Thursday 25 August 2011

My Faith: Sen. Joe Lieberman embraces 'the gift of the Sabbath'

I saw the following on the CNN website

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/17/my-faith-sen-joe-lieberman-embraces-the-gift-of-the-sabbath/?hpt=hp_c2

and wanted to put up this link on the blog to see what others thought of it.

Overall, there is obviously pride in seeing an observant Jew in such a position -- and viewed positively for his commitment. There were some items in the report that bothered me, though. One, for example, was that what is presented as violations of the Sabbath -- such as his voting in the Senate on Shabbat -- may actually not be violations. It is not that he is, at these times, choosing other concerns over his religion but is still following his religion. I think this should have been presented more clearly because it is an important principle that has to be enunciated in this modern world. Even as people are more open to divergent religious expressions, they are often seen as simply acceptable discretionary behaviours. It must be emphatically pronounced that it is not discretionary. Of course, CNN itself may not have that agenda and thus said what it wanted. It just to me identifies some issues even in this world of greater tolerance and acceptance.

I am just wondering if others also saw these issues or whether I'm just being picky.

Rabbi Ben Hecht

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