an aveirah either comitted through commission or ommission does not invalidate a person as being observant. people slip, they do T’suvah (with all that is entailed) and they more forward.

A person with skewed haskafos that validates actions and behaviors that are not allowed removes a person from the category of observant. would you call conservative or reform observant of Authentic Torah True Judaism?

ttc #18:
either you observe the precepts as set forth in the Torah or you don’t.

You do not make up halacha to follow your particular needs at the time be it for political or any other reason and call yourself observant – what exactly are you observant of — certainly not Authentic Torah True Judaism.

this is not a difficult concept.

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to all that are saying that jl was not claiming to be stating a Torah position:
when you quote are Chachamim to make your point as in “The rabbis say in the Talmud that a lot of rabbinic law…” and you connect that to “…McCain has a series of very clear-headed policies toward…” essentially what you are saying is: from a Torah perspective because of this principle, this person is the right one.

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Now if you were to ask me about building fences, I would say, stay away from that one with mccain – it was only after much backlash over his ammnesty program (with ted kennedy) did he finally come around to boarder security. he does not appear to be much of a fence builder to me.

Yes, one to whom “observant” means he learns Torah and keeps ALL the Mitzvos means the same thing as Orthodox, but using “observant” as a watered-down version of Orthodox, where-in certain mitzvos aren’t kept is not only unorthodox, but it is not Judaism.

We all often use such phrases as, “I’m not that frum,” or “I’m middle of the road” but by categorizing ourselves, we are preventing growth and giving ourselves a heter not to follow the Torah.

It’s hard to be a politician and curry public favor when popular opinion doesn’t correspond to Torah and Daas Torah. That’s why he got caught up in the mess referred to.

Please read my post again. Lieberman was caught advocating intrmarriage–a distinctly non-Orthodox-Jewish position.

In fact, even most Reform Jews oppose intermarriage.

So, when asked how could an Orthodox Jew advocte intermarriage, he said he’s not Orthodox–rather, he’s “Observant.”

In Lieberman’s own context, we are forced to conclude that “Observant” means the he observes what the Torah says and does the opposite.

That, Mr. TownCrier, is the definition of Chilul HaShem.