help me avoid conflicting with Jewish holidays

May 4, 2009 7:20 AM

Trying to plan a meeting in late September or early October and not inconvenience observant Jewish attendees. Is the week between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur ok? Should I skip the week that is Sukkot? This will be a Thursday/Friday meeting if that makes any difference.
posted by mercredi to religion & philosophy (8 comments total)

How observant, and will the attendees have to travel to get there? If they do have to travel and do not travel on Saturdays, then the Friday between the holidays is bad, especially if there is any chance at all that the meeting will run late. If they do not have to travel, the meeting is likely to be convenient enough.

Given that Sukkot starts on a Friday night, you would probably want to avoid overlapping, because the beginning and end of the holiday is most significant. More observant Jews take the entire week off.
posted by jeather at 7:34 AM on May 4

I would recommend you skip Sukkot - I know a lot of people who observe the holiday.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 7:57 AM on May 4

Also keep in mind that observant Jews will not travel or drive on Shabbat. The Jewish calendar is based off a lunar cycle so this means Friday at sundown through Saturday at sundown. Keep this in mind for meetings plus for traveling plans if necessary.
posted by seppyk at 8:07 AM on May 4

It would probably be useful to know if your jewish attendees will be orthodox, conservative, or reform. Reform and most conservative jews would be fine with travelling during the week between rosh hashana and yom kippur, and during sukkot. But Orthodox jews (and some conservatives) won't be.

As for the meeting being on thursday and friday: regardless of when you schedule this meeting, the observant jews will want to be home before sundown on friday.
posted by Kololo at 8:27 AM on May 4

Here's a handy list I found of what orthodox jews can and cannot do on specific days in 2009.
posted by jourman2 at 8:30 AM on May 4

Thanks for all the advice. I don't know who the attendee's are -- it's a relatively larger conference. We were just in the first stages of planning, and I knew there were a lot of religious holidays that time of year, and I didn't want to be totally clueless.

I have no reason to believe we have any orthodox or particularly observant attendees, but I think that at least a couple of men were wearing kippahs (kippot?) which might indicate the opposite.
posted by mercredi at 8:58 AM on May 4

The week between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur should be fine this year... I believe Yom Kippur begins on Sunday night, so the Thursday/Friday before would be available. While that particular week is a significant one, there are no restrictions on travel or work then...
posted by lullaby at 9:18 AM on May 4

Someone who wears a kippah is very likely to be Orthodox (or possibly Conservative), and very likely to be Sabbath-observant. So a Thursday-Friday meeting will pose problems for any Sabbath-observant person unless they live very close by. Someone traveling from out-of-town, for instance, would probably have to leave very early on Friday to return home before the Sabbath, or wait until Saturday night or Sunday morning to travel after the Sabbath. This is going to be a difficulty with any Thursday-Friday conference, so there may not be anything you can do about it.

With Yom Kippur starting on a Sunday night this year, that might make travel a bit more stressful, as the available window for returning home would be somewhat tight. Leaving on Saturday night would probably be hard for anyone who has to fly - the Sabbath ends at 8 o'clock, which means getting to most airports much before 9 would be hard. At that time of night, most places have few flights. So anyone affected would have to fly back on Sunday morning, which would be doable, but as I say, somewhat stressful - if flights are delayed or cancelled due to weather, etc., then you could wind up not making it home for Yom Kippur, which would be a lousy thing to have happen.

So that Thursday-Friday would be possible, but perhaps less than ideal for observant Jews. But I commend you for thinking about this issue - all too often, people don't even consider these concerns.
posted by DavidNYC at 9:42 AM on May 5