Jewish Cultural Leaders Quibble About Epochal Moment

As Joseph Lieberman became a household name this week, the Jewish community swelled with pride that a Jew, and Orthodox at that, had been chosen for the first time to run on a presidential ticket. Politicians admired the savvy-ness of the move. Men and women on the street were abuzz.

Now Jewish cultural leaders are sorting out what it all means: Lieberman is clearly a symbol of barriers broken and hope for immigrants and minorities. He’s a sign that Jews have made the United States a home, not just a haven. He’s a living educational tool to teach non-Jews about the practice of his faith.

Meanwhile, the quibbling begins. Some Orthodox think he’s too modern. Some Reform Jews worry that he’s too traditional. The older generation is anxious that he’s too visible and may become a lightning rod for vestigial prejudice. Conseratives think he’s not strong enough to affect change among Democrats. Democrats fear he’s betrayed their liberal tradition.

“There’s a struggle going on inside everyone,” said Michael Lerner, publisher of San Francisco-based Tikkun, a Jewish cultural magazine. “On one hand, we’re so excited he was nominated and so grateful to the American people for that being possible. On the other hand, is it good for the country and is it good for the Jews that the person being put forward as ‘The Jewish Politician’ is someone who plays the role of pulling discourse further away from social justice issues?”

Overwhelmingly, however, writers, artists, humorists and pundits said the mere selection of Lieberman trumps almost every other issue.

No matter what the outcome of the election in November, Jewish cultural leaders say, the Democratic senator from Connecticut will have long-lasting cultural impact.

The significance of the choice can hardly be overstated, said Martin Peretz, editor of the New Republic magazine. “This is a moment of great historic passage for American Jewry,” he said, “and for other groups who have been excluded. It will hasten the day of women presidents, African American presidents.”

Equally important is the fact that both presidential candidate Al Gore and Lieberman filter their political positions through moral philosophy, said Peretz, who was Gore’s social studies professor at Harvard University.

Noah benShea, philosopher and author from Santa Barbara, said Lieberman’s Jewish faith indicates he will be a far-sighted, inclusive leader. “The difference between a politician and a leader is that a politician thinks about the next election and a leader thinks about the next generation. In Lieberman, you have a leader. The Talmud reminds us that it is a great mitzvah to plant a tree you will never eat the fruit of--not acting for your own aggrandizement. Lieberman is well steeped in conducting himself like that.”

Indeed, Lieberman has written a book about the honor of public service, “In Praise of Public Life” (Simon & Schuster, 2000).

BenShea compares Lieberman to the 19th century British statesman Benjamin Disraeli, the son of an Anglicized Jew and longtime rival of William Gladstone. “A tale told in 19th century England was when you went to dinner at court and sat next to Prime Minister Gladstone, you came away thinking you had dined with the wisest man in the empire. When you went to dinner at court and dined with Disraeli, you came away thinking you were the wisest person in the empire.

“That’s what Joseph Lieberman does. He is about the enhancement of others.”

Quibbles From All Quarters

Yet others worry that the nation is in for a severe public scolding--at least over the next three months.

“The Democrats weren’t going to be out-moralized by the Republicans,” said Los Angeles humorist Harry Shearer. “We’ve all been bad. Especially Hollywood.”

The sudden ascent of Lieberman, who has aligned himself with moral conservative Bill Bennett, favors public prayer and was the first Democratic senator to condemn infidelity in the Oval Office, sends a definite message: “The old Puritanism is alive and well,” said Shearer, host of public-radio station KCRW’s “Le Show.” “Let me put it this way: When you’re getting your politics from preachers and your morality from politicians, the world is upside down.”

But for Jewish conservatives like comedian Jackie Mason, Lieberman isn’t strong enough. “This administration has behaved so disgustingly corrupt, that even an Orthodox Jew couldn’t clean up Gore’s act. Only God could help,” Mason said.

A few voices have dared suggest that Lieberman’s religion makes no difference at all. But nearly all proclaim his selection to be an event with lasting repercussions.

American-born novelist Nathan Englander, 29, raised Orthodox in New York and now living “completely secular” in Jerusalem, said in Israel, “They called him ‘shomer mitzvot’ in the newspaper, which is a [Hebrew] phrase I personally like. It means, basically, someone who follows the religious commandments--humble and simple.”

According to Cynthia Ozick, a fiction writer, essayist and lifetime Orthodox Jew, Lieberman’s selection signals the start of “reciprocity.”

“As a garden variety English major I majored in literature and Christianity,” she said. Leo Tolstoy and Charles Dickens taught her about sacraments and feast days along with the craft of writing. “Christian theology and practices are a foundation of my literary education. It’s never been reciprocal,” she said. “Now American Gentiles have the opportunity to get insight into the nature of Judaism as it is really practiced.”

Ozick, whose stories include “The Pagan Rabbi” and whose novels include “The Messiah of Stockholm,” often writes about her religion in her fiction as well as her essays. “Americans will begin to see what it means to observe the Sabbath,” she said of Lieberman’s national role. In the Orthodox tradition Jews do not carry objects on Saturday. They do not work, drive a car, turn on electricity or cook, among other things. “It makes things a little harder for Joseph Lieberman,” Ozick said. “It also signals his dedication to government service as well as religious observance.”

