There was no reason back then, none at all, to suppose that Edward Moore Kennedy — Teddy — would one day be thought not merely a distinguished United States senator but one of the all-time greats. In 1962, at the ripe age of 30, one brother the incumbent president, another the nation’s attorney general, Ted put nothing but his last name before the voters of Massachusetts. As his opponent in the primary election that year, Edward McCormack, nephew of the long-time speaker of the House, acidly observed during the campaign, “If your name were Edward Moore instead of Edward Kennedy, your candidacy would be a joke.” But the voters of Massachusetts evidently thought differently, and off Ted went to begin 47 years of service in the Senate.
His oldest brother, the one their father had hoped would one day be president, was killed in combat at the age of 29, when Ted was just 12. And then, in a span of seven gruesome years, from the time he arrived in the Senate through 1969, he lost both his older brothers (ages 46 and 43) to assassins, he himself came near death in an airplane crash that forced him into a hospital for six months, and then there was Chappaquiddick. These tragedies against a background of dissolution, of profligacy. Alcohol, women, an apparent lack of personal discipline. Here and there, a hint of what he might accomplish — a superb staff, an eloquent speech — but little more than that. A career, so it seemed, haunted by scandal and, truth to tell, by mediocrity.
Yet it has for some time now been clear that no public figure of our time more fully embodied the contradictions that make human life so limitless and so fascinating a puzzle. For though Kennedy lacked personal discipline, he brought compelling discipline to his work in the Senate — and to his role in the Kennedy family. This was so even before his stabilizing second marriage, in 1992, to Victoria Reggie. And by now, as we mourn his death, the simplest way to summarize what he accomplished in the Senate is to assert, without fear of contradiction, that no senator in the last century, through his own efforts, had as much impact on the way we live as he. His firm fingerprints are everywhere we turn — and most particularly, on laws and programs designed to reach out to the least among us.
Others will chronicle the evidence for so sweeping a statement; sweeping though it be, the evidence that supports it is overwhelming. But I want here to tell a rather different story, one that illuminates a quieter, more reflective aspect of the man. On the morning of the day before the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin, Senator Kennedy called the White House to inquire whether it would be appropriate for him to bring to the funeral — he was among the many Americans, including President Clinton (“Shalom, chaver”) who attended the sad ceremony — some earth from Arlington National Cemetery. The answer was essentially a shrug: Who knows? Unadvised, the senator carried a shopping bag onto the plane, filled with earth he had himself dug the afternoon before from the graves of his two murdered brothers. And at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, after waiting for the crowd and the cameras to disperse, he dropped to his hands and knees, and gently placed that earth on the grave of the murdered prime minister.
No spin, no photo op; a man unreasonably familiar with bidding farewell to slain heroes, a man in mourning, quietly making tangible a miserable connection.
One woman had lingered when the crowd left. Seeing that the senator, his back still weakened from the plane crash decades earlier, was having difficulty rising, she approached and helped him to his feet. It was from her I heard the story. Though I never had reason to doubt its core truth, I know that such stories are often embellished as they are told and retold. So when, last year, I found myself standing next to the senator at a function in a private home, I decided to verify the details. It pleases me greatly that Senator Kennedy confirmed the particulars of the story.
There’s also this: Thucydides once was asked, “When will there be justice in Athens?” His reply: “There will be justice in Athens when those who are not injured are as outraged as those who are.” Call it, if you will, not outrage but righteous indignation. Ted Kennedy would easily have been reelected time after time even had he been substantially less indignant, substantially more passive an advocate of social justice. Few of his constituents would have punished him had he chosen to be merely a foot soldier rather than an indefatigable champion of those who have been injured, one way or another. That was not the path he chose; he chose as he did out of authentic conviction.
Ted Kennedy was very far from sainthood, but sainthood, it turns out, is not a prerequisite for greatness. He started as a leopard; he finished as a lion, and his legacy’s a blessing.
