Risa Levine:
Okay. Hello everybody. Welcome tonight and thanks for joining us. My name is Risa Levine and I'm a member of the Class of 1983 and a vice president of the alumni board. And I'm very much enjoying being part of the Brandeis Women's Network. The Brandeis Women's mission is simple, to foster and build connections between Brandeis women. Since affirmation in June of 2019, our network has grown tremendously. Our Facebook group is almost 1400 Brandeis alumna and mothers of Brandeisians, which you can find by searching BrandeisWomen, one word. We also have a LinkedIn page. You can find by searching Brandeis University's Women's Network.
Risa Levine:
We've been thrilled with the stunning array of programming that we have offered to the Brandeis community, such as tonight's very special event with Hadassah Lieberman. Please be sure to continue to check your email and social media for more invitations to our upcoming events. Before we begin tonight's program, a couple of guidelines to enhance our enjoyment of the evening. First, of course, this is a Brandeis event and we will have time for questions after our discussion. If you have questions we ask that you specifically use the Q&A feature at the bottom of your screen.
Risa Levine:
The chat will be open, but you can use that to announce where you're from right now and let us know where you're zooming in from, and also to say hello to each other if you see people that you would like to privately chat with, you can do that directly too. We expect a lot of questions tonight, so please be patient. And we will try to get to as many as we can. I also recommend that you use your speaker view for this discussion for this evening. Also, please note that this event is being recorded and the recording will be available after the event in the virtual library found on the alumni associations website. And now to the program. I'm turning the program over to Lisa Kranc.
Risa Levine:
Lisa grew up in Connecticut, but currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee and Kennebunkport, ME. She graduated from Brandeis in 1975, received her MBA from Columbia University in 1977, and spent a career of more than 36 years in corporate marketing. She was chief marketing officer at AutoZone, a Fortune 500 company for 11 years, and was named one of the top marketing leaders in the United States by ExecRank. Post retirement, she has served on several corporate boards and is currently involved in several nonprofit organizations, including serving as a member of Brandeis's board of trustees. Like Hadassah Lieberman, Lisa is also the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Lisa, welcome.
Lisa Kranc:
Thank you, Risa. Thank you for inviting me and thank you for inviting Hadassah. And without further ado, I'm delighted to welcome Hadassah to our family at Brandeis. Hadassah, for those of you who don't know was born in Prague to Holocaust survivors. Is the wife of former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, the democratic nominee for vice president on the ticket with Al Gore in 2000. She has built a career devoted largely to public health that is included physicians at Lehman Brothers, Pfizer, and the National Research Council. She holds a BA in government and dramatics from Boston University, and a master's degree in international relations and American government from Northeastern University.
Lisa Kranc:
So welcome Hadassah, and we're glad you're now part of the Brandeis family. So welcome. From a personal standpoint would like to say that I found your book to be really very real, very relatable and very down to earth. So I think this will be a delightful and wonderful event for all of us to share together. So thank you for graciously being here today with us.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Thank you.
Lisa Kranc:
So without further ado, I going to start questions and they're based on my reading of the book, which again, I read in one city because it was a page-turner. So thank you for that. You mentioned though in the book why you decided to write the book but if you could, and for those of us who might not have read by now the book, tell us why you decided to write the book and why you decided to write it at this time.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Well, I came as an immigrant to this country and it was really after the experiences my parents had had, my mother in Auschwitz, and liberated from Dachau. My father's slave labor camp. And so after those colossal tales, some of which I heard earlier, many of which I read about and reading other people's books, one day when my mother was dying and I was cleaning out, clearing things, saving things, to bring them to New Haven, Connecticut. I found a diary by my mother and it was in check the language, which I never knew because my parents tried to keep certain languages just private.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Yiddish was always one that we talked in the house. So I knew Yiddish and I didn't know English when I was a baby, but this happened and then when the Holocaust museum gave it to a person who understands Czech-Slovakian language, and I read it, I was so shocked because my mother said, I can't write any more than I've written. And I am asking my children, me and my brother, would they please finish this story. Write more. Well, when I read that I was, again, overwhelmed and looked at the date. It was 1970 and wondered why had she waited until 1970?
