[net.religion.jewish] How do you deal with Jewish Holidays and WORK?

avi@pegasus.UUCP (02/21/84)

Just to give an idea of one type of topic I would like to see discussed,
here is one that has been on my mind.

Our company does not have the allowable holidays attached to anything even
remotely Jewish. We get the usual holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas,
but nothing like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Succoth, Pesach .... This can
add up very rapidly to many days off -- if you take them all. I have
sometimes taken off and arranged to do paperwork (reading) at home --
without losing a days pay. At other times, I have used compensatory time,
non-fixed holidays, vacation days -- or just gone in to work.

The problem is not as bad for me, as for some truly orthodox friends.
Sometimes your entire vacation budget is used up just to stay home on Yomim
Tovim. Leaving early on Friday can also be a hassle. In college, I often
missed important classes and even tests, even though I was in Brooklyn
College. Does anybody have suggestions or experiences that they would like
to share on living in a society that is not geared up to deal with the
Jewish lifestyles? Please, no suggestions to move to Israel.
-- 
-=> Avi E. Gross @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6241
 suggested paths: [ihnp4, allegra, cbosg, hogpc, ...]!pegasus!avi
-- 
-=> Avi E. Gross @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6241
 suggested paths: [ihnp4, allegra, cbosg, hogpc, ...]!pegasus!avi

dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (02/28/84)

I have always believed that I should be able to take Jewish holy
days as time off which is not vacation. After all, the time is
not in fact vacation. On the other hand, I make a point of working
on Christmas Day and the like. (I'm serious.)

As to leaving early on Fridays in the winter, I have always considered
that a non-issue. I just go. (On the other hand, I've always been
fortunate enough to have jobs which didn't depend on doing things
at any particular time of day.)

In more general terms, there are several ways to react to being Orthodox
in a non-Jewish (or, what is sometimes worse, a Jewish nonobservant)
work environment. One is to try and hide any differences, sacrificing
one's personal standards for the sake of "blending in". I see no need
or justification for this in these days. A second approach is to be
different and make a big point of it. A third approach, which I prefer,
is to be different, visibly so, but consider the difference to be a
non-issue in terms of work and work relationships.

I was the first person to wear a yarmulke at a major downtown Toronto
(non-Jewish) law firm. I had friends (who took theirs off when they went
to work) tell me I would never get hired by one of the big firms if I
went to the interview wearing a yarmulke. Well, they were wrong. The
fact is, these things simply aren't a concern to most employers, even
in a profession like law which is so conscious of its image.

I take a simimlar approach with holidays. I have never discussed
holidays or Shabbos at an employment interview (except with
nonobservant Jews, who are the only ones who ever raise it).
I simply take it as given that I will leave at certain times
and not be available on certain days. When September comes around,
in any job, I don't "ask" about time off. I simply inform the
appropriate people that I won't be in on certain days. It's simple.


Dave Sherman
Toronto
-- 
 {allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsrgv!dave

trb@masscomp.UUCP (Andy Tannenbaum) (02/29/84)

Avi and everyone,
I don't work on any of the Yomim Tovim (holidays that you're supposed
to stay home from work).  I do NOT take vacation days, I INSIST on
working compensatory time.  I have always been extremely steadfast
about this, and my supervision (in the Bell System) has usually been
cooperative.  No Yomim Tovim have cropped up since I've started here at
Masscomp, but I wouldn't come interview them during Sukkos, and I made
it clear to them why.

If my supervision wasn't cooperative, then I would just tell them that
they were interfering with my religious practices.  The Bell System has
high moral standards about such things, if you stand up for your
religious rights, they will work it out with you so that you can get
home before Shabbos starts, etc.

There are many precedents to fall back on here, just ask around.  Be
adament.

For the information of you all out there who don't know, these are the
holidays that you should take off:

The "High Holy days":
Rosh Hashana (2 days)
Yom Kippur

The "Three Festivals":
Succos (4)
Pesach (4)
Shevuos (2)

These are the popular holidays that you don't (!) take off:

Chanuka
Purim

Yes, friends, Chanuka is a minor holiday, it's not as important as the
five above it.  The fact that it is coincident with Christmas is
coincidence.  Chanuka is NOT Jewish Christmas, and giving presents,
other than the normal modest Chanuka trappings, is ridiculous, and
only serves to confuse children and dilute Judaism.

I don't have the dates handy for this year, but I'll get them and post
them to this newsgroup.  Btw, the reason I don't have the dates is
because the Jewish calendar is lunar, and it slides around wrt our
calendar from year to year, though over the long haul it is in fine
sync.  A description of the Jewish calendar will make interesting
reading in this space if you've never seen it before.

	Andy Tannenbaum   Masscomp Inc  Westford MA   (617) 692-6200 x274
	just a hymie from old hymietown

naiman@pegasus.UUCP (03/01/84)

> Yes, friends, Chanuka is a minor holiday, it's not as important as the
> five above it.  The fact that it is coincident with Christmas is
> coincidence.  Chanuka is NOT Jewish Christmas, and giving presents,
> other than the normal modest Chanuka trappings, is ridiculous, and
> only serves to confuse children and dilute Judaism.

===============================================================

Someone once told me that Jesus was born on the first day of Chanukah,
the 25th day of Kislev; and the Christians observe Christmas on the 
same day, twenty-five, of the approximately equivalent month in the
solar calendar, December.

Anyone know if this is true?
-- 
==> Ephrayim J. Naiman @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6259
Paths: [ihnp4, allegra, ...]!pegasus!naiman

amigo2@ihuxq.UUCP (John Hobson) (03/01/84)

Ephrayim J. Naiman asks:

>>	Someone once told me that Jesus was born on the first day of
>>	Chanukah, the 25th day of Kislev; and the Christians observe
>>	Christmas on the same day, twenty-five, of the approximately
>>	equivalent month in the solar calendar, December.
>>
>>	Anyone know if this is true?

Sorry, Ephrayim, but the reason that Christmas is celebrated on the
25th of December is that the Romans had a Winter Solistice feast
(the Saturnalia) on that date, and it was pre-empted by the
Christians because it was popular.

On a related subject, St. Valentine's Day on February 14 is the
"lovers festival" because February 15th was the Roman feast of the
Lupercalia, which was a fertility festival, and one chose a partner
for it on the previous day.

				John Hobson
				AT&T Bell Labs--Naperville, IL
				ihnp4!ihuxq!amigo2