways. That is what it means to be in a loving relationship.

Yes, I am a Zionist. Wholeheartedly. If at all, I am now more explicitly Zionist than I was in my younger years. I am sorry and troubled that it has become so hard for so many to describe themselves in these terms.

Zionists of the left must contend with two sorts of challenge. One challenge comes from without -- from those who deny the legitimacy of a sovereign Jewish homeland -- and one from within -- from those with positions that put Israel at grave risk both morally and physically.

Here is the Zionist movement's next goal: to take the lead in informing our People's self-expression in art and politics and business alike, so as to pioneer a path toward a more fulfilling collective life.

For the Love of Zion, call me whatever you will, it won't change what I am. Liberals like me, walking and talking like Zionists, are Zionists. That's a truth the "authorities" cannot duck.

I am a sad nationalist who knows that fewer and fewer fellow nationals share her dream of peace, equality and justice, and therefore feels estranged in her home-land, estranged but nonetheless committed. I am, as I wrote at the outset, irrevocably a Zionist.

Can the Jewish people survive without a Jewish and democratic state in the Land of Israel? For a while, perhaps. But creative Jewish survival needs a state to strengthen Jewish identity, foster Jewish unity and offer a meaningful Jewish response to the emptiness of modern life.

Sometimes I feel that I am the last of a vanishing species of people who had deep convictions about taking responsibility for the destiny of the Jews and about mending themselves as part of a universal movement aimed at making the world a better place.

The Zionist movement succeeded in creating a homeland for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel more than 60 years ago. Its current challenge is to become a truly liberal democratic country of all its citizens and work toward peace with a homeland for the Palestinian people in Palestine.

Is liberal Zionism an oxymoron? These days, it's easy to think it is. Many people on the left have, reluctantly, accepted that right-wing extremists are today's true Zionists, and have, therefore, dropped away from Zionism, or have styled themselves "post-Zionists," or have come to regard Israel as irrevocably tainted by its Zionist identity. But: Liberal Zionism, authentic heir to classic pragmatic Zionism, though overshadowed by Israel's pro-settler right wing camp, is alive and -- as we set out here to demonstrate over the next few days -- kicking.

Last week, the Jewish community was publicly challenged to consider what views have a role to play in the discussion around our table and what views are beyond the pale.