Feb 28, 2008

Basketball and Shabbos

Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy is a Jewish Day School in which, according to info posted on its website, has a majority of its student body affiliated with Conservative Judaism (41%), next is Reform (29%),Traditional (17%) and the smallest group of orthodox (13%).

I was surprised to see those demographics after reading this article in Sports Illustrated...

The RHMA basketball team is one win away from qualifying for the regional championships. The only problem is that if they win their next game and qualify, the championship game is scheduled for a Saturday. RHMA has said they would not play if the game is not rescheduled to a different day.

If they refuse to play, they would not forfeit the game, but would forfeit their spot. A different team would be selected to play instead of them.

Different people and politicians have been petitioning the Colorado High School Activities Association to try to get them to reschedule the game. It is not a personal preference to not play that day, but due to religious belief. The Association has so far refused the requests.

The irony is that the reason they refuse to change the schedule is because they cannot schedule a game on Sunday due to religious reasons...

I do not know why these are the only two days to play basketball. There are 5 more days in the week to choose from...Play a different day!

I hope the school sticks to its guns and does not cave in. If they do, it will be a tremendous Kiddush Hashem.

3 comments:

  1. Amazing (this is what I get for not reading SI). Thanks. It would be an amazing Kiddush Hashem!

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  2. jews have been getting a lot of attention in SI recently, although i'm not sure if everyone would agree that the recent israeli contribution is a "kiddush hashem"

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  3. Wow! they must play a mean game of basketball.

    And what? it can only be played sunday or saturday???? hmmmmmm.

    I agree, they should stick to their guns.

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