Posted by
Billy on Friday, September 16, 2011 4:34:04 PM
As we discuss his new book, The Gift of Rest, in his Capitol Hill office, Sen. Joe Lieberman mentions his longtime friendship with National Review’s late founder, William F. Buckley Jr. Over 20 years ago, in 1988, Buckley famously endorsed Lieberman, who was challenging moderate Republican incumbent Lowell Weicker. The pair, both with ties toStamford, Conn. — Lieberman a native, Buckley a resident — remained close following Lieberman’s surprise victory. They exchanged letters and phone calls, and mused about politics and family.
“He teased me that year, to please not indulge in the fantasy that he would ever again vote for me,” Lieberman chuckles. Nonetheless, Buckley, he says, became a “major force in my life.” The political gap between Lieberman, a devout Orthodox Jew and Democrat, and Buckley, a devout Catholic and conservative, may have been steep, but the respect for each other’s intellectual and spiritual pursuits was constant. “It is my view, and I think Bill’s view as well, that faith precedes everything else,” Lieberman says.
Those discussions on faith — with Buckley, with family, with rabbis — have been on Lieberman’s mind this year. Now 69 years old, he has decided not to run for reelection in 2012. Instead of writing a tell-all memoir, or a polemic, he decided to publish a book about his religious life, a love letter to the Sabbath, which he observes, beginning every Friday at sundown, when he turns off the BlackBerry and hangs up the car keys.
In the style of Buckley’s own meditation on faith, Nearer, My God, Lieberman, in The Gift of Rest, encourages readers to mull their own religious practices, placing an emphasis on the value of tradition and commitment. He takes great joy in describing, in vivid detail, the sights and smells of the Jewish Sabbath, from the aroma of baked challah bread and kugel, a sweet noodle dish, to prayers with his children.
Lieberman also acknowledges his struggle, at times, with keeping the Sabbath. Obstacles, he says, have always appeared, from his stressful undergraduate years at Yale to his hectic Senate schedule, which often includes Friday evening or Saturday votes. “I’ve never really talked a lot about it, about why I do it and what we do,” he says. But as his time in Washington winds down, “I thought it’d be wonderful to invite the reader to come to a Sabbath,” he says. “It’s a millennia-old institution, more relevant than ever.
(The Faith of Joe Lieberman)
(Billy's Thoughts>>> As a born again soul I believe Jesus is the only way to God but still we can learn from people of other faiths. It is nice to see a soul in D.C. who lives for something more important than the next election.)
