JOE LIEBERMAN'S BEARD

Lieberman honors his mother with a new look by Tori Katz (MEDILL NEWS SERVICE )WASHINGTON(JULY 12)-- With longer hair and a white beard, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., appeared at a press conference Tuesday, his second day back at work since the death of his mother, to argue as passionately as ever for increased funding for homeland security. Any hint of grief over the recent death of his mother was masked by his passion for national defense. Despite the new beard and hairstyle, Lieberman hardly looked disheveled, though scruffy enough that his appearance elicited a few raised eyebrows and whispers in the crowd.

For the past two weeks Lieberman has been without a shave or a haircut. And for the next two weeks the normally clean-cut senator will continue to follow a Jewish custom that prohibits such grooming for 30 days following the burial of a loved one. While witnesses on Capitol Hill have unknowingly quipped about the senator’s new “masculine look,” their ignorance of this deep-rooted Jewish custom is likely to be shared even by members of the Jewish community.

Lieberman is observing a period of mourning called shloshim, the Hebrew word for 30. During this time he cannot listen to music, attend parties, shave or cut his hair.