Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik and Senator Joseph Lieberman

More than 1,000 people filled Yeshiva University’s Lamport Auditorium on Aug. 31, to hear a conversation on Jewish ideas and American Democracy between Senator Joseph Lieberman and Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. President Richard M. Joel welcomed Lieberman to Yeshiva, referring to him as a “groundbreaking Jew” and “a member of the family.” Soloveichik exclaimed his delight in opening the Straus Center with a Torah observant U.S. Senator, calling Lieberman, “the perfect person in which to begin our series of public conversations on America and religion.”  Said Lieberman to those gathered: “In this country and at this moment you will never have to choose between living a Torah observant life and your secular professional career. Whatever you do, do it with the confidence that the system will respect your observance.”