Spring Break
READER COMMENTARY: University should reconsider days off
Letters to the Editor | 4/21/09
Posted online at 9:46 PM EST on 4/20/09
/ Last updated at 5:25 AM EST on 4/20/09
In response to your editorial "University schedule too restrictive" (April 7 issue): It's not just the Passover break that is too restrictive. One other article in this issue mentioned the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as a comparable situation. This is a step in the right direction.
Furthermore, if there's a policy of not giving days off for all of the possible Jewish holidays (which was what we saw in fall 2007 and fall 2008 but fortunately not the next two years, when most of the fall holidays are on Saturday and Sunday), there should be better evaluation of which days do have school. For example: Simchat Torah, the "ninth" day of Sukkot outside of the Israel and Reform Jewish calendars, is a day that is far more appreciated and celebrated (at the expense of classes) than the day that precedes it, Shmini Atzeret. It also falls on the same day of the week as the first day of Sukkot, which is a school holiday. Yet in choosing which of these two days to have off, Brandeis chose Shmini Atzeret both of my two years here. This means that students who wish to observe Simchat Torah (a wider population than those who observe Shmini Atzeret) have to miss a day of scheduled class. It also means one additional "Brandeis Day," when a Tuesday becomes a Wednesday.
It turns out to be easier to satisfy more people. Let's see these changes happen.
-Gideon Klionsky '11
Furthermore, if there's a policy of not giving days off for all of the possible Jewish holidays (which was what we saw in fall 2007 and fall 2008 but fortunately not the next two years, when most of the fall holidays are on Saturday and Sunday), there should be better evaluation of which days do have school. For example: Simchat Torah, the "ninth" day of Sukkot outside of the Israel and Reform Jewish calendars, is a day that is far more appreciated and celebrated (at the expense of classes) than the day that precedes it, Shmini Atzeret. It also falls on the same day of the week as the first day of Sukkot, which is a school holiday. Yet in choosing which of these two days to have off, Brandeis chose Shmini Atzeret both of my two years here. This means that students who wish to observe Simchat Torah (a wider population than those who observe Shmini Atzeret) have to miss a day of scheduled class. It also means one additional "Brandeis Day," when a Tuesday becomes a Wednesday.
It turns out to be easier to satisfy more people. Let's see these changes happen.
-Gideon Klionsky '11
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