Cour tesy Bre nda R len hardt

Brenda Rienhardt,
a student at Florida

Atlantic University,

is among the many
American students

who must balance
their studying and

May the coming year be filled
with health, happiness and prosperity
for all our family and friends.

practice of the High

Holidays.

in terms of taking days off.
"Everyone's heard of Rosh Hashanah
and people understand that there are
people who observe and some people
who sort of observe," Loeser said. Its
the other 10 days — Simchat Torah,
Shemini Atzeret , two for Sukkot, the
first two and last two of Passover and
two for Shavuot — that are the most
difficult. "People start thinking that
you are taking the same two days off
a month because people have never
heard of them!'
David Barkey, the Anti-Defamation
League's religious freedom counsel,
said much of the confusion surround-
ing the holidays arises because not
all people observe the holidays in the
same way.
"You might have employers that
look on the calendar and see that
Yom Kippur is on Wednesday and not
understand why an employee needs
to leave on Tuesday night or why one
employee takes two days off when
another takes a week," Barkey said.
Sippy Laster, 24, a recruitment coor-
dinator at JPMorgan Chase in New
York, does her best to compensate for
the time that she takes off.
"I spend a lot of time working later,
and the days leading up to the days
that I have to take off, I end up spend-
ing later nights at work so a lot of
preparation goes into it:' she said.
Barkey said that while most employ-
ees are able to observe holidays by
trading shifts and talking with their
employers, religious accommodation
issues are still a problem.
There was a 32 percent increase in
religious accommodation charges filed
by Jews from 1998 to 2011, according
to the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission. While Jews comprise 2
percent of the U.S. population, they
represented 14.9 percent of all 2011
religious accommodation charges.
While Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 provides the primary pro-
tection, Barkey says there is no abso-

lute requirement for
an employer to give
time off.
"If you have a reli-
gious conflict, espe-
cially if you know far
in advance, you have
a duty to tell your
employer in advance
he said. "A lot of com-
plaints we get are from employees who
waited two or three days before the
holidays to ask for time!'
Jacqueline Simon, public policy
director of the American Federation
of Government Employees, the largest
union representing government work-
ers, says the problem often isn't getting
the time off but feeling left out.
"I think people are tolerant of
someone taking time off for religious
observance, but much less willing to
alter the schedule of a group to accom-
modate one or two people," she said.
Rienhardt has seen that firsthand.
"If you go to the dean and make a fuss,
yes, you can have the day off, but if
you have a test, you are going to be at
a disadvantage she said. "When they
have tests scheduled, teachers tend to
be less forgiving!'
Many Jews believe that clients and
co-workers view their decisions to
take time off positively.
"For a business that is all business
all the time, I think a lot of [my cli-
ents] respect that there's something
else that's important to me than just
the business:' said Cory Richman, 34,
a partner at the talent management
firm Liebman Entertainment in New
York. "It keeps me grounded and I
have morals!'
Rabbi Abigail Treu, a rabbinic fel-
low and director of planned giving at
the Conservative movement's Jewish
Theological Seminary, says that for
people who absolutely cannot take
time off, there is an understanding
built in to the tradition.
"I think that there is a respect in
the tradition for parnassah, the need
to earn a livelihood, so certainly if
the choice is between losing one's job
and not being able to support oneself
and one's family versus celebrating the
holiday in the traditional way:' Treu
said, "then the tradition encourages
us to keep our jobs and be able to sup-
port our families!' ❑

Madelon & Lou Seligman
Melissa Seligman
Adrienne, Jeff, Matthew
and Evan Katz

May the New Year
bring to all our friends
and family
health, joy, prosperity and
everything good in life.

May the New Year
bring to all our friends
and family
health, joy, prosperity and
everything good in life.

Rosh Hashana

Karen & Jeffrey Kraft
Aimee & Matt Spatzner
Elissa & Chet Evans
& Rachel

September 13 m 2012

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