Duringmy Freshman year, the Collegeadvertised a "take your favorite professor out to dinner" night. Posters were all over campus, and I, the unconnected and unsupported neophyte, was thrilled. Unfortunately, it was to be held at the same time as Friday evening Sabbath services, which I attend religiously. When I commented on this, someone with an authoritative voice reassured me that there would be other opportunities. So I passed up that offer.
There have not been other opportunities. I did not get those connections when I needed them. I never saw another poster advertising such a dinner. But I am glad that I did not compromise just because I was expected to. I do not normally hold myself to stringent religious dictates, but in this case I resisted the seemingly inevitable tide of "secularism."
Dartmouth College largely tries to accomodate Jewish ritual practice. As a Jew, I have no problems rescheduling any finals administered on the Sabbath. However, not everybody does so. I have a friend who attends services regularly, but did not change the time of her Saturday final. She was not lazy, nor was she scared of asking a favor. She did not feel that she was a "serious" enough Jew to claim this privilege. She does not observe all the laws of Shabbat, so how can she claim that she can't take a final on the Sabbath?
Nobody deserves to be put into such an absurdly unnatural situation. She loves Judaism, but is forced to define herself as "not a serious Jew," given the limited choices offered her. Public life profoundly affects her personal life. She is forced either to define herself as a member of a strictly defined category, or not to do so. Informal observation of the Sabbath, which is profoundly valuable to her, is turned into a rule which either is or is not followed.
When that which is special is turned into a "rule," it is altogether lost. Those whose traditions do not fit in with society's patterns must define themselves as either "religious" or "secular." What room is there for the vast numbers of non-Christians who occupy a middle ground? Forcing somebody to define herself along those terms is incredibly, and insidiously, destructive.
Until Jews other than the religiosi are visible, this self destruction will continue. Everyone should be sensitive that religiously meaningful things may not be codified.
But I urge my friend, and all in her situation, to refuse to take finals on the Sabbath, to refuse cultural destruction in the guise of "secularism." Visibility is a burden placed exclusively on those whose circumstances force them to speak out. But only those who are visible can reasonably expect sensitivity.
