The Lieberman Challenge
Day 1 Rosh Hashanah 2000

The first political election I recall was between a Jew from Connecticut against a Bush. Abraham Ribicoff, who lived a few streets away from my home in West Hartford, was running for the senate against the incumbent, Prescott Bush. Abe Ribicoff won. Whether or not that is a propitious sign of what is to happen in an upcoming election involving a Jew from Connecticut and another Bush, Prescott's grandson, we will only know on November 7th. (I'm curious, would I be wrong in assuming many of you actually bet on whether or not I would speak on this topic? I hope you won.)

The nomination of Joseph Lieberman as a candidate for Vice President breaks new ground. But, we must acknowledge that the barriers blocking the political advancement of Jews and other minorities have been coming down for a long time. John Kennedy broke down a barrier in 1960, when he became the first Catholic President. In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro breeched the glass ceiling when she became the first woman to run as a Vice-Presidential candidate.

The first Jew to achieve national prominence was Louis Brandeis for whom Brandeis University is named. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson nominated him to the Supreme Court. The fight to get him confirmed raged for four months. While the fact that he was a liberal irked many conservatives in congress, the fact that he was a Jew was the primary irritation. Somehow, the notorious anti-Semitic tract, "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" was introduced into the controversy. One friend said to President Wilson, "Isn't it a pity that a man as great as Brandeis should be a Jew?" To which President Wilson is reported to have replied, "But he would not be Mr. Brandeis were he not a Jew." Louis Brandeis became one of the greatest Supreme Court Justices of all times, earning the nickname "Isaiah" for his outspoken advocacy of fairness and justice for all people.

On the state level, Jews had been accepted into political office far earlier. The first Jewish senator was Judah Benjamin elected in 1852 by the people of Louisiana. Since then, 26 Jewish senators and 150 Jewish members of the House have served our nation. Currently, 10 Senators are Jewish, some coming from states with tiny Jewish populations, and 34 Jews are serving in the House of Representatives. In additional, the Supreme Court has two Jewish justices.

I am rehearsing this history mainly for the majority of you who are younger than I and may not have lived through the great transition I have seen in the public's thinking. I want you to know and feel that American has come a long way in accepting Jews, and that Jews have come a long way as they increasingly play influential roles in American public life.

The irony is that many Jews don't seem to believe that their acceptance is real. When Joseph Lieberman was still on a short list of potential candidates for the Vice Presidency, a spokesman for the orthodox Young Israel Movement stated he didn't feel America was ready for Lieberman. After Lieberman was asked by Al Gore to be his running mate, many Jews expressed fears that his selection would increase anti-Semitism in our country. Perhaps it would be better, it was implied, to let a sleeping dog lie. Yet, survey after survey conducted by the Anti Defamation League and other defense organizations have shown that the level of anti-Semitism in the United States has markedly decreased over the past few decades.

The best evidence of the lack of anti-Semitism in America is the success of American Jews. Jews make up 25-40% of the student body of most Ivy League Schools. As I already noted, they constitute 10% of the Senate. Over 1/3 of the billionaires and 1/4 of the multi-millionaires in our country are Jews. And Jews constitute a third or more of the elite professionals in law, journalism, medicine and academia.

How different today is from half-a-century ago, when Father Coughlin, a fiery Catholic priest, spewed anti-Semitic venom to millions of radio listeners. How different today is from the days when there was discrimination against Jews in universities, in law firms, in hospitals and in industrial corporations. We have come a long way.

I know that in Germany, too, the Jews felt secure. Many had achieved wealth, fame and acceptance. But in Germany and in Europe, in general, anti-Semitism was rooted in institutions and history. Anti-Jewish hatred had a measure of legitimacy. Anti-Semitism has no imbedded history in America. It was never institutionalized nor legitimized -- and that makes the difference. I appreciate that our collective memory has taught us to regard the world with suspicion. But America is different, and we have to learn to enjoy that it is. Joseph Lieberman's run for the vice-presidency will put my words to the acid test. We will see on November 7, when the data is analyzed, whether I am right or hopelessly naive. But I am willing to go out on a limb and say right now that while many American Jews - and many of you - feel anti-Semitism is a significant problem, I believe we will discover the exact opposite.

So let us put aside talk of anti-Semitism and focus on what is truly significant for American Jewry regarding Joseph Lieberman's nomination. Let me suggest that Lieberman's nomination serves as a rebuke to two kinds of Jews. It is a rebuke to those Jews who believe the only path to advancement is by behaving like a chameleon so as to fit into the crowd. Remember, Jews have held high office before. We had James Schlessinger, the Secretary of Defense, who started out as a Jew, and then converted and became an Episcopalian. We had Barry Goldwater, whose grandfather's name was Goldvasser. But Grandpa changed his name and changed his religion, because he believed that was what you had to do, if you wanted your children and your grandchildren to make it in America. We have William Cohen, currently the Secretary of Defense, who is the son of a Jewish father and a Christian mother. As an adult, Cohen converted to Lutheranism. We have had lots of nominal, non-practicing Jews like Bernard Baruch, Felix Frankfurter, and Henry Kissinger, and the current Supreme Court Justices, Stephen Bayer and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. But never before have we had Jewish Jews like Joseph Lieberman --or like the chief Middle East negotiator, Dennis Ross, who is an active member of the Conservative Synagogue in Rockville, Md. and whose wife is president of its Sisterhood; or like Dov Zackheim, an orthodox Jew and a graduate of the Manhattan Talmudic Academy, who is the number two man in the Defense Department today; or like Stuart Eisenstadt, who when he was the American Ambassador to the European Union, made the embassy in Brussels kosher; or like the American Ambassador to Egypt, who keeps a kosher embassy in Cairo, and gets meat sent in from Jerusalem every week. These Jews demonstrate that religious observance need not be sacrificed even in the most public of offices.