Lieberman does make exceptions to Sabbath observance by voting and attending Senate meetings on Saturdays when necessary. Ozick hopes the country will take note of his more-typical practice of stopping work for one full day each week. “To work around the clock causes the diminution of the spirit,” she said.

Informing America About Judaism

Bonnie Lipton, president of Hadassah, a nonpolitical Zionist women’s organization that raises funds for social services in Israel (and shares, coincidentally, the first name of Lieberman’s wife,) sees Lieberman’s appointment as a means to educate the American public. Lipton is a Conservative Jew, less strict in observing Jewish law than Orthodoxy requires.

She recalls him explaining that he voted in favor of Operation Desert Storm in a Saturday roll call. There have already been questions about Inauguration day, Jan. 20, 2001, which falls on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. In the past, Lieberman has put essential work obligations ahead of Sabbath observances on such occasions. “I think there will be respect for Lieberman’s way, just as we’ve always had respect for Sunday observances.”

Americans will see at close range that Hasidic sects, often the butt of Woody Allen jokes, are only one piece of the Orthodox Jewish picture.

Observances and practices show outsiders the differences between modern and traditional Orthodoxy. “A modern Orthodox Jew, like all Orthodox, observes Sabbath laws, dietary laws, and the ethical and moral precepts that regulate our daily life,” said Rabbi Norman Lamm, president of Yeshiva University in New York, considered the flagship of modern Orthodoxy.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews separate themselves from secular values. In contrast, “modern Orthodoxy engages with the outside world, albeit critically.” He estimates that 65% of Orthodox Jews in America are modern Orthodox. “But the attitude to engage with the world means modern Orthodox Jews . . . give our students and our children Jewish heritage and worldly knowledge from the sciences to the humanities.”

Traditional Orthodox Jews complain that modern Orthodoxy is not authentic, said Samuel Freedman, whose new book, “Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle for the Soul of American Jewry” (Simon & Schuster) explores divisions between and within Jewish denominations. “They say he shouldn’t go to the Senate on Shabbat. They want to know why he doesn’t wear a kipot [skullcap] in public.”

Non-Orthodox Jews worry about Lieberman making too much of his Jewishness in public. This week he sprinkled a speech with quotations from the Old Testament and a Hebrew prayer. “There is fingernail biting about the religiosity of his language,” said Freedman. “People are asking, ‘Do you have to be so obvious about it?’ Historically, this is understandable, but anti-Semitism is not a day-to-day impediment in America today.”

Some Jews found their thoughts flip-flopping during the week.

Artist Eleanor Antin, who uses Jewish history and memory in her art, said her first reactions were not positive, but she soon changed her mind.

“I thought it was an obnoxious choice at first,” said Antin, a professor at UC San Diego. “Lieberman was the most conservative choice of the names being considered. I remembered the speech he gave attacking Clinton, when everybody was butting into Clinton and Monica Lewinsky’s sex life. I thought, ‘We’ll be hearing about morality forever!’ ”

Then, as this week unfolded she got past her biases against Lieberman one news story at a time. An article that impressed her quoted Lieberman on Clinton. The Connecticut senator said the problem had to do with an employer’s conduct toward an employee. “I realized Lieberman’s view was more complex than I expected,” said Antin. “I liked that.”

She also admires his position on school vouchers (he would supply them to poor parents who want better than the local public-school education for their kids). “It’s a lot different than being pro-vouchers so that parents can send their kids to religious schools,” said Antin, who was a substitute teacher in New York at the start of her career.

Older People Worry About Anti-Semitism

Novelist and memoirist Herbert Gold also had a change of heart. “My first reaction was the reaction of my parents in small-town Ohio,” Gold said. “My God,” I thought. “This could cause trouble. My parents’ generation was afraid to have too many Jews on the Supreme Court. They worried that it would seem too agressive.

“The older Jewish people I swim with had that same reaction. Yesterday they were nervous but today they seem pleased.” The 63-year-old Gold sees it as a lesson in older- versus younger-generation American Jews. “My children don’t have the same experience of anti-Semitism that my parents did,” said the San Francisco resident. While earlier generations of American Jews might have hidden their religious observance, Lieberman is proof that religion need not interfere with politics. “Lieberman proves that you can be observant without taking yourself out of the mainstream,” Gold said. “I even think the Christian right will like Lieberman. Americans seem to like piety in our political leaders.”

Maurice Gabay, a Moroccan immigrant who owns the House of David bookstore in Los Angeles, echoed the fears of older immigrants who hoped to make a positive impact but without attracting undue attention. He said, “We are extremely happy but at the same time, we wonder if we will not get into trouble again, if we will not be a scapegoat. We don’t like to be very visible.

“It’s like someone who wins a big sum of money in the Lotto and that money can make him enjoy his life. Or it can destroy his life.”

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Lynn Smith and Mary Rourke can be reached at socalliving@latimes.com.