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From: robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Assertions of jewishness by reform and Conservative Jews (long)
Message-ID: <890@eosp1.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 21-May-84 12:51:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: eosp1.890
Posted: Mon May 21 12:51:53 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 22-May-84 07:37:56 EDT
Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton, NJ
Lines: 74

References:

I expect that Mr. Martillo's note on the "malevolence" of reform Jews
will stir up a hornet's nest of debate.  I would like everyone to consider,
as they reach for their terminals, that you can prove anything using
modern informal reasoning -- we have no tightly controlled logical
procedures here.  I will respond by discussing a genuine situation
(rather than assertions about past history) that is causing me great anguish,
and gives me a feeling that I am living among thousands of Jews who in fact
are failing to experience their Judaism sufficently deeply.

I will not charge any Jew with malevolence, but I fear a dangerous casual
disregard.

FIRST, here's the situation:

For the second year in a row, my daughter's school has scheduled a major
event on Shavuot.  Last year it was the only performance of the play of Anne
Frank (how's that for irony).  She was a member of the cast, and the
performance date was selected only after two months of rehearsals.
Very delicate negotiations with the school resulted in an additional
performance given before Shavuoth; my daughter was not able to attend the
second performance, nor the cast party.

This year, the school announced, on short notice, its trip for 8th-grade
music students to NYC to hear a symphonic concert conducted by Mehta, which
also conflicts with the end of Shavuoth.  My daughter is heavily involved
in the music program and will miss a major social and musical event.  Delicate
negotiations with the school have produced nothing so far, although there is
still a little hope.

The school has a Jewish calendar every year.  I have not been able to get a
clear picture of the reasoning that leads to these conflicts, but it is clear
that concern for conflicts with Jewish holidays is very low on the school
administration's priorities.

NOW, the anguish:

In dealing with this situation, I became aware as never before how isolated I
am among the Jewish community of my suburban area.  Virtually no other
students were inconvenienced by these scheduling conflicts, despite the
fact that the local population is at least 20% Jewish, and Shavuoth is
traditionally the time of Confirmation ceremonies by children whose siblings
might well be in our public school.  Had twenty families, even ten,
complained, our situation with the school would have been different.
However we were nearly alone in asking the school to avoid scheduling
events against Shavuoth or Sukkoth, which, I have discovered, many Jews view
as unimportant or no-longer-significant holidays.

The local town Rabbi suggested that my main priority should be to get my
children into a private Jewish school.  There is much to say for this point
of view, but we want our children to have a public school education for
many valid reasons.
NJ Bnai Brith feels that little can be done with the schools on this issue.

FINALLY, the conclusion:

I cannot believe that people in general who assert their Jewishness, and
attempt to practice their religion in a meaningful way, can nearly ignore
Shavuoth and Sukkoth.  I do not believe that they can routinely leave their
children in school to pursue normal activities on the no-work days of the
Three Festivals.  The only explanation I can accept for my isolation on this
issue is that the great majority of conservative and reform Jews are
concentrating upon a few facts of their religion and satisfied with that.
If this is true, they are taking a great risk, since historically Judaism
has only survived where many Jews took a more global view of what it meant
to practice the religion.

I will not charge any Jew with malevolence, but I fear a dangerous casual
disregard.
					- Toby Robison (not Robinson!)
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