This year at Park, students got the day off for the holiday of Yom Kippur. This is a Jewish holiday that is known as one of the most important holidays in the Jewish faith. This is the first year the entire school had the day off for Yom Kippur.
Junior Josh Fink said he is very content about the day, and that the change allows him toto spend time with his family and practice his religious traditions.
“I feel great about it because it allows me to be able to celebrate the holiday and respect my religious traditions without having to miss out on school work and not being behind on attendance,” Fink said.
According to junior Micah Schoenberger , Yom Kippur is a time of reflection and repenting from sins and praying to God to start the Jewish new year.
“The meaning of the holiday is to repent for our sins,” Schoenberger said. “The 10 days between the new year (Rosh Hashanah) and Yom Kippur are times to go to people and ask for forgiveness. Yom Kippur is a day of fasting which is supposed to ‘clean’ our bodies.”
Jewish Student Union adviser Mindy Daitchman said the reason why some schools have changed to having the day off for Yom Kippur is based on the Jewish community advocating for the change.
“Some districts definitely have more Jewish people living in them and have made their voices loud in standing up for not having school on Yom Kippur,” Daitchman said. “Other districts where they don’t have as many Jewish students, it’s harder to make that much “noise” to make a change. It’s also possible a lack of education from those making the calendar decisions to know how important this date actually is to the Jewish people.”
Even with Yom Kippur off, there are many other important holidays that a Jewish students have to skip school for at Park. Fink said other Jewish holidays should be taken off as well.
“I do it because it is hard for people like me who have to celebrate those holidays and miss school for that is really hard to do, especially with the rigorous course load that I take as a junior,” Fink said.
