How is to not be Jewish at GDS?

[Anonymous]

"The Yiddish he spoke during the town hall meeting with the community held as part of the new head selection process was just a prelude."

I would have agreed with you PP but the last line in 18:45's post sounds more than a little anti semitic to me. Sounds like she is not at all comfortable with anything to do that has a jewish feel to it.

[Anonymous]

I dunno, it's hard to fit the line about Yiddish into the die-hard secularist explanation.

[Anonymous]

Yoke -- owe me a coke, LOL!

[Anonymous]

10:26 and 10:29 Yes, you're right. I hadn't considered that line.

[Anonymous]

Posts like this really make me only want to send my kids to Jewish private schools. If a place like GDS, which is supposed to be so inclusive and diverse can cause this type of animosity, I'd rather my children be in a school where it wont be judged and scrutinzed like this, and where they wont feel like people think they have an "advantage" bc they cant do homework on the high holidays.

[Anonymous]

While there's obviously at least one person from GDS with an "excessive Judaism" grievance, as far as I can tell, most of the critics have been non-GDS posters. So I'm not sure what, if anything, you can tell about the school/environment from this thread. Then again, if what you're saying is that you're surprised how much animosity the very idea of GDS can generate, I can certainly see where you're coming from.

[Anonymous]

Does somebody actually still speak Yiddish? The language is dead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does somebody actually still speak Yiddish? The language is dead

Plenty of people still speak yiddish. It is even taught as a course in several colleges. Also, I cant remember the last time I watched a tv show without hearing a single yiddish word - usually spoken by a non-jewish character.

[Anonymous]

Pretty much the same as not being Jewish anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does somebody actually still speak Yiddish? The language is dead

Plenty of people still speak yiddish. It is even taught as a course in several colleges. Also, I cant remember the last time I watched a tv show without hearing a single yiddish word - usually spoken by a non-jewish character.

You have just described latin
Nobody uses it in everyday life. It is left on the books and studied. It is not the mothertongue of anyone.
Some people use words here and there. Like the English language if full of latin words. But the English speaking do not speak Latin

[Anonymous]

It strikes me at if one-third of more of the kids at GDS are Jewish, the school should not even be holding class on Yom Kippur, and the first day of Rosh Hashanah. The fact that they do anyway shows that, in typical Jewish liberal fashion, "diversity" means standing up for everyone's interest except your own. Could you imagine if 1/3 of GDS's students were African American, and there was an African-American equivalent of Yom Kippur (i.e., most African American students would feel compelled to be in church that day and not attend school) that GDS would nevertheless hold classes? Wouldn't such a policy be seen as an indication of "insensitivity to diversity concerns." I suspect that not being Jewish at GDS is much less of an issue that being a Jew who isn't of the very liberal and of the-greatest-moment-in-Jewish-history-was-Jewish-participation-in-the-March-on-Washington school of thought.

(And, to be clear, I'm very happy with such Jewish participation in the March, but it's not a major marker of my cultural identity).

[Anonymous]

It is hypotheticals such as "Imagine if X or Y identified group faced the same thing, then there would be all hell to pay!" How do you know? This is just slipshod argumentation.

Maybe someone should just call the school and ask. Really, I am a (non-Jewish) parent at the school, and this stuff drives me nuts. It is a secular school, not a religious school, so I would not expect it to cancel classes on high holy days (even if county schools do). Maybe the question *should* be why do publicly funded schools do so? Easter is always on a Sunday, and Christmas during winter break, so you can't make those arguments. Most schools do hold class (and give homework) on the 'high holy day' of Good Friday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is hypotheticals such as "Imagine if X or Y identified group faced the same thing, then there would be all hell to pay!" How do you know? This is just slipshod argumentation.

Maybe someone should just call the school and ask. Really, I am a (non-Jewish) parent at the school, and this stuff drives me nuts. It is a secular school, not a religious school, so I would not expect it to cancel classes on high holy days (even if county schools do). Maybe the question *should* be why do publicly funded schools do so? Easter is always on a Sunday, and Christmas during winter break, so you can't make those arguments. Most schools do hold class (and give homework) on the 'high holy day' of Good Friday.

Because the only reason NOT to cancel classes when 1/3 or more of the students will be absent is a hostility to recognizing religion, which is contrary to the professed interest in diversity?

[Anonymous]

17:33 said "... the only reason NOT to cancel classes when 1/3 or more of the students will be absent is a hostility to recognizing religion, which is contrary to the professed interest in diversity?"

Not at all. If you're secular, you draw a balance somewhere. Because GDS is not a school "for Jews," it is reasonable not to privilege religious holidays of Jews. Imagine that, say, Field School became 1/3 Jewish (maybe it is - I have no idea; just trying to avoid Sidwell and also the non-secular schools). Should they adjust accordingly to fit the diversity du jour? Also, be careful in assuming kids of Jewish heritage will all choose to miss school on Yom Kippur. I know lots who don't observe, but don't know if they are included in the 1/3 figure above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is hypotheticals such as "Imagine if X or Y identified group faced the same thing, then there would be all hell to pay!" How do you know? This is just slipshod argumentation.

Maybe someone should just call the school and ask. Really, I am a (non-Jewish) parent at the school, and this stuff drives me nuts. It is a secular school, not a religious school, so I would not expect it to cancel classes on high holy days (even if county schools do). Maybe the question *should* be why do publicly funded schools do so? Easter is always on a Sunday, and Christmas during winter break, so you can't make those arguments. Most schools do hold class (and give homework) on the 'high holy day' of Good Friday.

Not again! ANd how exactly did winter break get to be winter break?