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Tuesday, October 11, 2005

More Monorail Meshugaas

Posted by on October 11 at 15:05 PM

Subject: Scheduling the 10/13 SMP Board Meeting on Yom Kippur, the holiest of the Jewish Holidays

Members of the Monorail Board:

I learned this morning that you have moved the SMP Board meeting, originally scheduled for this evening, to the evening of October 13. I just got off the phone explaining to Natasha Jones that October 13 this year is the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and a day of fasting. Jewish holidays generally end a specified time after sundown. In this case, Yom Kippur officially ends at 7:11 PM, but is followed by a break fast, a traditional meal where family and friends come together to end this solemn holiday. Effectively, the holiday does not end until late in the evening.

All this is quibbling, however. The fact is, public bodies such as the SMP Board should be aware of and avoid scheduling meetings on any religion’s major religious holidays. Given the Jewish community’s sensitivity to statements made earlier this year about the Jewish community and the monorail, a politically savvy public body would be particularly concerned that it not schedule such an important meeting on a major Jewish religious holiday. It just looks bad.

Even if a holiday ends soon after sundown (as is true of Rosh Hashanah and Passover), a public meeting should not be scheduled for that night. That would be the same as scheduling a meeting for 7 PM on Christmas because, for most Christians, Christmas dinner is already over. It shows a cultural insensitivity that a public body should not exhibit.

You just don’t do it.

Natasha has told me that she will be checking with the board members and will let me know in a few hours the new date and time for the meeting. I look forward to being able to tell those who are now calling me that this issue is resolved.

Thank you,

Rob Jacobs

Robert S. Jacobs
Regional Director
Pacific Northwest Region
Anti-Defamation League
600 Stewart Street, Suite 720
Seattle, WA 98101