Hadassah Lieberman:
So it happened that I just knew I had to write. And it was tough because I lived this through my life. And as you know, as a child of survivors, sometimes the parents don't talk about it. Other times it comes up and still other times as those of us who have read so many diaries and stories know there's a lot they don't talk about, there's a lot you never know. And then when you read what others are saying, you say, "Wait a minute, what happened to my mother and father?" And so that was how I started it. And that's why it happened now for no other reason.
Lisa Kranc:
Oh, that sounds like a great reason for me, for sure. What did you learn about yourself in writing this book? You've been very gracious in the book in terms of giving advice, based on your life experience, which has been vast and varied, but what did you learn about yourself when you wrote the book?
Hadassah Lieberman:
I knew, but I learned more intensely that I had so much inside of me shaped from my parents' experiences. And I went back and wrote about the immigration aspects and early education and being an immigrant who doesn't know the language and has to help your parents make a doctor's appointment. Do something they don't understand the reading of just everything made you different. And so when I went to kindergarten in Gardner, Massachusetts, small New England town where no one spoke Yiddish. I was in kindergarten and had an interesting day, which was amongst those when there was a basket above my head with little toys and candies, and I thought I've been a good girl. They're doing this. I never heard of that.
Hadassah Lieberman:
And I went home and my mother said in Yiddish, she said, "How was your day?" And I looked at her. I said, "Mommy, no more Yiddish, only English." So there I was in the process of learning a new language. So, so many of the stories that I knew had to do with the differences I had, shared with others in kindergarten and in various walks of life that no one else understands, including my mother's saying, "Oh, [Yiddish] food. [Yiddish] when she made her own recipes." And so anyone coming into my house didn't know what that was. It was cute.
Lisa Kranc:
Right. I remember someone coming to our house and they would say, "Your mother has an accent." And I would say, "She does?" I didn't notice it. I mean, it was-
Hadassah Lieberman:
Oh, it's the same thing.
Lisa Kranc:
It's the same thing. Yeah.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Yes.
Lisa Kranc:
You're saying you were very open about yourself in the book, in the good, the bad, the not so good, but what didn't you write in the book that maybe now you wish you had?
Hadassah Lieberman:
Well, I truthfully, there were a few things in the book that I wouldn't have written down, but then I thought I have to be honest, like working for breast cancer for the Susan Komen people. And I worked for them and did international assemblages, including two races in Israel that had every nationality, every kind of language walking behind me in Jerusalem. And there were things that I never thought that I might get a stage one, but nevertheless, stage one of breast cancer. And I was shocked. I didn't talk about it then and I wasn't going to tell anyone. But then I thought that's wrong because you have to support women in different ways.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Plus being divorced, I had to talk about the impact that has on your children, on yourselves, on your remarriage. And I just wanted to share that we never used the word step for any of our children. We never differentiated between them. They were our children and neither Joe nor I would have wanted to marry a person who totally didn't understand that and couldn't love each other's children. And that was a big lesson to some people, they were surprised, but I was surprised that people make things work if they do anything less than that. So those are amongst this many stories that you write about for your lessons.
Lisa Kranc:
Yes. What would your parents say about this book, particularly your mother, since you mentioned her diary and her writings?
Hadassah Lieberman:
I think she would be very proud. I called her [Yiddish] in one of the chapters. That was the name I made up from my mommy sort of a Yiddish. It [Yiddish]. And she would have been proud. They both would have been very proud and probably amazed that I did this, but amazed that I was sharing it. And what really brought me to doing this book was that I was so lucky. Yes, I was born in Prague. Yes, I was the immigrant. Yes, I had parents from these places different from everyone around me, but I married Joe for 36 years. And all of a sudden he was trying to help me. Kept saying words to me all the time, go with it, you're doing the right thing. You're doing it.
