One of the great features of our American democracy is the respect our Constitution accords for all religions. Our founding fathers recognized that there is great value in the citizens of our nation following the dictates of their conscience. At the same time our founding fathers recognized how important it is not to impose a unified state religious practice on everyone. In this spirit, the Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville (CRC) hopes that Jewish students and teachers will find a respectful atmosphere for their religious observance.

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Each year the response of many schools to Jewish holidays causes discomfort and misunderstanding for many Jewish students and school authorities in the Nashville and Middle Tennessee area. The Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville believes the following information will be helpful in alleviating some of these problems.

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According to biblical and rabbinic precepts, there are certain holy days on which Jews are commanded “no manner of work.” For Jews, therefore, proper observance of these holy days would preclude their attendance at school. Students will spend these days in religious observance. Because Jews use a calendar based on 12 lunar months for religious purposes, the secular dates of Jewish holy days may vary from year to year by as much as a month.

 

School officials should be aware that there are different traditions within Judaism that affect school absences. For example, almost all Jews will observe the first day of Rosh Hashanah as well as Yom Kippur, while some Jews will observe, in addition, four days of Sukkot and Passover and a second day of Rosh Hashanah. The smaller number of students who observe these additional days should not lessen the significance of their absence. Again, we wish to underscore the fact that although Jews have different levels of observance, our concern is that all Jews observing holidays find respect and understanding from the schools which they attend.