July 31, 1998
Joseph Lieberman brings Jewish values to U.S. Senate
SHERI SILVERMAN
Washington Jewish Week
WASHINGTON -- On his first Friday night in office, early in 1989, the
Senate was working late -- so late, in fact, that Sen.
Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), the Senate's only Sabbath-observant, Orthodox
Jew, planned to sleep on a cot in the Senate
gym since he could not ride home.
Vice President Al Gore, then a senator from Tennessee, prevailed upon him
to stay at his parents' nearby apartment. Having
campaigned in New York, Gore was familiar enough with Orthodox traditions
to turn the apartment lights on and off for
Lieberman.
"I may have had one of the most distinguished Shabbos goys [a non-Jew who
performs tasks a Jew cannot do on Shabbat] in
history," jokes Lieberman in a recent interview in his Senate office on
Capitol Hill. This is a story Lieberman relishes telling, as
does Gore, Lieberman says (to the appropriate audience, he is quick to add).
In the middle of his second term in the Senate, Lieberman, 56, is regarded
as a moderate. An independent spirit, he supports a
strong national defense and is more conservative than most Democrats on
cultural issues and foreign policy.
"I don't call my rabbi every time I have to cast a vote, but the values
I've learned are part of me -- beginning with the basic fact
that I believe in God and that all are equal because all are creations of
God," he says.
Every day, Lieberman studies something about the Torah portion of the week
and tries to incorporate it into his work, "without
overdoing it," he says. "It's a link" with people, he finds, noting that
the Bible is the most widely read book and that the Hebrew
Bible, in particular, is "very real to Christians."
Satisfied with the epithet "modern Orthodox," Lieberman appears untroubled
keeping Jewish traditions while serving in the
nation's capital, opting for vegetarian meals at functions, and living in
Georgetown within walking distance to Orthodox Kesher
Israel, the Georgetown synagogue.
Perhaps 20 times over the past nine years, the Senate has met on a Friday
night or Saturday, which puts him in an "awkward
situation," he allows. On those infrequent occasions, Lieberman seems
comfortable honoring his promise to the people of
Connecticut to be present to vote on matters of critical importance to them.
On the rare Friday night when the Senate is in session, he walks four and a
half miles home, cutting a lonely figure in the
darkness -- if it were not for one Capitol policeman accompanying him on
foot, and another following in a car to drive the first
one back.
Brought up in a religiously observant, Orthodox home in Stamford, Conn.,
where he attended public schools -- there was no
Jewish day school -- Lieberman thrived in the inter-religious and
interracial atmosphere of his youth. Yet his own offspring
would be sent to private Jewish schools.
"I missed having a day-school education and wanted to provide it for my
children," he recalls. He would urge them not to
isolate themselves as Jews, but to take their heritage with them into the
world at large.
Lieberman says his "hard-working" and "intellectual" father, the
owner-operator of a liquor store, took great pride in sending all
three of his children to college and graduate school, rejecting the offer
of scholarship aid and insisting on paying for it himself.
Attending Yale for both undergraduate studies and law school, Lieberman
worked summers for the late Jewish Sen. Abraham
Ribicoff (D-Conn.), his role model, and soon launched his own career in
state politics. President Bill Clinton, then a Yale law
student, volunteered in Lieberman's winning campaign for a state Senate
seat in l970.
Seated comfortably in his spacious digs in the Hart Office Building,
Lieberman is remarkably at ease with people,
demonstrating a quick wit and a ready smile.
Just now, he warms to the story of how he met his second wife, Hadassah, to
whom he has been married for 15 years.
Shortly after his divorce from his first wife, Lieberman was approached in
the synagogue by a woman who said, "I have
someone I want you to meet -- but not yet." Lieberman playfully extols "the
wisdom of Edith Goldberg -- the matchmaker"
who wisely understood that at the time, Lieberman was not yet ready to meet
her friend, his wife-to-be.
Six months later, as a candidate for attorney general of Connecticut,
Lieberman found himself in the unusual position of being
alone with no political event scheduled. It was Easter Sunday, April 11,
l982 (a romantic, he remembers the day fondly).
Lieberman delved into the drawer where he kept all the names of prospective
dates given to him and picked out the most
unusual. Wouldn't it be fascinating to go out with someone named Hadassah?
So he phoned with a strange request: meet him
that day or not until December because he had virtually no free time until
after the November election.
Not missing a beat, Hadassah told him she had just bought a dining room
table and could use some help moving it in.
The couple met and romance blossomed. It is amazing, Lieberman beams, (and
this is part of Lieberman lore, too) how often
between April and November he managed to see her.
Within the walls of the Capitol, Lieberman is highly regarded. "Joe
Lieberman is a pivotal member of the Senate" and "one of
the few people" who can work both sides of the aisle effectively, says Sen.
Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), the Senate's Democratic
leader.
"I think the reason he is respected by people on both sides [of the aisle]
is because he respects the views of others," Daschle
adds. "Even if Joe doesn't agree with you, he'll give you a chance to make
your case."
According to Daschle, there are two issues on which Lieberman never bends:
the need to fight injustice and his commitment to
Israel.
"I think his performance as a senator is very much informed by his faith,"
Daschle says.
Recently returned from the Middle East where he was sent by the Senate
leadership as part of a delegation to join in Israel's
50th anniversary, Lieberman is still buoyed by the celebration. "Peace with
the Palestinians is so close...there's an historic
inevitability to it," he says.
Does Lieberman believe a Jew could become president of the U.S. today?
Absolutely. "This is a very fair country. We're at a point where a
candidate does not lose because he or she is Jewish," he said,
citing the example of his own state of Connecticut where a Jew was elected
governor and senator with only a 3 or 4 percent
Jewish population.
"People are very respectful of my own religious observance, very
understanding and supportive," he continues.
On occasion, Lieberman's name has been mentioned as a possible future vice
presidential or even presidential candidate. But
Lieberman declines to discuss it. "To be a senator was a dream for me," he
says. "I'm remarkably fortunate in that I realized
that dream. Anything else is a bonus."
He recalls his mother's sage advice: "Just do your job, sweetheart, and the
future will take care of itself."
Copyright Notice (c) 1998, San Francisco Jewish Community Publications
Inc., dba Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. All
rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without
permission.
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
