Senator Joseph Lieberman on American Jews and the Zionist Dream

The Tikvah Podcast

Tikvah

Judaism, Politics, Religion & Spirituality, News

4.6 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2019

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This past October, the former U.S. senator Joseph Lieberman was a keynote speaker at the inaugural Herzl Conference on Contemporary Zionism, held on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. His speech was published on November 7 in Mosaic in essay form as “What American Jews Can Do to Help Keep Herzl’s Dream Alive.” In it, Senator Lieberman reflects on the miracle of the modern Jewish state, the meaning of Jewish self-determination for American Jews, and some of his concerns about the future of bipartisan support for Israel, especially among the young.

Senator Lieberman has had a long, distinguished, and strikingly independent career in public service. Elected to the Senate as a Democrat, he was his party’s nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election—the first American Jew to be nominated on a major party ticket. In 2008, he endorsed the Republican nominee for president, his longtime friend John McCain. But as the political terrain shifted around him, Senator Lieberman has always remained a steadfast supporter of the Jewish state, and it was a privilege to have him join Tikvah Senior Director Jonathan Silver on this podcast.

As you listen, you’ll here the senator discuss the history of his personal relationship to Israel, how he thinks Zionism can help American Jews be better citizens, and his thoughts of whether the longstanding bipartisan support for Israel is fraying as a rising progressive movement grows at the expense of the Democratic center.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble, as well as the original Broadway cast recording of Fiddler on the Roof and “Above the Ocean” by Evan MacDonald.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This past October, former United States Senator Joseph Lieberman was, along with Israeli President
0:13.5	Ruvie Rivlin, a keynote speaker at the first Herzl conference on contemporary Zionism.
0:19.1	The conference was held on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
0:22.6	Senator Lieberman's speech was then published as an essay in Mosaic, entitled
0:26.6	What American Jews Can Do to Help Keep Herzl's Dream Alive. That speech, Senator Lieberman's
0:32.4	Zionist's story and his concerns about the shifting American politics around Israel
0:37.3	are the subject of this week's show.
0:39.8	Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. Joseph Lieberman is an extraordinary
0:45.0	figure in American public life. Vice President Al Gore selected Senator Lieberman as the Democratic
0:50.5	Party's vice presidential nominee in the campaign of 2000. Just eight years later,
0:55.6	Senator Lieberman was a famous friend and confidant of the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain,
1:00.9	whom he endorsed at the Republican National Convention, and who, it was rumored,
1:04.9	actually considered inviting Senator Lieberman to join him on the Republican ticket that year.
1:10.0	Throughout his career in public service,
1:11.8	as he followed his conscience, sometimes to the left and sometimes to the right, he's been a supporter
1:16.6	of the U.S.-Israel relationship, and in this essay we learn a little more why that is, and about his
1:22.7	concerns for the future of the Democratic Party. And how Jewish self-determination, Jewish national pride,
1:29.5	Jewish sovereignty and the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people,
1:32.5	how Zionism relates to the America that Senator Lieberman loves,
1:36.0	and that for decades, he loyally served.
1:38.5	If you enjoy this conversation, you can subscribe to the Tikva podcast on iTunes,
1:42.9	Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify. I hope you leave us a five-star review to help us grow this community of ideas.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tikvah, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Tikvah and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.