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Michael Oren may have grown up in New Jersey, but the recently appointed Israeli ambassador to the U.S. always found a home in Israel. Insiders say that combination will make him an effective spokesman for his adopted country.

"He is a fantastic leader -- intelligent, scholarly, and calm under pressure," said Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, founder and president of The Israel Project, an international group that serves as an information source on Israel. "Israel has chosen a very articulate and informed leader to serve as their ambassador in Washington. At a key moment in history, the Oren choice will serve them extremely well."

Oren's appointment by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was announced May 4. He will replace Ehud Olmert's appointee Sallai Meridor, who served as ambassador from 2006 until 2009.

Raised Michael Bornstein in West Orange, Oren spent his childhood as a Conservative Jew, attended B'nai Shalom Jewish Center, West Orange, was active in various Zionist youth groups, and even won a gold medal in the Maccabiah games. He received his master's in international affairs from Columbia in 1978 and immigrated to Israel the following year, where he served in the Israel Defense Forces as a paratrooper during the first Lebanon war.

Following his army service, he returned to New Jersey to earn his Ph.D. from Princeton University in Near East studies. Soon after, he moved back to Israel to establish a career. In addition to his Army service during the first Lebanon war, Oren served as a liaison with the U.S. Sixth Fleet during the Gulf War and an army spokesman in the second Lebanon War. He was a visiting professor at both Harvard and Yale Universities.

Oren published two books on Israeli history and American relations with the Middle East. The first book, "Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East," was published in 2002 and was a New York Times bestseller. His most recent book, "Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present," appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for eight weeks and won a Council for the Humanities book award.

Most recently, Oren was a visiting professor at Georgetown University until he was appointed as ambassador. Matt Beynon Rees, former Time magazine Jerusalem bureau chief and current Israel correspondent for GlobalPost, told The Jewish State that Oren left Georgetown as a media relations officer during the 2008 Israel-Gaza conflict.

Rees believes that Oren's American background will help him tremendously in his new post.

"It makes sense, with so many American immigrants here in Israel who have become quite Israeli, to utilize that community, first of all for an ambassador, but also for other parts of Israel's relations with America," Rees said. "It's something that Israel should be doing with all the other communities of immigrants it has, from Britain, South Africa, France, and Russia, just to name a few. So I think it's a very smart appointment."

Dr. Dov Zakheim, vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton, a global strategy technology consulting firm, and the former chief financial officer for the Department of Defense under President George W. Bush, believes, like Rees, that Oren's American roots and English skills will be of great value as ambassador.

"As an American-born Israeli, his command of English is not an issue -- that is something that has undermined the effectiveness of several previous Israeli ambassadors," Zakheim said. "This is a difficult time for Israel, and having an ambassador who understands Washington, the United States generally, as well as his adopted country, is a major asset that should not be minimized."

David Saranga, consul for media and public affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York, said that "often, ambassadorial posts to important countries -- such as the United States -- are given to political appointees from outside the [Foreign] Ministry, and are generally selected by the foreign minister and prime minister."

"Oren, one of the foremost historians of the U.S.-Israel relationship and an eloquent advocate for the State of Israel, will certainly excel in representing Israel to the American people," Saranga said.

Rees said that Netanyahu's choice of Oren reflects how much he values the U.S.-Israel relationship.

"I think it shows that Netanyahu takes the relationship with America seriously, because he's not sending someone who is going to have any difficulties dealing with Americans," Rees said. "Sometimes, we forget how foreign Israelis are, and how abrasive and undiplomatic they can be. Michael Oren is none of those things, and I think he could be a very good ambassador, straddling his American roots and the fact that he's been in Israel so long."