O ctober 11, 2000
P age B4
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Lieberman: Respect Women, Religion
B-t BRIGITTE GREENBERG
A ssociated P ress W ritlr
W A SH IN G TON (AP)
Inaccor
dance with Jewish law, vice presiden
tial candidate Jo se p h L ieberm an
thanks G od each m orning for not
having m ade him a slave or a woman.
In h is O rth o d o x sy n a g o g u e ,
Lieberm an and his w ife, H adassah,
m ust stand apart from each other as
they pray. In counting the quorum to
b e g in — c a lle d th e m in y a n —
H adassah do esn ’t count; a quorum
is 10 men. The daughter o f a rabbi,
H adassah could never becom e one
h erse lf in the O rthodox tradition.
T hese are som e o f the differences
in how w om en are treated in O rtho
dox Judaism com pared w ith more lib
eral strains o f the religion. A nd the
disparity has some people asking if
L ieberm an’s religion could color his
view s o f w om en in secular society.
T he senator from C on n ecticu t
d o e sn ’t defend all o f his relig io n ’s
traditions.
“ H adassah and I go to an O rtho
dox synagogue in both W ashington
and N ew H aven (C onn.) because
th a t’s sort o f the tradition that we
grew up w ith and it w orks for us, but
look at m y record in politics. By any
standard, I believe it’s fair to say that
I ’ve been supportive o f w o m en ’s
and not cam paigning on M onday,
Yorn K ippur, the Jew ish Day o f
A tonem ent.
Mrs. Lieberm an said they consider
themselves m ore as “observant” Jews
than Orthodox. She seem ed o f two
m inds about how her religion regards
women.
W hile saying she is com fortable
w ith the role o f w om en, she supports
the views o fone o fO rth o d o x y ’s lead
ing fem inists, Blu G reenberg, who
prods Jew ish leaders to allow w om en
like Blu G reenberg are out there fight
ing the battles, but th ey ’re not my
battles to fight," Mrs. Lieberm an said
in a telephone interview . “ It’s really
not for m e to say anything negative.”
G re en b e rg , p re si
dent o f the Jew ish O r
thodox Fem inist A lli
ance and a longtim e
fam ily friend, says that
like m any other fam i
lies, the Liebermans are
stru g g lin g to square
som e o f their faith’s
teachings w ith m odem
life.
“ B o th Jo e an d
H adassah are in the
sam e place as many
other m odem O rtho
dox Jews, w hich is that
you stay w ithin the
system and you appre
ciate the blessings o f
the system , and you
m ake certain trade-offs
in som e areas,” said
G reenberg, w ho w rote, “O n W om en
and Judaism : A V iew From T radi
tion.”
G reenberg said she believes the
senator looks beyond his religion to
m ake decisions. She noted, for ex
am ple, that w hile O rthodox Judaism
allow s abortion w hen a w om an’s life
rabbi, Barry Freundel o f the K esher
Israel synagogue, disputes the idea
that O rthodoxy discrim inates against
women. "Y ou have to look at it through
the eyes o f Jewish law, w hich doesn’t
talk about rights. It talks about re
sponsibilities,” Freundel said.
Mrs. Lieberman said, “ I don’t think
it m akes O rthodoxy any less caring
about w om en,” and she noted that
w om en w ho w ant to becom e rabbis
have other options in the Reform and
C onservative m ovem ents o f Juda
ism. Said her husband: “ I ju st w ould
observe, w ithout getting into the
th e o lo g ic a l d e ta ils, th a t th e r e ’s
change going on and there are also
o p tio n s.”
He noted that their three adult
ch ild ren , M atthew , R ebecca and
Ethan, all attend a m ore liberal syna
gogue o f the conservative branch
and “w e w orship w ith them som e o f
the tim e.”
Jeffrey S. G urock, professor o f
A m erican Jew ish history at Y eshiva
University, said that years ago women
w ere forbidden to study sacred Jew
ish texts.
“Orthodox Jews o f all stripes are
produc ing a far more educated, learned
group o f w om en who are studying the
same type o f texts and sometimes with
the same rigor as do their male counter
parts. so that’s achange,” Gurock said.
Interfaith Network For Earth Receives Award
The Ralph L. S m ith Foundation
has aw arded Ecum enical M inistries
o f O regon’s Interfaith N etw ork for
Earth Concerns $9,000 to support
IN E C ’s w ork in environm ental ju s
tice, food sustainability, Portland
m etro livability, and global w arm ing
education and advocacy.
