Sen. Lieberman, Jews, Celebrate Rosh Hashanah

September 28, 2000

Source: USA TODAY

On September 28, 2000, USA TODAY reported that while "he's in the tightest race for the White House since 1980...when the sun sets Friday, Joe Lieberman will be nowhere near the campaign trail. Instead, the nation's first Jewish vice-presidential candidate will be in a synagogue in New Haven, Conn., wrapped in a prayer shawl and deep in reflection for the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year of 5761. It is probably the most publicized Jewish observance since 1965, when star Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Sandy Koufax refused to pitch a World Series game against the Minnesota Twins because it fell on Yom Kippur, the most solemn Jewish holiday. Rosh Hashanah is not the only religious holiday that will keep Lieberman off the stump. Over the next four weeks, he plans to forgo campaigning for as many as six additional days. 'I know of no precedent' for so many absences in the last weeks of a presidential campaign, University of Wisconsin political scientist Charles Jones says...Lieberman's campaign manager, Tom Nides, says a candidate who was chosen in large part because of his reputation for moral rectitude can only gain in the public's esteem by insisting that not even a presidential campaign takes precedence over religious observance. 'If you asked the average voter, 'What would you rather have: the candidate for vice president going to another bean feed or doing another political rally, or spending the day with his family in a house of worship?' I'd think most voters would rather he be in a house of worship,' Nides says. 'This is a guy who firmly believes in his religious conviction.'"