Hadassah Lieberman:
And because I was the wife of a Senator who had run for the vice presidency, I felt okay, I'm going to take advantage of this moment to write something for people who may know nothing about this chapter in history. And unfortunately there are a lot of young people who know very little and others who don't want to know more, and I didn't want to make the mistake of letting it go and not taking advantage of that.
Lisa Kranc:
That's great. You are an immigrant proudly, who obviously, you've made it on many levels in terms of American success. What advice would you give to immigrants today, especially given how tensed the topic tends to be in this day and age unfortunately?
Hadassah Lieberman:
Absolutely a problem. Well, let me first start with a little story. When my husband was getting his driver, taking him to the law firm and I was in the back seat with Joe talking about the book that I was trying to write. And I started talking about immigration and some of the sagas of interest that I wanted to write about. And the man in the front seat who Pakistani birth, turned around for a minute and said, when this book comes out, I want my son and daughter to read the chapter on immigration, because that speaks to me and that's what I want to talk about with them.
Hadassah Lieberman:
I was so touched by that, totally touched by it because it was someone from a completely different background and yet so interested. And I have something here about the immigration experience that I'll quickly share from the book. And I want to get the right one because I have so many things here. Oh, wait, no, not that one, I'll get it.
Lisa Kranc:
Take your time.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Okay. Yes. If I had just summarize the essence of the American immigrants experience in a single word, I would choose promise. I've met thousands of my fellow immigrants and promise runs through us like current through copper wire. The word itself promise means both a vow that something will happen and the potential for achievement. I'm not suggesting that immigrants view the United States as a utopia we're all of their problems magically disappear. Immigrating to a new country has never been easy. It can be an arduous, sometimes terrifying and often just orienting experience.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Immigrants find themselves uprooted from all that is familiar in a place where the food seems strange, the language indecipherable, the culture endlessly confusing. The dislocation that comes from living far from extended family and facing the difficulty of finding work can be daunting. Even minor differences can make them stand out in a way that has them questioning where they belong. It is a willing sacrifice, yes, but a sacrifice, none the less. And excuse my horse, sending from the hay fever, I think.
Lisa Kranc:
I think that's a poignant. And I think that explains a lot about your thinking about immigrants. Anything else you want to tell us about... You have a special perch when it comes to immigration because of the role you play as a politician's wife, as well as being an immigrant. Anything else that you would want to-
Hadassah Lieberman:
Well, yes. Let me share something I was thinking of is you asking the question that I just remember the campaign events and when we were actually in Tennessee announcing Joe and the acceptance of upcoming election, I will never forget how people lined up in front of us. And I can't tell you how many immigrants from different places, totally, with different colored skin, different languages, came up to me and said things like, "I like you, you understand immigrants." And they just kept doing that. When we went to airports and I was there coming up to me with all kinds of braids and dreadlocks and whatever suited them from their background, telling me, "We appreciate your understanding."
Hadassah Lieberman:
And I was so touched because that's really what we found happening as we bonded around the country with the differences that are part of us, whether that's immigration, religiously, totally different. And so many people were in the Midwest. And I remember I would have to take a plane to different places because Tipper would be going places out and I will never forget getting somewhere and these people came up to me. I had no idea if they were Democrat or Republican, these were just people out there. I had no idea about anything. They came up to me and said, "Thank you. I like your husband. He's honest. And he's religious. And we'd like that."
Hadassah Lieberman:
And we had so many people bonding with us that I was always surprised when some people said, "Oh, did you have any negative experiences because of the who or what?" And I would say, no. No, that was in 2000. I don't know what goes on from there, but that was 100% true in 2000.
Lisa Kranc:
I think that's a great case study about why immigration is a wonderful thing in this country. At one point in the book, you say that being a political spouse is not so different than being a rabbi's daughter. I found that to be interesting. And I really wanted you to help us understand why you said that.
