JJFlyer, surely the best bet is to get the second passport now? Then when it comes time to renew your old one, you can just send it off for a postal application, and not have to worry about going down in person because you need it for a trip in a few days.
Jump complete, my father had 2 passports for just that reason, he was a Sales guy for Compair, and his area was the Middle East, which included Israel. (some companies put Israel as part of Europe to avoid problems with stamps in passports etc.) However, he once took the wrong one into, IIRC, Egypt, he wasn't noticed (or maybe was and he was tailed) on the way in, on the way out they let him board the aircraft, then 4 gentlemen with AK's asked him to help them with their enquiries. This was during the 80's when tensions were much higher than now.
I imagine that the best use these days is making sure that you don't have Arab stamps in a passport you are using to get into the US, how times change eh?