ב”ה
Dear beloved, dispersed members of Yale’s Jewish community,
With the passing of Sen. Joseph Lieberman on Wednesday, the United States and Yale’s Jewish community have lost one of our most principled and upstanding figures. In life, Senator Lieberman was a beacon of what can be accomplished, and what is worth striving for – and now we, individually and communally, share the blessing and obligation of carrying his memory forward in our memories and our actions.
As a public figure, Senator Lieberman blazed a trail by reaching the highest echelons of American political life without sacrificing the quality or centrality of his Jewish life or identity. It is hard for many of the younger members of our community to remember the era of quotas in which Senator Lieberman grew up, or the ways that his public life as a visibly Jewish politician broke old norms and set new ones – and the difficulty of recalling that old time is a testament to his success in expanding the realm of the possible for American Jews.
The content of Senator Lieberman’s statesmanship, his personal integrity and dedication to working with those of different political parties and orientations, should forever remind and inspire us as to what is possible in politics. So different from today’s ascendant forces of polarization, Senator Lieberman understood deeply that politics begins, rather than ends, when we disagree with others – and is the art of weaving a nation, a political community, out of the threads of common humanity and shared values that are obscured by the forces and voices that would divide us. Here too, over the past generation this humane style of non- even anti-tribal politics has come to be seen in many quarters as some combination of impossible and unprincipled – and my hope is that we, and not only we, will take up the mantle of Senator Lieberman.
In addition to serving as a Senator from Connecticut for 24 years, Joseph Lieberman was also a devoted member of Yale’s Jewish community as an alumnus, a parent, and, most recently, a grandparent. He was a long-standing member of Slifka Center’s advisory board, an honorary co-chair of the capital campaign to renovate our building, and before the pandemic he headlined a Founders’ event at the Yale Club of New York – generously lending his name and time to our efforts to always build and rebuild this community on every level. That evening, he aptly quoted the Talmud’s characterization of the school of Hillel, who always articulated a sympathetic account of their opponents’ ideas, as a source of inspiration for his brand of politics. And last academic year, he responded enthusiastically to the invitation of an undergraduate leader to speak at Slifka over Shabbat, drawing a large and diverse audience. Whenever I was fortunate enough to share a conversation or podium with Senator Lieberman, I was always struck by his easy manner, his comfort with himself and those around him, and the uncomplicated sense of purpose he exuded.
In reflecting on Senator Lieberman’s life and legacy, I have returned again and again to Rabbi Judah the Prince’s proverb, “What is the path that a person should choose? One that is honorable in itself, and brings others to honor him.” Senator Lieberman was a man who did just that, choosing a path in life that spoke for itself, one that won him honor on the largest stages because so many others could recognize, together, across their differences, that his way was intrinsically honorable.
May we always carry his memory as a blessing, and may his family be comforted amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem,
Rabbi Jason Rubenstein
Howard M. Holtzmann Jewish Chaplain at Yale