Hadassah Lieberman:
I said it because when I was a rabbi's daughter and we moved to a town near New Hampshire and very small Jewish community, and my father had been ordained. He'd study lines, ordained as a rabbi, but you come to this country, you have to do law all over. And he decided that he wanted to take a position as a rabbi. And we ended up in Gardner, Massachusetts near the New Hampshire border. And I just remember how it was to be, single that, you're the rabbi's daughter. So anyone would say, "Oh, well, why did the rabbi's daughter do that, or why did you..." There's that kind of judgmental stuff that goes on, now, maybe less so.
Hadassah Lieberman:
I understand I'm talking about X number of years ago, where everything was different, where in politics, you didn't say what came to your mind all the time. You shut your mouth and spoke when it was appropriate. And so that was always the way I felt, because I always had to be careful. And my parents were very strict that way. My father, there were things he didn't like me to do. My mother, there was certain times, I'm never in kindergarten. I remember this. I wanted to wear my hair. I saw these girls wearing it loose and my mother said, no, braids or a ponytail. Well, I was not like, at that point, they weren't wearing braids and ponytail.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Or my parents said, "No, slacks, girl wears a skirt." But that was a different age. Now we wear whatever it want to wear. And people in politics are not necessarily abiding by that. I remember Joey said to me, one time I said sing, I don't remember what it was. And Joe said, "If you say that loudly in public, it will be on the front page of the Hartford Courant." Why? I didn't realize but I found out quickly.
Lisa Kranc:
Yes. One time was probably enough at that point, right?
Hadassah Lieberman:
Oh, yes. For me, it was enough. I'd been raised by a rabbi. So that's what I mean.
Lisa Kranc:
Okay. So you are a proud survivor and the fact that you are a survivor has shaped your philosophy around life, which you write about in the book. And I find it so positive and energizing. What you're about is the possibilities of the future are more endless and positive than the difficulties of the past. Have you ever doubted that philosophy and what keeps bringing you back to it?
Hadassah Lieberman:
I never doubted it. I went through times in my life where I could have been down about XYZ. So I'm not saying everything was perfect and everything was beautiful, but I really felt I had come out of a darkness being born to my parents right after the war and I was lucky that they survived and I survived. And I remember my mother was talking about being in labor after the war. And there was a Christian woman screaming. Yes, she's Medea. And my mother, I got you, and they were in the same place and they were going through child birth. And so it was just something that was part of my lifestyle since I've been a child. But my dream was to come out of that darkness, writing about this much later and come in to light that started coming in and in and in. And then when I met Joey, thank God. Whereas in Hebrew, it's Baruch Hashem, I was really, I was so happy. And then I started to match in match near him and the jobs I had, but it was ultimately really something tied up let's politics.
Hadassah Lieberman:
And then moving on to times of when he was running for attorney general, we were dating and then U.S. Senator, which was another adventure. And then to be part of a national campaign for vice president, I was standing up there at these rallies on the stage. And I was there as an individual, as Hadassah Freilich Lieberman, I know that, but I was representing people who came up. I can't tell you how many people came up, rolling their sleeves up to show me their numbers. And I used to have to tell the secret service, the police they're all taking them away.
Hadassah Lieberman:
And I said, please, they've never seen me. People like me standing, representing the United States campaigning for an election. So one of the guys on the staff that was guarding Joe and campaign said to me, because they went for breaks. They had few weeks in between. So it was a tough job. And he came back and he said, "There's still crying in the audience." So I had to explain to him, I said, "You have to understand what they went through. They have the tears that come out when they see me. I'm the daughter of survivors like them." And he just couldn't believe they're still crying.
