Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Israel News

Wedded Wisse

In his increasingly competitive re-election campaign, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman has faced tough criticism from within his own party for supporting the Iraq War. But even as pundits and pollsters debate the incumbent senator’s political ties to the neoconservative movement, the Shmooze has learned that the ties soon will become familial, as well. Lieberman’s daughter Rebecca is engaged to be married to Jacob Wisse, son of Harvard professor and fiery pro-Israel hardliner Ruth Wisse.

The nuptials will bring together two of the leading names in American Jewish life and letters. Ruth Wisse is one of the county’s foremost authorities on Jewish literature, while the older Lieberman is easily the country’s best-known Jewish politician. Both have hewed close to the Bush administration’s hard line on the Middle East.

Word of the union has triggered some buzz in media circles. According to one story making the rounds, Rebecca Lieberman, long accustomed to being asked by strangers if she is the senator’s daughter, was surprised to find, at a recent party for Commentary magazine — long a home for right-leaning Jewish thought — that it was her fiance who was the bigger attraction. “You’re Ruth Wisse’s son?” star-struck partygoers asked. And then there is the rumor that the wedding is to be officiated by Commentary editor Neal Kozodoy.

Jacob is a professor of art history at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women. Rebecca, a lawyer, had a visible role in her father’s failed 2004 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. As of press time, the couple could not be reached for comment.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.