c. 2000 Religion News Service

(Rabbi Rudin is the senior interreligious adviser of the American Jewish Committee.)

(UNDATED) Three very different “first ladies” _ Leah Rabin, Jean Carnahan and Hillary Rodham Clinton _ have lately been the center of great attention both in the United States and in Israel.

Being the wife of a well-known political leader is, by definition, a highly difficult task. It is especially complex when a woman is not content to follow the traditional pattern of being a constantly adoring spouse on the election trail or a smiling do-gooder who sponsors anti-drug campaigns while her husband deals with the “real world.”

A first lady’s public role becomes even more complicated when she must face the sudden tragic death of her husband or a giant wrenching political scandal like impeachment.

Leah Rabin, a recent victim of cancer, was married to the Israeli leader who was the inspiration for Leon Uris’ heroic figure Ari ben Canaan in the 1950s novel “Exodus.” But the real Yitzhak Rabin achieved much more than Uris’ fictional character. A world-class military hero and twice the prime minister of Israel, Rabin was brutally assassinated by a fellow Jew during a Tel Aviv peace rally in November 1995.

Following that personal and national trauma, Rabin’s bereaved wife did not go quietly into the dark night of widowhood. Instead, she became an ardent, sometimes prickly, public champion of her martyred husband’s peace efforts. Leah Rabin actively sought to keep the frequently flickering flame of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process alive, and she was particularly outspoken in her strong belief that people like former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had fomented the acrid moral climate that encouraged Yigal Amir to shoot her husband.

As a permanent tribute to her husband, she helped establish the Rabin Center that is dedicated to Arab-Israeli peace.

Leah Rabin vigorously fought both her cancer and her political enemies with extraordinary energy until the end. Her death at age 72 closes the chapter on a remarkable Israeli leadership couple who were present at the birth of the Jewish State in 1948. Now they both belong to history.

Last month’s airplane crash near St. Louis killing Gov. Mel Carnahan permanently shattered the life of his wife, Jean, Missouri’s first lady.

Her husband’s accidental death and that of their son as well came amid a tough political campaign the Democratic governor was waging against Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo.

Because Carnahan’s death came less than three weeks before the election, his name could not legally be removed from the Missouri ballot. Jean Carnahan quickly chose to become her husband’s de facto replacement in the close electoral race. Although the grieving widow did not actively seek votes on the stump, her message to the voters was clear. Indeed, she transmitted a message similar to Leah Rabin’s: I will keep alive the flame of my dead husband’s ideals and values.

The media has usually described Mel Carnahan’s victory over Ashcroft as Missourians electing a deceased candidate. While technically true, in reality, the Nov. 7 vote was a tribute to the dead Carnahan and a hope in the living Carnahan.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is another first lady who has reached the U.S. Senate. But her route to Capitol Hill was far different from Jean Carnahan’s, of course. Always a lightning rod for both her admirers and her detractors _ there are millions of both _ Hillary Clinton faced public humiliation and/or pity when the Oval Office sexual excesses of her husband were graphically revealed to the American public in 1998 and 1999.

Worse still, Bill Clinton and his family went through the scalding impeachment process that almost removed him from office. We may never know the inner thoughts of Hillary Clinton during those months of public and private turmoil. Certainly, she revealed none of her private emotions during her successful election campaign in New York.

Instead, voters like myself were treated to nearly 16 months of the nation’s first lady dutifully trudging off to every PTA meeting, Rotary Club luncheon, factory and schoolhouse she could find, especially in supposedly Republican upstate New York.

Her relentless efforts apparently paid off because Hillary Clinton received 47 percent of the non-New York City vote, a remarkable achievement for a high-profile Democratic outsider. Even her many political enemies acknowledged her energy and ability to “stay on message” without allowing personal emotions to break forth into the public glare.

It will be fascinating to watch the future life and career of Sen.-elect Clinton. While her new legislative colleague, Jean Carnahan, is clearly a physical widow, many suspect Hillary Clinton is an emotional one. Only time will tell.

DEA END RUDIN