Hadassah Lieberman:
The people don't get it. And so it was an important, I wanted that book. I sat on the Senate floor, the time that Joe was being oriented. He had won so they said they hadn't sworn him in, but we were sitting there orientation and I sat next to him in a desk there. And I looked Joe and I said, "What are you thinking now, Joey?" And he said, "I'm looking at these American political people posted all across the Senate. And I'm so proud to be here today to serve this country in this body." And he looked at me and he said, "What are you thinking?" "I'm thinking I have my fist in the air to Hitler. I am here with my parents in the upper balcony, watching with others and my children," who were up there. And it was an amazing moment. And that's one of the lights that come out.
Lisa Kranc:
Yes. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful life experience for sure. I'm going to switch gears a little bit, thinking of being a politician's wife, what is the best advice you ever received about being a politician's wife? Because that's a tricky situation and you handled it with grace. It seems like as an observer. So tell us how managed to do that.
Hadassah Lieberman:
And how I managed to do it is not necessarily the way people are doing it today. We were limited in terms of the jobs I could look for and I needed a job because we needed the income, because here we were with two homes and our four kids who were all over the place and one of them young enough to be living with us in Washington. And I guess I used to hear criticism about some of the wives. And now it's not just wives, it's husbands to senators who are women. So it's totally different. But in that time I was always... Some of the journalists would say, "Oh, be careful, don't talk too much. Don't tell people too much." And listen to this. They'd warn you and you can get yourself in trouble if you do that.
Hadassah Lieberman:
So that I was always listening to being warned from the outside world and particularly the journalists, I'll never forget, the first time we walked in to a reception of an old friend of Joe's, who'd been in the city a long time and there were journalists there, and, oh, so I remember it in a negative way. Now, one of them said, "Oh, well, it's better for you. Why are you even here tonight?" I said, "I'm here with my husband at a reception for him." "And don't say too much." I looked at her and I said, "I don't say too much, but when I speak, it's what I think. And I'm honest." So then I walked away because I figured ugh. But that's what you learn is you're supposed to keep then. But the truth is, you can't keep your mouth shut.
Hadassah Lieberman:
I learned lessons on the campaign and some of the speeches they wrote for me to deliver. I didn't want to say what they told me. So I wouldn't read everything. They told me. And I wanted people to understand me, honestly, not to think I was a puppy dog or whatever. But that's all the stuff that we've gone through as women. It just also found itself manifested itself in the wife of a public servant.
Lisa Kranc:
So you felt that they were trying to filter you, but you would not filter the truth is what I think I hear you say-
Hadassah Lieberman:
I felt part of it was that. And part of it was some people wanted you to emphasize X and not emphasize Y. For instance, when I dressed with a campaign to 2000, I was told by 25-year-olds at that point, I'm sure they weren't much older. "You can't wear those shoes. They'll clash with Tippers. Well, you can't... Oh, that dress is the wrong color." And I just looked, I thought, oh, that's interesting, but you could, you're on TV, you can't wear a color that doesn't work. So some of that you just had to listen to and move forward and know that you're part of a TV set. That's going out also. Interesting.
Lisa Kranc:
Yeah. Okay. You talked a lot in the book about work, life health balance, which I think everybody in this world is trying to figure out, and layer on top of that, a pandemic. And there everybody's really trying to figure that out. How have you been able to maintain that balance? What brings you to the place where you feel balanced?
Hadassah Lieberman:
Well, and we all don't feel 100% balanced all the time. Ask my husband, when I'm, whatever, when I can't find the zoom number tonight until I got it later, it's that kind of balance. But really that's the hardest thing to balance the roles. Now, it's being a mother thing, a father too today, but of being able to produce what you need to at the top of your abilities and to interact with people in a way other than iPading, emailing, we all have to go back into not being isolated because all of us have lost practice with it. But I would say that I think that's the hardest thing to do, but we have to really breathe our way through, exercise has been a saving grace and Joe, I used to swim, but Joe got me into jogging and hiking more than I have ever did.
Hadassah Lieberman:
And we go out in the morning and do those things together. And it was during our tough Senate times or during the campaigns for higher office, we'd walk and talk around and talk. And that made a difference in our balance. We could say things to each other that you don't have time to do. We had a jogging stroller with our littlest and a psychiatrist who lives not far from us would say, "Oh, my God, do you think that's going to be good for this kid jumping up and down?" So I thought, oh, God, but he told me he was joking, but getting that balance is important.