Joseph Lieberman's success - and that of the individuals I just mentioned - challenge not only the Jewish assimilationists, but at the other extreme, separatists like the Hasidim. The separatists say that the only way to survive as Jews is to withdraw from society and live in self-imposed ghettos like Boro Park or Monsey. Joseph Lieberman's life shows that one can be a devoted Jew even while fully engaging in public life and that one can fully engage in public life while maintaining the traditions that have kept the Jews together and a holy people for three millennia. Joseph Lieberman is not the least bit self-conscious or embarrassed to say to the President of the United States when dining at the White House, "No shrimp cocktail please." He has no compunctions at saying to his political party leaders, "I'll see you when Shabbes is over." That is what he did in his very first campaign to gain the nomination to the Senate. The ballot to choose the nominee at Connecticut's Democratic Convention was held on a Saturday. Lieberman stayed away in deference to the Sabbath. He received the nomination anyway, and after dark, when the Sabbath was over, he arrived to say "thank you."

It is his faithfulness to Jewish tradition - to Sabbath observance and to keeping the dietary rules - that sets Joseph Lieberman apart from many other Jews who have played a prominent role in American politics. Joseph Lieberman studies Torah regularly. All of his children have gone to Jewish Day Schools and have spent summers at religious Jewish camps. His wife bears the beautiful Hebrew name, Hadassah. She is the daughter of a rabbi, and her son, from her first marriage, is currently a third year rabbinical student at our Conservative Movement's Jewish Theological Seminary. She is the daughter of survivors, and when she took the freshman tour of the Senate chambers with her husband, she told him she was raising her fist in the air in defiance of Hitler.

Whether or not Joseph Lieberman wins in November, his mere candidacy is going to give gentile Americans a lesson about Judaism. And it won't be what they have been exposed to through Hollywood and TV. In the popular movie, "Keeping The Faith," the Jewish mother is portrayed as finally seeing the light when she accepts her son's intermarriage. The Lieberman's, however, are unlikely to tell their children, "Put your Jewish commitments and loyalties aside and do whatever makes you happy." Nor would Joseph Lieberman say Kaddish at a minyan made up of friendly Eskimos as the Jewish character did in an episode of Northern Exposure. Authentic Judaism, not feel good, make-it-up-as-you-go-along Judaism, is what America will see coming from Senator Lieberman as he runs in this campaign. The American people will see a Succah being decorated not a Chanukah bush. They will see a Jew walking to shul carrying a lulav and etrog. What a tribute this will be to the Jewish way of life? It is a kiddush ha'Shem, a public sanctification of God's name.

In a Torah portion we read not too long ago, Moses says to the Israelite people, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances...observe them and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations - ki he khochmatchem u'veenatchem l'aynay ha'amim. When they hear these commandments they shall say, ‘Surely, this great nation is a wise and understanding people,' rakk am khacham v'navon ha'goy hagadol hazeh. My feeling is that when the American people see Judaism lived in an authentic, yet modern way, they are going to admire it and respect it for its intellectual profundity, its spiritual depth and its joyous celebration of life.

So what about us here in the congregation today? After seeing what Joseph Lieberman has achieved, can we any longer excuse our non-observance, saying, "It is too hard in these modern times to keep our traditions?" I think Joe Lieberman is a pretty with-it guy. He is doing it. Can we argue any longer, "I work mainly with non-Jews. They don't understand Jewish customs so I had better just blend in." Senator Lieberman serves a state which is 95% non-Jewish. He seems to have succeeded among gentiles while very publicly adhering to his religious principles. Can we honestly say, "I can't take time off for Succot or Shavuot. I am so busy. I just don't have the time." Well, what is more demanding in terms of time than the months of September and October for a Vice Presidential candidate before an election? Yet, Senator Lieberman will take off something like fourteen days not only for the observance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur but for Succot, Shmini Atzeret and Simhat Torah as well as for Shabbat. If he can do it, anyone can.

But he is Orthodox while I am a Conservative Jew, I hear you saying to yourselves. The fact is that there is not much difference at all between Joseph Lieberman's modern orthodox practices and the way a committed Conservative Jew should live his or her life. Conservative Judaism, too, asks us to engage in prayer and study, to rest on the Sabbath and Holy Days, to observe the dietary laws and to live ethically. My hope is that Joseph Lieberman's example will fortify us and inspire us to be more faithful to the traditions that both he and Conservative Judaism cherish.

Joseph Lieberman began his acceptance speech with the sentence, "Is this a great country or what?" While he may not have realized it, he was paraphrasing our home grown philosopher, Yogi Berra. When Berra was told that New York City's visiting dignitary, Robert Briscoe, was the first Jewish mayor of Dublin ever, he responded, "Only in America!"

Yes, only in America. Is this a great country or what? We Jews have found here religious freedom and respect, opportunity and security. So let us take advantage of the right America grants us to conduct ourselves as Jews and actually do so - devoting ourselves whole-heartedly to our religious traditions, laws and beliefs. And what better time to renew this effort than right now as the new Jewish year begins.

L'Shanah tova. May you and your families have a sweet and healthy New Year.