Cohousing-L Mailing List: Yom Kippur and diversity in groups

[Racheli Gai (racheli]

Jeanne wrote:

>Perhaps Jews feel it more necessary to remind people that we exist,

Wow, it sounds like you have a serious chip on your shoulder: Do you
really believe that if an event is scheduled on a Jewish holidy it  means
that people don't think Jews exist?   Could
there be other reasons for the scheduling, which don't have anything to do
with ignoring/disliking Jews?

I think that you must realize that if *everyone's* holidays were taken
into account, the possibility of finding times to meet will be reduced to
somewhere around zero - since holidays are not the only element which puts
constraints on organizing events.  
Within a community the issue is different: Of course I don't think we
should schedule meetings on *any member's* holy (or highly significant) 
days!  This isn't the same, IMO, as trying to arrange general-public
events.

Maybe I should add that I've been to events on Jewish holidays, and that
often quite a few Jews attend (myself included).  My point it that not all
Jews are the same, or have the same attitudes towards Jewish holidays, or
anything else.

R.


>Look, Jewish holidays are sometimes a challenge to work around because
>they are based on a different date. I understand that. We just had to
>reschedule a meeting because the chair (Jewish) realized that she had
>scheduled a meeting for 10/7. Oops! If you don't know to look you won't
>notice.

>Ideally, when major cohousing events are scheduled to coincide with a
>religious holiday, the leaders will say "Sorry! We didn't mean to. We are
>too far along to change it now." If on the other hand, they knew it was
>going to fall on Yom Kippur, then that is something that I would consider
>wrong-headed.

>What I would wish is that the leaders of the events say, "We've heard
>you. We made a mistake. We don't plan to repeat the mistake for future
>events," rather than trying to explain away why it was valid to do
>something that made people feel alienated.

>Jeanne Goodman
>JP Cohousing, Boston

>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Racheli Gai" <racheli [at] sonoracohousing.com>
>To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
>Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 10:35
>Subject: [C-L]_Yom Kippur and diversity in groups



>Does anyone out there know when Muslim holidays happen?
>Does anyone take care not to schedule then?
>I doubt it!  I haven't belonged to one group as yet which took notice of
>other minorities, but whenever anyone forgets when a Jewish holidy takes
>place, recriminations start flying in no time.

>WHY???

>R.


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-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------
racheli [at] sonoracohousing.com (Racheli Gai)
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