Hadassah Lieberman:
And we all have to pull away for private quiet time. And we've been blessed because our sabbath is Friday night and Saturday, and we don't do certain things. That was the joke we had with Al Gore because we were waiting to find out about the election and now I said to Joe, "You know what, all mind the Saturdays, and you'll give me a break on the Sundays so I can go to church." So we laughed. It was great. Because we need private time, quiet time, and also time to be able to speak to your spouse and to your children. Not easy.
Lisa Kranc:
Good advice. Along that line, but maybe a little twist. You've had a wonderful career as well. So can you tell us a little bit about your career initiatives that you're most proud of and both yours and Joe's in your career as well as his career and your combined efforts. What are you folks most proud of in terms of helping to repair the world at this point?
Hadassah Lieberman:
Well, yes, helping to repair the world, which is an important endeavor, is it? I just signed a book to a couple who's very close with my brother who isn't from similar background and he read the book and he asked me to sign it. And I said, you know what, we need to stand together, work together to repair the world together. And that's the truth. We're all different. But we have to realize that being different means you can learn from other people. You can talk to other people. It's surprising. We live in a time now that people don't want to sit down at a table with someone who doesn't believe the same things they do, speak the same political dialogue, the same religious dialogue, that's wrong.
Hadassah Lieberman:
We learn from each other all the time. And so I think that politics was a feature that I had never really been part of and meeting Joe, and living with Joe, and campaigning with Joe, showed me how people have to come together, respect each other, and talk to each other, and allow the people who are out there to articulate their needs, their struggles, to get people, to understand local politicians. So I would say, I've done a lot of things, totally separate from politics. But if I were saying to you, what has been the most amazing and struck me because I naturally fit into it. And part of it is the way I was raised, who I am, what I am.
Hadassah Lieberman:
I was able to be of help to Joe and to learn things from him. So I would say that was when I worked on women's health. Oh, and this is interesting. When it came to women's health, there were times I was in Brazil with the women and they were worried about cancer. And another time Saudi Arabia talking to them about dental cancer and what I thought I realized is that women come together and it may even be to combat illness, but we really do a great job as when we're with someone. I remember at that point in time, is this Saudi Arabian woman who was in the common group in Texas. And it was so amazing because she was saying she doesn't drive a car and she doesn't do this shit. And we all match together and behalf of a common illness.
Lisa Kranc:
Yes. Okay. You continue to do a lot of, there's 1,000 questions I could ask you, but your book is triggered a lot of thoughts, but I'll narrow it down to a couple more. You-
Hadassah Lieberman:
And I appreciate you because you are from a similar background, which makes me feel we're together.
Lisa Kranc:
We should do lunch. Exactly. You continue to do a lot of work related to philanthropy for Holocaust survivors. And I want to give you a moment to tell us a little about why that work is so urgently needed at this moment you mentioned it in the book-
Hadassah Lieberman:
I don't have the statistics in front of me, but the number of Holocaust survivors who are poor is amazing. Now, I'm on the board at UJA, New York. And they do a lot of work helping people all over the place and focusing on Holocaust survivors as one of their targets and also the Corona virus and helping people with that. We have so many targets all over the place, unfortunately, because the world's not perfect yet. We're waiting-
Lisa Kranc:
Exactly.
Hadassah Lieberman:
We're working on it.
Lisa Kranc:
We're working on it. Switching gears, the 2000 election, I mean, we have to talk about that because how can we not talk about it if we have the Lieberman in front of us?
Hadassah Lieberman:
Right.
Lisa Kranc:
Okay. So all the whole world was on [Yiddish] as we say, technically, in Yiddish. What was going on and what was taking so long and how was it this back and forth? You were in the thick of it, what was that experience about for you? What did it feel like to be in the middle of all of that?
