Word: liebermans
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...spotlight on Lieberman illuminates a subtle tension in American Jewry that is often overlooked by the national media. Judaism is both an ethnicity and a religion, but the most prominent Jews in American life usually embody the former quality more than the latter. Jewish senators like Barbara Boxer or Charles E. Schumer '71 rarely quote from Chronicles, or any part of the Bible. Seinfeld, Kramer and Elaine never set foot in a synagogue. There are few rabbis or religious Jews who enter public debates with the forcefulness of Jerry Falwell or Cardinal O'Connor. But Lieberman is different: His most...
This dual identity may explain why commentators have had such a hard time pinning Lieberman down ideologically. Within hours, Gore was said variously to be moving towards the center with his selection and to be placating his party's left-wing base. The senator's record has inspired very different interpretations. Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of Tikkun magazine, groused that Lieberman was "bad for the Jews and bad for America" because of his conservative stances on school vouchers and Social Security and his hawkish enthusiasm for the military. And Lieberman is unquestionably conservative--for an ethnic Jew. Meanwhile, some...
...Lieberman has a chance to fuse these diverse strains and overcome Americans' preconceived ideas about Jews, especially Orthodox Jews. Ironically, those preconceived notions may be strongest among the same liberal ethnic Jews who are themselves so well-represented. The day after the announcement, I asked a Jewish friend what his mother thought of the choice. She was pleased, he said, but wary, because she considers Orthodox Judaism "essentially a cult." Even more open-minded ethnic Jews might feel alienated by Lieberman's strongly religious language and values. He may encounter that kind of skepticism next week in Los Angeles, where...
...those Americans, and those Jews, who consider Orthodoxy synonymous with narrow-mindedness and intolerance (paging Dr. Laura), Lieberman has a chance to set the record straight. If he manages to bridge the gulf between the ethnic and religious camps, Lieberman will ultimately be good for the Jews in more ways than one: Not only will he teach America what it is to be Jewish, he may teach Jews something about themselves...
...tested the elasticity of the electorate's imagination by recasting itself as champions of the best achievements of the New Deal and Great Society eras - the Republicans are now the party of education, saviors of Social Security and deep-pocketed patrons of Head Start - the Democrats, if the Lieberman announcement was anything to go by, are auditioning for the role of God-fearing party of family values...