Thursday, March 28, 2024
Orthodox Judaism Today
When Connecticut senator Joseph Lieberman became the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 2000, the public suddenly turned its attention on Orthodox Judaism, with pundits and journalists explaining the dos and don'ts of Shabbat and dietary laws. But Lieberman himself eschewed the label "Orthodox" in favor of the less denominational "observant," and many within the Orthodox community disliked the fact that Lieberman became, in the world's eyes, the example of the Orthodox life.
More recently, President Donald Trump's Jewish daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, also have made "Orthodox" a household word — and drawn some criticism for compromises in their observance.
Lieberman, in many ways, represents an Orthodox Judaism of decades past, one that integrated more seamlessly than today's Orthodoxy with mainstream, secular society. Orthodox Jews since the 1970s have grown greatly in numbers, self-confidence, and public profile; at the same time, they have shifted to the right socially and religiously, refusing to make what they see as the compromises that their parents' and grandparents' generations made to fit into American society.
The outward signs might be subtle but they are not insignificant — the fact that Lieberman doesn't wear a yarmulke and that he sometimes voted in the Senate on Shabbat , even if he did walk home afterward. It is less likely that tomorrow's Orthodox politician will do likewise, a tension that came to the fore when Lieberman was criticized by some Jews for drinking water during the Tisha B'Av fast.
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