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Well, I'm old and went to school in NYC in the 1950s and we were closed for Jewish holidays and Christian holidays. 14.01% of New York City is Jewish. The national average is 0.25%. Or compare it to Chicago 3.89%. Now does it make sense?
25% of New York City was Jewish in the 50s.
I grew up in Long Island, assumed everywhere had off for Jewish holidays.
I went to school in Chicago and was never given the Jewish holidays off. I am Jewish by the way. But the Catholic kids were allowed to leave early every Wednesday I think it was to go to catechism at one grammar school I attended. I should add this was back in the 1950's and the neighborhood was predominently Italian-Catholic and Irish Catholic so I guess it depends upon the religious background of the majority of the students attending the school or at least it did in those days.
I grew up in Long Island, assumed everywhere had off for Jewish holidays.
My first job on LI (Great Neck) was at a co. where being a gentile was a minority. I loved having both Christian and Jewish holidays off and getting out before sunset on some days...except when I had a lot of work to get done.
I grew up in Long Island, assumed everywhere had off for Jewish holidays.
Old post I'm responding to, but growing up in northern NJ I assumed the same. I remember going to college (in Staten Island so not far, and my private college also had off for Jewish holidays) and being shocked when my friends from CA or WI or anywhere in the south or pretty much anywhere else didn't have off for Jewish holidays growing up. Some of the best parts of the early school year we'd look forward to was having no school on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because they were random days off during the week, sometimes pretty early in the year.
We also had off more for Catholic/Christian holidays, contrary to what the OP suggests. NJ is mostly Christian, specifically Catholic, and we would have no school from a couple days before Christmas Eve, depending on when Christmas fell, to a couple days after New Year's Day, again depending on what day of the week the holiday fell. It was called "Christmas break" earlier on in my life but they did change it over time to "holiday" or "winter break." Either way, it was a break for Christmas and New Years. The Jews never had off for Hanukkah, though we always recognized and sometimes "celebrated" it in school by playing with dreidels or eating latkes or something. We also had no school on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Spring Break (or Easter break) sometimes fell before Easter or after it, but our spring break in public schools always coincided with Easter. We had more days off for Catholic holidays than Jewish ones.
Old post I'm responding to, but growing up in northern NJ I assumed the same. I remember going to college (in Staten Island so not far, and my private college also had off for Jewish holidays) and being shocked when my friends from CA or WI or anywhere in the south or pretty much anywhere else didn't have off for Jewish holidays growing up. Some of the best parts of the early school year we'd look forward to was having no school on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because they were random days off during the week, sometimes pretty early in the year.
We also had off more for Catholic/Christian holidays, contrary to what the OP suggests. NJ is mostly Christian, specifically Catholic, and we would have no school from a couple days before Christmas Eve, depending on when Christmas fell, to a couple days after New Year's Day, again depending on what day of the week the holiday fell. It was called "Christmas break" earlier on in my life but they did change it over time to "holiday" or "winter break." Either way, it was a break for Christmas and New Years. The Jews never had off for Hanukkah, though we always recognized and sometimes "celebrated" it in school by playing with dreidels or eating latkes or something. We also had no school on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Spring Break (or Easter break) sometimes fell before Easter or after it, but our spring break in public schools always coincided with Easter. We had more days off for Catholic holidays than Jewish ones.
Jewish holidays are given off when and where it makes sense. Why some people think there's a cabal forcing school districts with minute Jewish populations to shut down for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is beyond me. Anti-Semitism comes in many forms, I suppose.
Jews are being favored while others are being oppressed. This clearly violates the Constitution and should be reported and taken to court!
Oh for God's sake, you've been singing this same song on here for years. It's Rosh Hashanah and River Dell High School is closed for the next two days. Get over it. And use the time to learn what the Constitution actually says.
Lot of trolls on this post.. I will just leave this one alone. I wish Americans would grow up and start acting like mature adults.. no wonder most of the world hates us.. we have so many dumb and ignorant people in America.
But Jewish holidays are not national holidays. Most parents' have to take off from work and use their "sick/vacation" days in order to stay home with kids. BTW most Jewish families sends their kids to private Jewish schools.
That's the dumbest thing I've ever read. ORTHODOX Jewish families tend to send their kids to private Jewish schools. Regular Jewish families tend to send their kids to public schools.
Please think before you type.
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