That time when Joe Lieberman brought a Jewish surprise to breakfast
When Ted Deutch, the former congressman who now heads the American Jewish Committee, broke the news Wednesday that Joe Lieberman had died, many in his audience — a group of Philadelphia Jewish day school supporters — gasped.
Deutch went on to praise Lieberman, the former senator, as a model of a proudly Jewish public servant. But he also told a story about him, the first Jew to run on a major party’s national ticket, that drew laughs.
Lieberman, Deutch said, preferred home hospitality to hotels, and was visiting South Florida in September 2003 as a candidate for president. Deutch and his wife, Jill Weinstock, invited Lieberman to spend the night at their house. He accepted and the family ran out to buy a new sofa bed for a room that they would thereafter call the “Lieberman Suite.”
In the morning, Deutch continued, Lieberman took a swim in the family’s pool. Then, toting a shofar — the ancient instrument whose sound is supposed to rouse Jews to prayer during the High Holidays — joined the couple and their three young children at breakfast.
Lieberman then “proceeded to blow the shofar at our dining room table,” said Deutch, who choked up telling the story and apologized to those who attended the event for the Barrack Hebrew Academy. He called it “one of the most meaningful moments” for his family, and said it inspired him to launch his career in public service.
Deutch was later elected to the Florida State Senate, and to Congress in 2010.
Lieberman that morning, Deutch said, demonstrated how one lives as “both a proud Jew and someone so deeply involved in the leadership of our country.”
Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000 chose Lieberman as his running mate. They won the popular vote in one of the most controversial elections in U.S. history. The Supreme Court in a controversial 5-4 decision ruled that George W. Bush had won.
Senator Joe Lieberman was a towering figure in the Jewish world, a dignified public servant, a mentor and inspiration to me, and a respected friend to our family.
At tonight’s beautiful @BarrackJBHA gathering in Philadelphia, I reflected on our community’s loss.
May Senator… pic.twitter.com/bsKL5tJCYp
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30