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And keep it holy: I

2 comments on And keep it holy: I

And keep it holy
: I hope (and pray) that we are beyond the day in America when being Jewish could hinder an American from running for the White House.

If Joe Lieberman has religious problems in his race, they may not be with his faith but with his orthodoxy. We are not an orthodox nation; we don’t understand orthodxy; we don’t trust it.

So it’s helpful to read a definition of Lieberman’s own “Modern Orthodoxy” at the always-enlightening Jewsweek.com:

Modern Orthodoxy aspires to strict adherence to traditional Jewish law (keeping the Sabbath and kosher) while fully engaging in secular society…

Rabbi Barry Freundel, the spiritual leader of Georgetown’s Kesher Israel and Lieberman’s rabbi, believes that his congregant is fully ensconced in both worlds. “He has a willingness to fully engage modernity,” says Freundel. “I don’t think you could have a president from the more right-wing Orthodox camp because they don’t fully embrace modernity.”

The fact that he doesn’t stick out may not only place him in a position to teach America what it means to be a Jew, but will teach Jews what it means to be Jewish in America. “So on Shabbat he’ll walk to synagogue, there’ll be kosher food in the White House,” says political analyst Norman Green. “He’ll be forcing a lot of conservative and reform Jews to reconsider their Jewish practices.”

2 responses to “And keep it holy: I”

  1. Howard Sherman Avatar
    Howard Sherman

    Jeff: I too hope that Sen. Lieberman’s religion doesn’t become an impediment to his policies and beliefs getting a fair hearing from voters.
    I fear that Lieberman may be his own worst enemy on this front, however. He’s got to confront another issue weighing on the minds of voters and confront it strongly and often – will his Middle Eastern policy be even handed or favor Israel? He had a chance to adress that on Meet The Press this morning and didn’t. He doesn’t even deal with it on his campaign Web site.
    If he believes in a two state solution, he should keep saying so and let the chips fall.

  2. Yehudit Avatar
    Yehudit

    Conservative and Reform Jews who didn’t have much contact with Modern Orthodoxy until Leibeman was picked for VP candidate got plenty of exposure to him at that point. I don’t recall a massive shift in Jewish practice during the 2000 election campaign.
    There are plenty of ex-Orthodox in every Conservative shul I’ve ever attended. I assume they made a fully informed decision not inspired by Senator Joe.