No but really, I cannot put into words how fundamentally wrong it is that public schools can assign things over incredibly meaningful holidays like Yom Kippur.
Last year was a vivid example, and also one of the worst fasts I’ve ever done. My history teacher assigned us a full paper, insisting that it was reasonable since we had the entire day to do it. As one of the few practicing Jews in my class, I immediately objected because not only was that unfair, it was actually impossible to do without serious harm to my own health.
Because Yom Kippur started that very night with a solid two hours of services. I would go home, eat dinner (at like 4:30 because you have to do it before services), change, and then be at synagogue. Services would go until at least 8 o’clock, which meant I would get home around 9.
See any time for homework in there?
Now, pretend you’re me for a moment here. Services tomorrow morning start at 9, and you usually want to get there earlier unless you’re willing to end up in an overflow room. So staying up late to do it isn’t an option if you want more than four hours of sleep.
Now, it depends on how religious you are, and you can pick and choose, but there’s services more or less throughout the entire day on Yom Kippur. If you want to attend, which should absolutely be an option without compromising yourself academically, then you’ll be there until break the fast comes.
That’s right! You’ve been fasting all day, because that is an absolutely key part of Yom Kippur. (If you are under age thirteen, are pregnant, or are sick you are exempt but otherwise fasting is expected.) There are many reasons—reminding yourself of your mortality, to remember the sufferings of others—but ultimately it’s not an opt-out kind of thing.
But when can you break the fast exactly? It actually varies! Because it’s meant to be done one hour after sundown (25 hours total), but that’s a little different each year. It’s usually around 8 pm, which would be when services end for the day.
Now you can eat! Let’s aim low and give it half an hour to get home from services, and then another hour and a half to actually break the fast.
It’s 10 o’clock. You’ve only just eaten and your stomach probably hurts, because stuffing yourself after a fast can be really bad for your health. You’re back home for the first time all day.
You still have a paper to write.
How is that fair? If I’ve just gotten off of a fast, having spent all day immersed in religion and contemplating my own mortality, I’m not gonna be in a place to do any kind of work, academic or not.
And even if I’d had breaks in services (I can’t stay still all day, so I usually head home for a few hours in the middle), I was still fasting. When I’m hungry I have trouble working, for obvious reasons. And in this case the issue isn’t access, but the fact that I am prohibited from eating anything. Depending on how seriously you take it, you might not even have had water today. I fast with water after nearly passing out from dehydration during a fast for Tisha B’Av, but not everyone does! If you haven’t had anything to eat or drink, it’ll be incredibly difficult to focus on writing anything.
I explained all of this to my teacher, and she instead said I could just turn it in late. She also said I’d still be marked down for late work, so how is that any help?
I did that paper the day after. It was a day late, a few points off, but I held it against my teacher for months. Not because of the grade itself, but because she put me in that situation to begin with.
I should have been allowed to observe Yom Kippur. I should have been able to spend the day thinking and reflecting on my mistakes and contemplating my own life. That’s literally what the holiday is for. But instead I spent the whole time with that stupid grade in the back of my head.
Even on what is arguably the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, I still wasn’t given a break.
Separation of church and state my ass.
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