“T he tim ing couldn’t be better,”
said TNEC director Jenny H olm es,
noting tw o upcom ing events that will
enhance INEC ’s ongoing work in glo
bal w arm ing and in food security. The
first, a training for clergy at Silver
Falls State Park, Oct. 29-30, will bring
together religious leaders from over
25 faith groups to learn w ays they can
em pow er their congregations to both
act and advocate to slow global warm
ing. The other event, IN E C ’s fourth
annual A Place at the T able confer
ence on N ovem ber 3 and 4, will bring
Workshop Offers Insights
Into Refugee Struggles
S p o n so rs O rg a n iz e d to A s s is t
R e fu g e es (S O A R ), the re fu g e e re
s e ttle m e n t p ro g ra m o f E c u m e n i
c a l M in is trie s o f O re g o n (E M O ),
w ill h o st a w o rk s h o p o n re fu g e e
r e s e ttle m e n t c a lle d T h e C o m p a s
s io n a te M is s io n a ry o n M o n d a y ,
O cto b e r 23, from 9 a m . to 3 :3 0 ., at
S a v a g e M e m o ria l P re s b y te ria n
C h u rch , 1740S E 139,h S treet, P o rt
la n d .
T h e w o rk s h o p w ill in fo rm p a s
to r s an d o th e r c o n g r e g a tio n a l
m e m b e rs o f th e b e n e f its o f and
n e e d fo r r e f u g e e s p o n s o rs h ip .
P re s e n te rs w ill in c lu d e re p re s e n
ta tiv e s o f th e C h u rc h W o rld S e r
v ic e (C W S ) n a tio n a l o ffic e in N ew
Y o rk , S O A R s ta ff , lo c a l c h u rc h
s p o n s o r s , a n d re f u g e e s re s e ttle d
in th e P o rtla n d a re a .
A tte n d e e s w ill h e a r fro m r e f u
g e e s w h o a re b u ild in g n ew liv e s
in th e P o rtla n d a re a , re p o rts fro m
lo c a l c h u rc h e s d e s c r ib in g th e ir
e x p e rie n c e s o f h o s p ita lity to re fu
g e e s, a re v ie w o f U .S . fo re ig n
p o lic y a n d g lo b a l is s u e s in v o lv
in g re fu g e e s an d o th e r u p ro o te d
p e o p le , an d a d is c u s s io n a b o u t
w h at s p o n so rsh ip e n ta ils an d how
c h u rc h e s ca n o rg a n iz e fo r s p o n
s o rs h ip . C o n tin e n ta l b r e a k fa s t
an d lu n c h w ill b e se rv e d to all
p a r tic ip a n ts .
“ F o r d e c a d e s p e o p le o f fa ith
h a v e le d th e w ay in w e lc o m in g
p e o p le from o th e r c o u n trie s in to
o u r c o m m u n itie s ,” s a id D a v id
L e slie , E M O e x e c u tiv e d ire c to r.
“ T h is w o rk s h o p p ro v id e s an
o p p o r tu n ity fo r c h u rc h e s
to le a rn a b o u t th e c h a l
le n g e s th a t re fu g e e s face
an d to fin d o u t h o w th ey
c a n h e lp .”
T o r e g is te r o r to le a rn
m o re a b o u t T h e C o m p a s
sio n a te M is s io n a ry , c o n
tact P eter Ilyin, SO A R sp o n
s o rs h ip c o o r d in a to r , at
(503)284-3002.
together people with varied roles in
creating a region w here people have
access to fresh, nutritious food and
w here natural resources are su s
tained. The founding will also sup
port IN E C ’s ongoing w ork in envi
ro n m e n ta l
ju s tic e ,
w h ich has _____________________
in c lu d e d
advocacy
for the cre
ation o f an
e n v iro n -
m e n ta l
s te w a rd
ship plan as
well as ecu-
m e n ic a 1
d ia lo g u e s
on the fu
ture o f the
C o lu m b ia
River bas in.
Other INEC
w o rk su p
p o rte d by
th e g ra n t
includes an
o n g o in g
c o lla b o r a
tio n w ith
the Coalition fo ra Livable Future and
other groups to help the faith com m u
nity, educational institutions, gov
ernm ental groups, and nonprofits
w ork together to create a m ore livable
Portland m etro region.
recently had a bat mitzvah, a ceremony
to dem onstrate m aturity by reading
from the Torah — the w ord o f God.
Such a ceremony, com m on for boys,
would have been unthinkable for a girl
50 years ago.
“W e gave her an option. She could
do it elsew here if she wanted to do it.
She chose to do it in an Orthodox
synagogue,” Mrs. Lieberman said.
“ She’s a very independent little kid.”
Gurock said the different gender
roles are a product o f 2,000-year-old
traditions. “The question is to what
extent do you w ant to accom modate
yourself socially to the world around
you while maintaining a degree o f fidel
ity to Jewish tradition,” Gurock said.
For Letty Cottin Pogrebin, a found
ing editor o f Ms. magazine, making
accom modations is part o f the prob
lem. “T here’s no such thing as sepa
rate but equal,” said Pogrebin, who
wrote “Deborah, G oldaandM e: Being
Female and Jewish in America. ”
Lieberman said, “M y ow n vision o f
the effect o f my religion on m y attitude
toward women is that it has taught me
to not only respect but to treat women
at least equally,” he said.
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