NEWS STORY: Lieberman’s Candidacy Raises Questions About Orthodoxy

c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Vice President Al Gore’s historic pick of Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his Democratic running mate _ the first Jew on a major party national ticket _ has shined the spotlight on a rarely seen and often misunderstood segment of American Judaism. While the word “Orthodox” conjures up images […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Vice President Al Gore’s historic pick of Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his Democratic running mate _ the first Jew on a major party national ticket _ has shined the spotlight on a rarely seen and often misunderstood segment of American Judaism.

While the word “Orthodox” conjures up images of somber men in black hats and long beards, Lieberman’s form of “modern Orthodoxy” has struck a different balance between the strict religious requirements of Orthodox Judaism and the everyday needs of the modern world.


Orthodox Jews comprise the smallest segment of American Judaism, about 8 percent of the country’s estimated 6 million Jews. The vast majority of American religious Jews are Reform or Conservative, which account for about 40 percent of Jews each.

Orthodox Jews practice the most outwardly visible forms of the faith, including:

_ Keeping a kosher, or clean, kitchen according to the dietary laws spelled out in the Bible, especially the book of Leviticus.

_ Observing the Sabbath, which includes not working or driving a car or even turning on a light switch.

_ Praying several times a day and immersion in the ancient Jewish Scriptures and rabbinical teachings.

_ Worshipping separately from the opposite sex, often divided by a wall or screen, to keep each sex from being distracted by the other.

_ Heavily emphasizing the Hebrew language in worship and everyday life.

_ Wearing prayer shalls during worship and attaching tefilin _ small boxes containing Hebrew scriptures written on parchment _ to their arms and forehead.

Orthodox synagogues do not ordain women or allow women to serve as rabbis.

“The Orthodox Jews believe in the authenticity of the Bible, and if it’s authentic, then it is what God demands of man,” said Rabbi Joseph Ehrenkranz, Lieberman’s rabbi at Congregation Agudath Shalom in Stamford, Conn. “If you believe in the authenticity, then you can not deviate from it.”


There is an important but often misunderstood distinction between Orthodox Jews and so-called ultra-Orthodox Jews, which include Hasidic Jews and the Lubavitch movement.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews live in even stricter compliance with the ancient laws of the Hebrew Scriptures. Men often wear beards and dark clothing. Many Hasidic Jews believe theirs is the only genuine expression of Judaism and frown on more modern American Jews, including other Orthodox Jews.

The Lubavitch sect, which is a branch of the ultra-Orthodox, are Jewish “missionaries” who seek to bring lapsed Jews back into the fold with an emphasis on Jewish culture, education and ritual.

Most ultra-Orthodox Jews live in tight-knit, sometimes closed, communities, and some sects follow the teachings of particular rabbis. Lubavitch Jews, for example, hold a special devotion for Menachem Schneersohn, a Brooklyn rabbi who died in 1994 and whom many consider to be the Messiah.

Lieberman considers himself an “modern Orthodox” Jew. Lieberman has not adopted all the trappings of Orthodox Judaism _ for example, he does not wear a yarmulke, or skull cap _ but still tries to lead an “observant” life of religious practice.

DEA END ECKSTROM

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