Every September I become acutely aware of my Jewish identity. I have to make the choice between my religion and my academic career. Every year academics win. I sit in class uncomfortably absorbing information, while in the back of my mind I’m thinking about what I should be doing, and where I should be, as a Jewish person on the holiest day of the year.
Yom Kippur is a time for introspection; it is a time to repair relationships and start fresh in the new year of the Jewish calendar. You are supposed to feel sick for all the people you mistreated in the previous year, the hurt feelings you cannot adequately mend, and sorrys you did not say. Smith College helped me observe this holiday this year, just not for the right reasons.
Normally I, like many Jewish people in America, function in society without being reminded of my identity at every turn. Being Jewish does not change how people treat me or create anxiety to interact with others on this campus. People do not immediately see my Jewishness; it does not cause housing, education, and job discrimination the way it did for my grandparents.
Thanks to the New York Times, Smith College is nationally known for its efforts to accommodate minority cleavages on campus, even in the face of the backlash it causes. Smith advertises itself as sensitive to the needs of its students, faculty, and staff; as making immense effort to care for and protect minorities on this campus. Yet Smith overlooks Jewish people during our high holidays.
Not all Jewish students feel compelled to go to services on our high holidays; I certainly do not. But we should be able to observe our important holidays in any way without significant sacrifice to our academics (and without having to face guilt from our Jewish mothers for choosing one of our identities over the other.)
Many institutions provide far less for Jewish people. Smith has put in effort to accommodate Jews on campus. We have a Jewish Studies Department, a Jewish community (SCJC) that offers opportunities for worship, Kosher food options in the dining halls, a Sukkah is built every year, and a Kosher kitchen. Yet Smith has neglected to address the most important accommodation for Jewish people, allowing us to observe our most sacred holiday.
I have to make the decision every year to skip important information in my classes, talk to my professors outside of class, and make up missed work or observe the most important holiday of the year. When students reached out to Kathleen McCartney, President of Smith College, telling her Smith should be more accommodating for Jewish students, she responded, “Smith does not acknowledge any religious holidays because there are simply too many across the many religions that are practiced by members of our community.” But this excuse sounds hollow. No Christian student has ever had to choose between Christmas and academics. The Christian holidays are simply a backdrop of Christian hegemony in America. This excuse is blind to obvious systems of inequality of treatment and an excuse not to fix the underlying problem.
Smith wants its students to make the world a better and safer place. So I have the same expectations for the institution. Smith needs to accommodate and consider the Jewish students on Jewish holidays, particularly on Yom Kippur, instead of forcing Jewish students to make these uncomfortable decisions for ourselves.
