Wednesday, June 20, 2007
No Running of the Jew in Anchorage
Since Jews in sports seem to be a popular topic in the blogosphere this week, I figured I would put one more story out there. This year's Anchorage regional cross country meet is currently schedule to take place on Yom Kippur. It's the third straight year the meet has been on a major Jewish holiday and people are not happy about it. A debate is currently going on about whether or not the meet should be moved.On one side is the school superintendent, who says she would have stopped the meet from being scheduled on Yom Kippur---if she'd known about it. In the past she advised that events not be held on important Christian, Jewish, Russian Orthodox, Muslim and other faiths' holidays, and she wants the cross country meet moved.
On the other side is Gary Matthews, the Alaska School Activities Association Executive Director. Matthews believes the meet shouldn't be moved for religious holidays because if they move it for one religion they would have to accommodate many other religions as well. He believes a line should be drawn, and it should be drawn to only include days on which school is canceled--such as Christmas. But wait, isn't Christmas a religious holiday?
The decision about the meet will likely come down to whether or not the ASAA votes to lift their longstanding ban on Sunday events. If they do, the meet could be pushed back to Sunday. If they don't, at least a few high school runners will be able to say they have something in common with Sandy Koufax.
10 Comments:
I would hardly call Christmas a Christian holiday, any more.
Seriously, if you're getting het-up about a cross country event then whattheheck are you doing with your life? Then again, this is Anchorage right? Probably not all that much to do up there...
There are Jews in Alaska?
You'd think this would be a much more publicized story, what with the Jews controlling the media and everything, right?
There are an estimated 6000 Jews in Alaska. I'm one of them. I think that while the issue is at the moment about a cross country meet, it is really about what the school board is going to do on a larger scale about Jewish, Muslim, and Russian Orthodox holidays--if they are going to make a decision to 'black out' the dates from the calendar. Or not. Keep in mind that the superintendent has been promising for years that it wouldn't happen again.
If you're interested in my own article on this, or more about real live Jews in Alaska check out
http://zahavalaska.blogspot.com/
I hate to make comparisons, but Yom Kippur is like Christmas and Easter rolled into one day. It's THE most important holiday on the Jewish calender. If they wouldn't schedule events on those Christian holidays, how can they schedule an event on this Jewish holiday? This just reveals ignorance and bias and I'm disappointed this is coming from a school system
Even if it is one in Alaska.
Seriously, 6000? That's gotta be higher than the national average. I'm kinda surprised the school's messed this one up for so long.
re the 6000 number--it's not a solid statistic, as there is no science to counting Jews. do you count Jews who count themselves? do you count people with a Jewish mother? with a Jewish parent? people who call themselves Jews?
re the school district messing up. I don't know the details but the school board mentioned at their meeting of a recent case of a major statewide student council retreat being scheduled during the most important day of Ramadan. There was an affected student. The date of the retreat wasn't changed because reservations had been previously made, but the school board seemed a little embarrassed about it.
The cross country meet affects more than one Jew. There are several Jewish players at different levels. There is just one publicly Jewish varsity player. Another Jewish cross country runner testified at the meeting also, but with fewer words and wasn't quoted in the press.
One last point: at the school board, one of the community members who testified was a member of the Christian clergy. She presented the argument that Yom Kippur for a few Jews far outweighs an average Sunday for the majority. Sunday was a proposed date change, but the statewide athletic association held up their ruling that school sports events cannot be held on Sundays.
https://zahavalaska.blogspot.com
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So what did the school board end up doing? Were having a similiar issue here in Tucson with local youth football.
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