Hadassah Lieberman:
It was unbelievable because from day to day, when we didn't know what was going on, it was we'd get together. It was Al Gore. Wherever we went, people in restaurants would start applauding or stop what they're redoing and meet us, greet us. And to watch all these people assemble. And it was just all by accident going out, but it was a shocking experience, but important because Joe and vice president, Al Gore, were very close and they were very patient and quiet, there's no fighting going on. One of the things that was amazing was we weren't sure the inauguration was on a Saturday and we weren't going to drive down.
Hadassah Lieberman:
So Joe and I thought, Oh, we know there's this hotel we stayed down on Joe's votes. And we'll walk over to the ceremonies on Saturday morning. So go there Friday night, everyone there it's a victorious group for Bush. So everyone's all of a sudden, I thought, Oh, this is really weird. So we immediately went home and ate at our friend's house last minute. The next morning, we walked over to the Capitol and went, because Joe felt, we need to go. And it was an amazing moment. I want to read this to you. On Friday, December 9th in the late afternoon, we got some good news. The Florida Supreme court had ordered a manual recount of balance in the three contested counties.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Al wanted Joe and me to be with him and Tipper that evening. So it was Friday night, so Honney was with Joe's mother. And so the two of us were driven along with the secret service to the Naval observatory, official residence of vice president along with our movable Shabbat feast, because I put everything into a bag, the candles, the haul of the plastic plates and we brought the ritual objects used to welcome to sub candle sticks, candles kiddush club, wine, two Halas, and some food. Prior to dinner, Joe and I went into the living room to pray.
Hadassah Lieberman:
When he was done, I noticed their lovely Christmas tree twinkling in the corner behind Joe, when he was davening. Talk about being inclusive. Tipper suggested that everyone put their blackberries away in deference to us. It would be easy enough for someone to find us if necessary. Dinner was an intimate affair. Our conversation ranged broadly. We discussed less on the election and more on the things for which we were grateful at the end of the evening, the Gores walked us back to our house, trailed at a respectful distance by our secret service detail and their security vehicles.
Hadassah Lieberman:
The next day, we went to the synagogue for morning services as usual, still helpful given this most recent turn of events. But by that afternoon, when we learned that the United States Supreme court had agreed to take the case, we were feeling much less optimistic. On the following Tuesday, the Supreme court handed down its decision. So it was a complicated, difficult time. It took time to get over it, but you have to... And Joe decided he went to work. It was that Monday. Because he said, look, that's what I got to do because at that point I had taken time out from the hospital. I was working with the women's health and actually a Catholic hospital from New Haven, St Raphael's. So this is how you hit these kinds of moments in life, right?
Lisa Kranc:
Yes. And it sounds like only grace is what I'm hearing in terms of` what we saw. And it sounds like what you folks were actually doing behind the scenes as well. So thanks for that.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Well, thank you.
Lisa Kranc:
I have some audience question.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Oh, good.
Lisa Kranc:
All right. Are you surprised that we haven't had another president or vice president candidate that's Jewish since Joe? Do you think religion plays a role?
Hadassah Lieberman:
I can only say that it absolutely did not, when Joe ran, absolutely. And a lot of people who happened to be from, mostly the Jewish religion because of the historic background that we testify to. There's always a concern because you worry, "Oh, my goodness, how will they accept me?" But it didn't happen. Now, could it happen, I don't know. Do we know anything today? There's so much negative stuff that goes on with people. I don't know. In some ways we need to relearn how to get along with other people and maintain your own beliefs, but don't get paranoid. If they're different from someone who's talking to you, we have to learn.
Hadassah Lieberman:
That was something we learned how to be at the, my father, I would be at the table and I had my opinion. I used to have to leave the table sometimes because it his dominant, but that's how we learned.
Lisa Kranc:
Yes. Okay. Have you had the opportunity to speak with, or give advice to Kamala Harris and her husband or her husband given where we are in politics?
