FEATURED JOBS
I recently ran into a guy I’ve known for many years. We were swapping anecdotes and updates on our lives and families, and at some point he started kvetching to me about his daughter’s soccer league, of all things.
Seems that the nefarious league – which is independent and non-sectarian, predominantly non-Jewish in players and coaches, and based in the Timonium/Cockeysville area – is having a regularly-scheduled game this Saturday morning, even though it’s Yom Kippur, held by Jews as the holiest day of the year.
“Can you believe that?” he said, exasperated and seething. “How dare they do that? It’s Yom Kippur, for crying out loud! Thank God it’s just a regular game and not a big playoff game. But come on, people!”
OK, pardon me for asking this question – well, I will anyway – but when did the United States become a Jewish theocratic state? Are we living in Israel? Or even Brooklyn?
Let’s keep in mind that this league has, tops, four or five Jewish players—out of hundreds. And let’s also not lose sight of the fact that we live in a section of the country where our schools are usually closed for our major holidays and people are, for the most part, quite mindful of our holidays and traditions. They even put up with our traffic and congestion snarls on yontif at synagogues.
Look, I know this guy’s kid will be disappointed that she has to go to shul this Saturday instead of kicking a ball around and having fun with her teammates. She’ll miss a game. But she’ll live. The world will remain on its axis.
Am I missing something here? If I were a non-Jew overhearing our conversation, I know what I’d be thinking – “Geez, these Jews are never satisfied.”
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