n a strikingly prophetic question, an article in an on-line magazine recently asked: ''Are We Ready For a Jewish Veep?'' Now, five months later, the question has a new urgency. For given the questions raised in the six days since Al Gore picked Senator Joseph Lieberman as his running mate, it is clear that much of the country is uncomfortably unfamiliar with the Jewish faith.
After almost a week of mediocre bagel jokes and numerous references to misunderstood Jewish holidays, it is time to begin the process of demystifying the Jewish religion.
The essence of Judaism should seem familiar to the Christian world: ''Love your neighbor as yourself.'' Those words are found at the center of the Torah, in the Book of Leviticus. Hillel, the great Talmudic sage, interpreted this commandment and equated it to the whole of Torah. ''The rest,'' he said, ''is commentary. Go and learn it!''
The announcement of Lieberman's selection has been replete with examples of ways in which he conducts his own life in harmony with this fundamental, easily understood principle. Yet much of the discussion in the first days of his candidacy has narrowly focused on his Sabbath observance, and the fact that he does not work from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. But this, too, should not seem so odd. After all, the Christian observance of Sunday as a day of holiness arises from the same source as Jewish Sabbath observance.
In Genesis, the book of Creation, it is written that after six days of creating the world, God ceased working, blessed the seventh day, and declared it holy. In the Book of Exodus, the fourth of the Ten Commandments tells Christians and Jews alike to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. And it is only in recent years that America's Sunday closing laws have been all but eliminated in the world of commerce, but even now the Senate and other governmental bodies do not normally convene or work on Sundays, the Christian Sabbath.
In light of these deep shared roots, it should not be difficult to understand the senator's observance of the Sabbath. As an Orthodox Jew, Lieberman adheres to the fundamental principles of the Sabbath: to follow God's example by ceasing work, acknowledging God's creation, and in so doing, remembering that we all are created in the image of God, and all related to one another; therefore, we must love our neighbors as ourselves.
There is wide variation in the ways that Jews around the world actually observe the Sabbath. Jews who regard themselves as Orthodox do not use electronic devices, drive, write, or engage in other tasks that tradition has defined as prohibited on the Sabbath. But Jewish tradition also makes clear that Sabbath laws must (not ''may'' but ''must'') be put aside to help someone whose life is in danger, or if the community is threatened by enemies or by natural disaster.
Lieberman has made it clear that as vice president his religious practice does not and would not conflict with the need to address matters of national defense. With respect to other less-urgent affairs of state, however, a Vice President Lieberman might on Saturday put off some decisions for a day, until he is free to work. Do not many Christians do the same on Sunday?
As the nation ponders Lieberman's faith, and what it might mean if Democrats win the Oval Office, it's worth noting that no one asks whether adherence to Protestant practices interferes with a Protestant candidate's fitness for national office.
There can, unfortunately, be a more insidious meaning behind queries about whether the country is ''ready'' for a Jewish vice president, particularly when that question is asked by Jews and tinged with an underlying insecurity grounded in thousands of years of history. In the Bible story, Joseph's rise to prominence in his relationship with Pharaoh leads a few chapters later to the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt.
Many people see this as a pattern that has repeated itself in Jewish history. We need no reminder, for example, that several generations of growing Jewish prominence in Germany were brought to a devastating end under the genocidal leadership of the Third Reich.
History, therefore, inspires in some modern-day Jews the fear that visibility may be followed by rampant anti-Semitism. For those Jews, the question as to whether the country is ''ready'' for a Jewish vice president asks not only whether a majority of the country will elect a Jewish candidate, but also whether the country has progressed to the point at which a Jew's rise to prominence is not accompanied by an anti-Semitic backlash.
Ultimately, the achievement of such progress will demand not forgetting, but at least an easing of fears from the past. Being mindful and cautious does not mean presuming the worst. Dreams require leaps of faith, and leaping means letting go.
This week, Lieberman will accept his nomination with appreciation for and pride in his religion. So, too, should all Americans embrace this momentous step in Jewish-American history.
It marks a special moment in our country's growth when a person of strong religious convictions can accept the nomination of his party to the second-highest office in the country with no fear of the subsequent religious persecution that haunted his forebears.
Lauren Stiller Rikleen is a partner at the law firm of Bowditch and Dewey, LLP; Rabbi Norman Janis is the rabbi of the Worship & Study Congregation at Harvard Hillel.
