Edition: U.S. / Global

Crash Course in Judaism For Lieberman's Aides

Published: May 1, 2003

When the nine Democratic presidential contenders arrive in Columbia, S.C., on Saturday for their first debate, they are supposed to show up no later than 7:30 p.m., 90 minutes before air time.

Except for Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut.

He will be there, his aides say, at 8:58, two minutes before the debate begins.

In fact, the reason the debate on ABC News is starting so late on Saturday night, past many newspaper deadlines and considerably later than other candidates would have liked, is because Mr. Lieberman will not take his seat until after the sun has set and he has completed his weekly observance of the Jewish Sabbath.

There has been much speculation, even among Mr. Lieberman's closest aides, about whether the nation is prepared to elect its first Jewish president next year beyond questions like whether Mr. Lieberman is too conservative for voters in Democratic primaries.

A more immediate question for Mr. Lieberman's campaign is turning out to be logistical, and it has potentially serious implications for how voters perceive him. How does an Orthodox Jew run for president while obeying the extensive and intricate rules that govern the activities of religiously conservative members of his faith?

Americans were exposed to Mr. Lieberman's religious practices when he ran for vice president in 2000. His advisers said that was only a challenge in the initial attention that greeted his selection by Al Gore. Now that it is Mr. Lieberman who is seeking a spot at the top of the ticket, the advisers said, the demands on his schedule and the examination of his life have increased enormously.

The aides, most of whom are not Jewish, have been struggling to get up to speed on rules and practices that have been debated by Jewish scholars for centuries. The most influential book around Mr. Lieberman's headquarters these days is not ''The Almanac of American Politics,'' but ''Judaism for Dummies.'' (Yes, it exists: John Wiley & Sons, April 2001, including the cover blurb from none other than Mr. Lieberman.)

The aides, aware that their candidate is prohibited from politicking from dusk on Friday to past dusk on Saturday, have found Web sites that track sunsets from New Hampshire to Iowa. They have incorporated into the official campaign calendar every single Jewish holiday -- and there are many -- that may interfere with, say, sending Mr. Lieberman to a forum in Iowa.

''I don't think everybody fully realized that the last two days of Passover are no-work days,'' a senior adviser said with an air of resignation.

The time restrictions may be especially daunting. It is hard to imagine a more inconvenient time for a presidential candidate to be out of pocket than from the first half of a weekend, particularly when the candidate has a day job like, say, being a senator.

Friday nights are prime fund-raising nights, and Saturdays are set aside for county dinners, union picnics and dusk-to-dawn retail campaigning.

''What it means is he has to do more with less time,'' Mr. Lieberman's pollster, Mark J. Penn, said.

Beyond that, political and religious experts said the nation was about to have an in-depth lesson in the rituals of Orthodox Judaism, from dietary rules to what activities are permitted on a Saturday, that will surely shape how Mr. Lieberman is viewed. He is the first Orthodox Jew to run as a major candidate for president.

Mr. Lieberman's advisers argued that the spirituality symbolized by the rituals of his observance was central to his appeal as a candidate.

''It reinforces him as a person of faith,'' Mr. Penn said.

But the aides said the religious practices could complicate one of the first challenges facing a candidate, convincing the electorate that Mr. Lieberman is ''one of us,'' as a consultant put it.

''Americans have great respect for religion,'' said Ken Goldstein, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin. ''So that helps Lieberman.''

But, Professor Goldstein added: ''Are they going to think it's a little weird, a little medieval? Why can't he drive? What's the deal with not being able to light a fire?''

In 2000, Mr. Lieberman's aides were clearly worried about such perceptions. So they would find kosher food for him to eat at fund-raisers or political dinners, but removed the ''kosher'' label from the dish before setting down the plate.

Jano Cabrera, a former altar boy who is Mr. Lieberman's spokesman, said his early days at the campaign had proved to be as informative about religion as about presidential politics.

''This is another thing I learned,'' he said with the tone of a student who had just mastered the end of World War II. ''There is sundown. And then there is sundown. There is, like, sundown when the sun has set, and there is sundown where observance has stopped. There's a difference!''

Mr. Cabrera was referring to the fact that the Sabbath officially does not end until the sky is dark enough so that three stars can be seen.

Saturdays are hardly the only off-limits days.

''Most people have no idea how many Jewish holidays there are,'' said Steve Rabinowitz, a Democratic consultant who has worked here and in Israel. ''There are just so many.''

Six nonwork Jewish holidays occur in the fall, a season that tends to be fairly busy in the election business. A senior Lieberman aide who is not Jewish, showing his knowledge, said about the Feast of Weeks: ''Like Shavuot is coming up. I know it's a nonwork holiday.''

He stopped midsentence and said, ''You're pushing me to my limits right now.''

So it is that Mr. Lieberman will be represented by a videotape at a labor forum in Des Moines in three weeks while his opponents are on stage. He will also miss the pre-debate fish fry on Friday in Columbia.

Mr. Lieberman does not refer to himself as an Orthodox Jew, a description that invokes images of ancient solemnity, but rather as ''observant.'' He belongs to an Orthodox synagogue in Georgetown here and engages in rituals associated with the most devout wing of Judaism.

He prays three times a day, and he primarily attends synagogues where men and women are separated.

On the Sabbath, Mr. Lieberman does not drive or enter cars. He does not turn on light switches or cook. He will watch a television set only if someone else has turned it on. Mr. Lieberman does not answer the telephone, check his Blackberry, turn on a computer or engage in e-mail.

When the shuttle exploded on the Saturday before a planned Sunday trip to Iowa, Mr. Lieberman's advisers met and quickly concluded that the trip should be scrapped. But they agonized as they tried to figure out how to consult the candidate. Finally, they dispatched an aide to Mr. Lieberman's front door to obtain his approval.

All that said, the demands of observance have provided him some practical advantages.

''In some ways,'' an adviser said, ''campaigns are so hard driving it's almost nice there's a little bit of relief, that the practice of Shabbat extends to the campaign.''

Photo: Senator Joseph I. Lieberman and his wife, Hadassah, at a luncheon yesterday in the Washington Hilton. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)