Rosh Hashanah vs. The First Day of School
Jewish Students Call for an Examination of Union’s Inter-religious Ethics
Image is a screenshot from Union Theological Seminary website’s ‘About’ page.
[Image Description: A picture of two persons conversing. Underneath the picture are the following words: “SPIRIT: As the world becomes increasingly more global, Union embraces the richness of other faith traditions and is at the forefront of defining the study and practice of inter-religious engagement.”]
Three weeks before the start of classes our phones buzzed with a message from the Jewish students of Union group. The message laid out that the first two days of classes—September 7-8—are on Rosh Hashanah, our New Year and two of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar.
As the group processed the implications of this conflict together, it was clear that we shared a lot of anger and disappointment. Union’s decision as a seminary to schedule the return to campus after over a year away, on the day we celebrate the New Year, shocked us. It felt, as one of our Jewish grandmothers said repeatedly, like a slap in the face.
The shock comes from the discrepancy between Union’s speech and action. Union has countless discussions around building an inclusive and inter-religious community. But does it live up to the values it professes? The measure of those values is not found in email blasts, roundtables, or panel discussions, but in what we are willing to do to enact them. Proof of words comes through action, through a willingness to make hard decisions that result in real, material changes to the institution.
Despite the assurances and the repeated theme of a truly inter-religious community during the admission process, we, as Jewish students at Union, began to realize as we oriented ourselves to Union that the refrain of the administration was not quite accurate. The promise and reassurances we received during our admission process--that we would find a learning community here where we as non-Protestants could grow spiritually in an supportive interfaith setting despite being in the minority--consistently came up against the realities of unspoken norms, expectations, and educational goals of a Protestant institution.
This realization was further compounded by the dismissive response Union’s administration gave to the three immediate and concrete requests that Jewish students made just days ago in light of the scheduling conflict between Rosh Hashanah and our first day of school. These requests made are as follows:
Make classes and other programs held on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur optional for all.
Require all professors holding a class on these dates to record the class and promptly make the recording available.
Leave add/drop open until Monday, September 20th for all who missed the 7th or 8th, ensuring all students a full week to organize their schedules.
Only one of these requests was met by the administration, and even that only partially: Jewish students, specifically those who are observing our New Year, will be allowed an extended add/drop period. The rest were, essentially, dismissed. Moreover, all the communications that we have received from the administration have all had a tone of polite dismissal and unwillingness to put the work in. This lack of care for the well-being of Jewish students on campus is greatly discouraging.
Now, we believe that the dismissals by Union’s administration are not malicious. Rather, it seems to stem from the reality that Union is a Christian institution that has not figured out how to be the interfaith community we believe it wishes to be. What is truly astounding, however, is the extent to which Union seems to be behind in the ‘figuring out’. What is inter-religious about an institution that makes its students choose between their religious obligations (in this case, Rosh Hashanah) and scholarly obligations (in this case, the first day of school)?
It is worth noting, furthermore, that it is not just Jewish institutions--or even other multi-faith institutions for that matter--who show their respect for Rosh Hashanah. Across New York City, all of the public schools from kindergartens to colleges do not meet on these two sacred days. Even Columbia University, not only our neighbor and close affiliate, but a secular institution at that, pushed its start date back two days from their initial start date of September 7th, thereby allowing its students, faculty, and staff to observe the Jewish New Year. How is it that Union's administration can insist that scheduling a different start date was both an impossible and unnecessary accommodation, when the majority of the city's institutions seem to have been able to handle it just fine?
In contrast with the administration’s response, students and faculty have shown respect and sensitivity. Both students and faculty have stepped up to show their support. All through last week students began reaching out to individual faculty members, and some faculty have offered to hold additional classes for those who will be missing, expressly excused students who miss the first day, and clearly expressed their support for students who are opting to miss their first day of class in solidarity.
This support, coming from a wide range of students and faculty, gives us hope. It gives us hope that Union can move closer to being the leading inter-religious community it wants to be. We know we are not alone as people of many backgrounds--from Buddhist to Muslim to Catholic to Protestant and so many more--join in hoping that this is just the start of a conversation, and the first step on a path to real, material change. Union’s noble aspirations have, on this sacred day of the Jewish calendar, come crashing into the reality that change requires sacrifice. To claim to be a transformative, interfaith community is a call, an aspiration that must be met with action. And we hope our administration will meet us on this long road to transformation.
At this juncture, with indications of support from students and faculty on the one hand, but deeply discouraging messaging from administration on the other, we asked ourselves what it would look like for our community to act like members of the affirming inter-religious community we need.
Among our peers, we decided to ask for what we want: a solidarity skip day. You, our peers, can meet us in our exclusion by also choosing not to attend class on Tuesday. Demonstrate to us that we are valued members of this community. We ask you to strongly consider showing respect for the holy day and for us as peers by skipping class this Tuesday, September 7th, among other actions. Students planning to participate can follow this link.
For peers and faculty alike: if you must hold or attend class, please take time (planned or during introductions) to state that while you are present, your Jewish peers have been excluded and that you intend to question why this is. Please take the time to join in our discussion: has Union chosen Christian particularism, or Christian supremacy? What might a different future look like? In addition, we invite you all to wear red as a reminder of the round, sweet Rosh Hashanah fruits of apples and pomegranates, along with red for revolution.
All interested in continuing this conversation can reach out to the authors of this piece, Raquel Belkin (rb3531@utsnyc.edu) and Josh Potash (jp4128@utsnyc.edu), as well as to Interfaith Justice Caucus co-chairs Nia Alvarez-Mapp (na2887@utsnyc.edu) and Mimi Tohill (mt3504@utsnyc.edu). Please note that some or all may be offline for the holidays (Monday evening through Wednesday evening).
The ideas, views, and opinions expressed in this piece belong solely to the authors of this piece. If you disagree with what has been expressed in this piece and wish to respond beyond the comments section, we invite you to submit a response to The Heretic.