The Cowards of Denver

The much vaunted freedom to be Jewish in the USA is not quite all it’s cracked up to be. It’s true that on a recent “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”, fully 75% of the audience knew that a long-winded explanation was “a megillah”, which shows to what extent Jewish concepts have been absorbed by American society. And in New York accommodating Jewish religious observances is the norm.

But this same level of acceptance isn’t found everywhere in the US, as this report filed by the Associated Press yesterday illustrates. Thanks to FI for bringing it to my attention! And congratulations to the boys of Herzl for doing so well until they were blocked by the fixers (let’s not call them anti-Semites–perhaps their kids were on the other side and they were just biased)!

DENVER (AP) Wednesday February 27th

The Herzl/Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy team could be headed for a regional championship on Saturday, March 8, if it wins one more game. But the Denver team’s religious beliefs prohibit students from playing on the Jewish Sabbath between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday.

If Herzl/RMHA makes it to the regional championship and refuses to play a Saturday game, another school would be chosen to take its place, CHSAA commissioner Bill Reader said.

Earlier this month, the Colorado High School Activities Association, which governs sports and other high school activities, rejected the team’s request for a schedule change.

Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, said the CHSAA’s decision was ironic because it has a rule barring games from being played on Sunday for religious reasons.