Hadassah Lieberman:
I haven't. They're all very busy with many things. I haven't. I don't know that Joe has, I'm not sure, but we're not asking him now. So he can't answer. I haven't.
Lisa Kranc:
All right. This question as an observant Jew, operating in the secular world of politics, how did you manage the conflicts? Because I'm sure you mentioned a couple in terms of the Shabbat, but were there ever any that you just couldn't manage or how did you maneuver in that environment?
Hadassah Lieberman:
Well, Right. First of all, we were always honest about who we are. And Joe, from the beginning look, he said, I don't attend political events on Shabbat, votes in the Senate. He went, he walked to the Senate and the Capitol police who walked to and from, the ones who studied the Bible, loved walking with Joe, they'd have the long walk and ask them all these questions or discussed it. And it really, there's no, we knew we didn't, we only ate kosher food. And we know we knew we observed Shabbat and one night Richard Holbrooke, it's a name that some people recall was coming to dinner with several other people on a Friday night, I usually never did that, but of course that Friday night there were late later volts and it was steaming hot.
Hadassah Lieberman:
And so they're all coming in. I made motzi and started to serve dinner because I didn't know when Joe was coming in. He walks in soaked from the weather. Everyone thought, Oh, he's not going to walk back. So he walked in and washed his hands, sat down and it was Shabbat and Richard and our other guests marveled at the fact that he had walked home in the heat and he was there for Shabbat dinner. And we had, you know what, instead of having any negative stuff, Joe had staff on Shabbat. We have a Friday night meal where we were and Joe had staff who said, "Oh, it's Shabooty." And they went out because they are free night.
Hadassah Lieberman:
So it was never looked at that way. And I think, Joe and I are proud of who we are and it's never not afraid of people saying things, but there was nothing to say negative. We were teaching people that they also have to take time for themselves.
Lisa Kranc:
Okay. Be yourself and that's a wonderful piece of advice for everybody. Last question is how do you propose to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive, given the many decades that have passed the loss of so many survivors and the lack of focus by the younger generation?
Hadassah Lieberman:
Well, that's one reason I wrote the book because I felt it was my responsibility to do whatever I could do to follow through on my mother's instructions. I was lucky my parents survived and the obligation, I understand everything you're saying is true, but we have responsibility. There were so many people who died. I remember my father's words always as he saw people dying and just following along. And he said, these people have no one to bury them. They have no one to say Kaddish. And that's what... Anyway, I want to thank you for this wonderful, wonderful show.
Lisa Kranc:
Well, like I said, at the beginning, you are real, relatable and down to earth. And I think this conversation has been all of that. So, it was wonderful and I really appreciate. And on behalf of Brandeis, we really appreciate-
Hadassah Lieberman:
And thank you Brandeis for doing this. My thanks go to Brandeis from my heart.
Lisa Kranc:
I got you, as we say. And I turned it over to Risa.
Risa Levine:
Thanks so much, Lisa. Thank you so much for your expert questioning such an incredible conversation. Hadassah, thank you for such emotional and personal stories in such a relatable way. I mean, you really bring home so much of the experiences that we talk about in such an academic way. The immigrant experience, the daughter of a Holocaust survivors. All of the stories of political experiences and what it's like to face the public in such a– how challenging that is. So I thank you so much for making it so real for all of us. I hope this audience found tonight's event is interesting as I did. It was gripping for me.
Risa Levine:
Please check your email and social media of course, for upcoming Brandeis Women's Network and alumni association events. I hope to see you all at an event soon. I want to make a special plug for Brandeis Women's book club. The next one is May 19th. We're reading Jhumpa Lahiri's new book that was just reviewed in the New York Times. It's called whereabouts, a novel. It was originally written in Italian and translated into English. Hadassah, please feel free to join us. We can send you a link. You're part of BrandeisWomen now. And I hope to see many of you in the next couple of weeks at more events. Thank you so much.
Hadassah Lieberman:
Thank you.