c. 2000 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) For the vast majority of Americans who are not Jewish, the High Holy Days, the most sacred time on the Hebrew calendar, usually come as a small surprise, if they are noticed at all.

Perhaps a Jewish friend is absent from work for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year that began at sundown Friday (Sept. 29). Or maybe schools are closed for Yom Kippur, the conclusion of the 10-day period of prayer and repentance that ends Oct. 9.

This year, however, the High Holy Days are claiming an unprecedented prominence in the nation’s field of vision for one simple reason: the vice presidential candidacy of Democrat Joseph Lieberman, the first Jew on a major ticket and an observant, modern Orthodox Jew.

That means that starting at sundown, Lieberman is donning his skullcap, going to synagogue, reciting the prayers and returning to worship every day _ all under the glare of a national media hungry for campaign news.

The situation has some Jewish leaders forecasting another milestone for America’s 6 million Jews, only one that is religious rather than political and social.

“This is going to be the most televised High Holy Days in American history,” said Rabbi Charles Kroloff, the spiritual leader of Temple Emanu-el in Westfield, N.J., and spokesman for the nation’s Reform rabbis.

Lieberman’s public observance of the rigorous High Holy Days worship, Kroloff said, “will be a fast-forward, a real shot of adrenaline” for the religious side of Judaism. “Jewish life right now is a bit like motherhood and apple pie _ kosher apple pie, of course.”

Suzanne Singer, editor of Moment Magazine, a Jewish monthly, was equally effusive.

“Can you imagine? A Christian country preoccupied with how a Jew honors the Sabbath!” Singer writes in the current issue.

“Christian fascination with traditional Jewish observance will become an imprimatur for Jews, a confidence-builder that we and our ways have made it into mainstream America.”

Particularly satisfying to Jewish leaders is the fact that the High Holy Days arrive in the midst of a rough-and-tumble political campaign. While running for office, Lieberman is walking to synagogue _ a contrast between the secular and sacred, they say, that will put into sharper relief the profound spiritual message of an observance so solemn that it is known as the “Days of Awe.”

“Rosh Hashana highlights the critical quality of the capacity of people to change,” said Rabbi Saul Berman, director of Edah, the main organization promoting modern Orthodox observance like Lieberman’s. “Yom Kippur exemplifies the notion that forgiveness is both possible and available _ both divine forgiveness and forgiveness of ourselves and others.”

Too often, say Berman and others, this essential message of the High Holy Days is lost on an overwhelmingly Christian population to whom the most recognizable Jewish holiday is probably the December celebration of Hanukkah.

For these High Holy Days, said Kroloff, “the spiritual side, the non-Hanukkah side, will be front and center, and I think that’s beautiful.”

And more than Judaism 101 for the Gentiles (as this moment has been described), many Jewish leaders say Lieberman’s high-profile observance could be a welcome refresher course for American Jews who themselves need to be reminded the holidays are more than just enduring long services.

“I would hope that in covering Sen. Lieberman the media would see beyond the behaviors to the values that underlie them,” said Berman. “There is always power in ritual, but there is always the danger that you do not do it thoughtfully, but mechanically. … It is not easy to get people to think about the connection between behavior and values.”

If viewed properly, Berman said, the rites of the High Holy Days can help make that link: “The really distinct requirement of the High Holy Days is introspection and repentance. This is a period of very intense self-evaluation, not just in terms of good and evil, but in terms of the whole direction of one’s life.”

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There is no guarantee, however, that everyone in the Jewish world is welcoming Lieberman’s front-page observance.

Some of the more tradition-minded Orthodox have criticized Lieberman’s style of observance as “a rather slippery fish” that accommodates too much with modernity.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Anti-Defamation League has chastised Lieberman for injecting too much religious rhetoric into his campaign and intimating that faith is a necessary quality for leadership _ a viewpoint that makes the ADL uneasy given the way religion has been used against Jews in the past.

Lieberman’s religiously observant ways, said Charles “Shai” Goldstein, head of the New Jersey chapter of the ADL, “must never be a reason to vote for him. And it also should not affect any Jew’s approach to the High Holy Days.”

But, Goldstein added, “It is a great educational opportunity.” And, he said, he is personally delighted with the senator’s candidacy because it gives him a convenient shorthand to explain his own level of observance to others: “A Lieberman Jew.”

“It’s always difficult to explain to people that not all Orthodox Jews express their Judaism in the same way. I am an observant Jew who is also completely modern,” Goldstein said. He said that despite the challenges, “It is actually easier to be an observant Jew, or Muslim, or Christian, or person of faith than most people think.”

Still, Lieberman may have a few extra demands on him than the average Jew _ such as finding a synagogue while campaigning across a country in which just 2 percent of the population is Jewish.

For example, while campaigning in the Farm Belt _ not exactly a Jewish stronghold _ Lieberman’s campaign scrambled to find a temple in Iowa in time for the Sabbath. They eventually found a Conservative synagogue in Wisconsin that did the trick.

On the other hand, Lieberman’s new status means he probably won’t have to scramble for a seat at High Holy Days services, an annual ritual for many Jews.

This year the first day of the two-day celebration of Rosh Hashana fell on the Jewish Sabbath, which ran from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Lieberman would normally refrain from campaigning Saturday anyway, so his active campaigning was curtailed only one extra day.

Jewish leaders say the Connecticut senator is able to conduct normal business on the other days leading up to Yom Kippur, although he must attend synagogue services daily.

Then on Yom Kippur, the vice presidential candidate will have to refrain from all activity, and fast and attend daylong services. It is on this day, the Day of Atonement, that Jewish tradition says God closes the book of life on another year, and those whose names are not written there will not see another High Holy Days.

Whatever the difficulties for Lieberman, however, ordinary Jews shouldn’t expect to catch a break. Religiously speaking, the High Holy Days aren’t for slackers. And rabbis like Kroloff say they are driving that point home in their sermons.

“I am going to say to my congregation that if he can do it, why can’t you?” he said. “Are you busier than Joe Lieberman?”

DEA END GIBSON

(David Gibson is a staff writer with The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.)