The Forward welcomes reader comments in order to promote thoughtful discussion on issues of importance to the Jewish community. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, the Forward requires that all commenters be appropriately respectful toward our writers, other commenters and the subjects of the articles. Vigorous debate and reasoned critique are welcome; name-calling and personal invective are not. While we generally do not seek to edit or actively moderate comments, the Forward reserves the right to remove comments for any reason.
Copyright © 2013, Forward Association, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Why Do Jews Intermarry at a Much Higher Rate Than Others?
The Mirror in the Mikveh
If Rabbis Are Allowed To Intermarry, Get Ready for the Non-Jewish Rabbi
Top 10 Badass Mah Jongg Jews
Auschwitz Museum 'May Not Reflect Real Facts' Says Hungarian Lawmaker
You've successfully signed up!
He was very good at spending OTHER PEOPLE'S money for "social justice", while living a profligate life of luxury based on inherited wealth.
It shows the lack of honor in liberals to hail a coward who let a young woman die needlessly.
Ted Kennedy's example speaks directly to Pope John Paul II's comment that 'The Jews are our older brothers in faith.' As Boston catholic institutions scratch their head about the mixed metaphor of near sainthood in death vs actions in life, mixed as for all but more public when you are a Kennedy from MA, I see his example as one of deep connection to the Jewish preoccupation with social justice.
It is because Sen. Kennedy co-authored and co-sponsored Educational Bills and Grant bills that this poor Jewish woman was I able to get to College and be among the first College Graduates in her family. Shame on you for your negativity. I live in MA. and so I get to see the millions of ways that Ted Kennedy helped everyone. No, he wasn't a saint. Who among us freaking is?????
His memory for a blessing -- on those who choose to accept it.
Psalm 99:8 You answered them, O LORD our G-D; You were to them G-D-who-forgives. El Nosay!
Mark this....for it is written....Psalm 9:10 Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek You.
David was a man after G-D'S own heart, he was for-given. who are we to think we may judge or think we know a mans heart, ONLY G-D can inter in, and judge.
For it is written.....Psalm 50...And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for G-D Himself is JUDGE. Isaiah 30:18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a G-D of Justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!
Know your G-D, your ONE and only JUDGE,this is one of His names! For it is written....Psalm 103....Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Leviticus 22:32 DO NOT PROFANE MY HOLY NAME. Nehemiah 9:5 Blessed be Your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.
Those that I have loved, have been brought down to their grave, I cryed tears that have fallen so deep for them, that only G-D can wipe them away. We all have love ones, in the grave, speak no evil of the dead, for dust to dust, ashes to ashes and Sprit to spirit.
We all are the work of G-D'S hands, He is Adonai, Psalm 83....Let them know that You, whose Name is the LORD that You alone are the Most High over all the earth.
Almighty---Shadi Psalm 91....He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
My prayer, is all find shelter in our Shadi, there is peace in my soul when I come into His secret place, there is no other place that I would rather be than under His shadow. For it is written Psalm 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts (heart and mind): and in the hidden part (secret place) thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
The hidden part, is the Rock, our LORD of Host,our Dwelling Place,Ahvee. For it is written...Psalm 118:22-23...The Stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
We are the small stones, that enter in the hidden part with our free will offering, with the burnning desire that G-D has desired for us to have in Ps. 51:6 Here we become the two sided tablets that all people have broken, not just Moses. The law is written on our hearts and minds our innerparts. Truth ----the Spirit of G-D who made us , lets us know Wisdom our G-D in the fullness, and we worship Him in the hidden part, the true foundation of the Temple of G-D that mankind can not enter in.
For it is written in Job 33...The Spirit of G-D made me (flesh below, death) but the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (spirit above, eternal life)
Sin can not enter in.... One sin is not greater that another....look at your self and see if you can enter in. For it is written of the path David took to pass through the gate, the door, to the hidden part that was so marvelous in our eyes, as he tells us in Psalm 101:1-8 read it and think.
The Stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Psalm 101 I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O lORD, will I sing. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. WHOSO PRIVILE SLANDERETH HIS NEIGHBOUR, HIM WILL I CUT OFF: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.
Dust to dust, ashes to ashes and Spirit to spirit. There you see all of mankind....
What is the purpose of mankind? Is it to rise to power and great wealth?
David, tells us, for it is written....Psalm 57:2 I cry out to G-D Most High, to G-D, who fulfills His purpose for me.
It is written....Job 33...The Spirit of G-D made me, (flesh below, death) but the breath of the Almighty gives life. (spirit, above and below, eternal life)
When flesh, is given the union from above, the breath of the Eternal G-D it is written......For to us a child is born,... (above from below)...to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
What is it that G-D desires for us to obtain? "SET ME AS A SEAL UPON YOUR HEART" G-D wants His name on us, our hearts and minds, for His name to go before all we do and say. A precious stone that he may use to build on the One True Foudation that always was. For it is written....Rosh Peenah Psalm 118:22-23 The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is.....marvelous....in....our...eyes.
We are to have G-D inscribed the law on our inward parts, (heart and mind) as it is written.....Psalm 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: (heart and mind) and in the hidden part (the true foundation, the rock, the temple) ...thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
G-D wants to set His seal in clay form the ground, were we not made from the clay of the ground? G-D wants to identify, authenticate and protect the contents of documents (the law, written on our inward parts, we become the two sided tablets that were once given to Moses and they broke in all generations.) and we become the vessel.
Mark this....for it is written.....Behold, the ....day s....come....(day-s in every generation that G-D has created----time contains mankind---not G-D) cont. .....that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
G-D does not lie! In a family tree, you will find a Jew.
Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
verse 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the......day.......(note no s at the end of ---day---why because it was ONE day, and they rejected it and the two sided tablets were broken.)....cont. ....that I took them out ----by the hand---of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the LORD:
note the words above in verse 32.....by the hand..... It is by the breath of the Mehlekh Olahm, our Eternal King that all are brought forth in union with the Spirit of G-D below and the Almighty above, that we are brought into the family of the Most High and then are formed in the mirror image of our Ahvee, our Father. For it is written.....Psalm 89:26 He will call out to me, 'You are my Father, my G-D, the Rock my Savior.' Psalm 149:3 Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to Him with tambourine and harp. For now we become G-D'S name's sake. For it is written...Psalm 143:11 For Your Name's Sake, O LORD, preserve my life; in Your righteousness, bring me out of trouble. 1 Chronicles 16:10 Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
Jeremiah 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame. For it is written..."for to deny the king's seal is equivalent to denying the KING himself." for he purposely prevents the seed of flesh from coming to fruition, for he destroys the KING'S workmanship and so causes the Holy One to depart from the world. It is written....Jeremiah 32:27 "I am the LORD, the G-D of ALL MANKIND. IS ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR ME?"
This sin is the cause of war,famine, and pestilence, and it prevents the Shekinah- Spirit of G-D from finding any resting place in the world. For it is written.....Mahon...Our Dwelling Place....Psalm 90:1 LORD, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Proverbs 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Psalm 31:2...TURN Your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my Rock of Refuge, a Strong Fortress to Save me. Since You are my Rock and Fortress, for the sake of Your name lead and guide me.
Why war----man against man, for what will pass away in a mi. For it is written....one of G-D'S days our like a thousand of ours. G-D is timeless and the Eternal G-D is at war on mankind, he has already won and is in control. For it is written why.....Jeremiah 16:21 Therefore I will teach them--this time I will teach them My power and My might. Then they will know that My name is the LORD.
Mark this ....Isaiah 43:15 "Iam the LORD, your Holy One Israel's Creator, Your King."
Your Savior Isaiah 49:26 "I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."
Your Redeemer Isaiah 41:14 "Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I Myself will help you," declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."
Your Maker Isaiah 54:5 For you Maker is your husband--the LORD ALMIGHTY is His name the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the G-D OF ALL THE EARTH.