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Now that it is clear George W. Bush will be the nation's 43rd president, there is a lot of healing and politicking ahead for the Jewish community.

November exit polls indicated that approximately 79 percent of Jews voted for Vice President Al Gore. But we must now put aside our partisanship and support the next president.

Bush enters the office knowing that American Jews did not support him. But like any new president, he is looking four years ahead and will actively try to win our support — and the support of 50 percent of the Americans who voted for Gore — before the next election.

It is important that Jews reach out to him, especially if we want him to deal with the various issues that concern us.

The role of AIPAC becomes extremely important over the next four years in lobbying Congress and the administration. It's no surprise that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is pushing for an even larger attendance at its annual conference in Washington next March, when Jews from all over the country will swarm Capitol Hill, lobbying their representatives and senators.

The top issue for AIPAC and most American Jews is the resolution of the Mideast crisis.

We need Bush to be a fair mediator not only in his efforts working with Arabs and Jews, but also in his relationship with the two apparent contenders for Israel's prime minister, Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu.

America cannot and should not be seen as supporting one Israeli candidate over another. We've done that in the past and it was wrong.

And while we must treat Israel as one of our strongest allies in the world, the only way we can mediate peace is if the Palestinians recognize us as being somewhat evenhanded.

How Bush handles this diplomatically could go a long way in defining his relationship with American Jews. Let's hope he succeeds.