<p>If she was just observing a religious holiday then she should have stayed off the graduation and not make the mockery of the education system.
No one would have asked any question about her missing the graduation.</p>
<p>Once again the problem I raised was with the education system and making the mockery of the school system. If we can’t educate children to understand and comprehend logical reasoning then we fail as society.</p>
<p>Religious tolerance doesn’t mean that you have the right to make mockery of the system. It just gives every one freedom to choose what they believe as long as it doesn’t interfere with others functioning.</p>
<p>I’m not questioning the girl’s belief system but questioning her actions to use this belief system to make a mockery of the school’s graduation ceremony.</p>
<p>I am really glad that Brooklynborndad made his last few posts (referring to many many posts ago, now). I was despairing reading page after page of this thread without any clear statement of that position. For a Jew, observing Jewish law regarding shabbat (including holidays) does not require belief in any supernatural entity, or any supernatural consequences to observance or nonobservance. It may just be a question of deciding to follow the law of the community to which one belongs, of being proud to be a member of that community and to demonstrate her commitment to it even at some personal cost.</p>
<p>That’s not irrational, or superstitious, or anything. It’s only a little different than the kind of decision I make when I decide to wear clothes, even though it’s 100 degrees here today and I would be more comfortable without them. Or when I get my hair cut a certain way, because I think it looks good that way but also because it will signal to my partners, clients, and potential clients what kind of person I am. Very few humans anywhere don’t engage in those sorts of social calculations. They only become problematic when one is a member of some minority group with strong traditions outside the mainstream, and then one has to choose more deliberately where and how to strike the balance. So you may see some women covering their heads with wigs (and no one can really tell that their heads are covered) and some covering their heads with hijab. I fail to see how anyone striking that balance “makes a mockery” of any education system.</p>
<p>As for POIH’s questions, those have been asked and answered for centuries in Jewish law, worked out according to pretty rational, recognizable thought processes and debate, albeit starting with the unquestioned premise that there IS a law that demands certain limitations on shabbat.</p>
<p>One final thing – does no one wonder why it is OK for her to attend her high school graduation at all on Shavuot? That’s what surprised me most about the story, to tell the truth.</p>
<p>But that doesn’t answer the question because Jews that are NOT observant will equate “gentile” and in that sense it means that “society won’t function with gentile”.</p>
<p>POIH, I have faith that one day you will wite a post that does not either exalt MIT or the Harker school above all others, or irritate vast numbers of other posters with some subtle or not so subtle insult. On that day everyone will actually agree with you.</p>
<p>It’s a farfetched thought. I know there is no rational basis for my belief - call it superstition, myth, whatever - but I have hope.</p>
<p>"One final thing – does no one wonder why it is OK for her to attend her high school graduation at all on Shavuot? That’s what surprised me most about the story, to tell the truth. "</p>
<p>If she lived within walking distance of where the graduation was held, it would have been quite possible for her to attend without violating any of the halacha of yom tov. As long there was no time conflict with any positive observances of Yom Tov (and thats pretty flexible) I see no problem at all.</p>
<p>My own daughter, who is now much more shabbot observant than a year ago (she will ride in a car to synagogue, but after 9 months in Israel of not even doing that, shes not comfortable with it) was wrestling with how to attend her HS chorus spring show (shes a chorus alum, and wanted to attend as an alum) She had it all planned to walk the 2 plus miles home from her HS, causes spring show is friday night. This got resolved cause the show got rescheduled to Wed night (NOT for the Jews, but for some other mystery of HS auditorium scheduling)</p>
<p>POIH, you realize of course that in the eyes of pretty much everyone here you are making the greatest mockery possible of whatever education system produced you. As you represent it, it seems horribly, grotesquely deficient, so that someone “educated” in that manner can be functionally ignorant on important issues and be completely unaware of his ignorance. Also, apparently it left you incapable of recognizing when you are making unjustified, purely idiosyncratic assumptions about what our education system represents.</p>
<p>You ought to exercise caution in accusing others of mocking an education system. I have a hard time believing that yours could possibly be as awful as you make it out to be.</p>
<p>I’m very liberal and tolerant of all views. Problem I posted in this thread had nothing to do with anyone beliefs but using those beliefs to make a mockery of the system.</p>
<p>If you can’t distinguish between the two then it’s your problem. </p>
<p>As I indicated before all of the people who actually responded to this thread bashing OP are the one that will have problem sitting or sharing a meal with a person of different faith. They will have difficulty adjusting to some one from different faith at their place or at the others place.</p>
<p>I on the other hand will welcome people of all faith at my place and will be able to live with them at their place. But I can bet that people who are slave to belief system will find it very difficult to live at another equally conservative belief system.</p>
<p>POIH has made it painfully clear that he has no clue that his posts are offensive and has no intention of considering that possibility and believes he is liberal and tolerant in his thinking. Pshaw. The only “logical” thing (per his rigid,concrete,impermeable and painfully insensitive way of thinking), while this thread has been…interesting… to say the least, is to close it and move on.</p>
<p>How did this girl make a mockery of the school system and the graduation ceremony? She did not affect anyone else. Nobody had to do anything differently but her. In our country, POIH, schools allow for accommodations of religious beliefs (kosher cafeterias at colleges, SAT make up days for Jews due to the Sabbath, not making Jehovah’s Witnesses partake in birthday celebrations, allowing Muslim head coverings even when caps/hats are not allowed in the classroom, etc.). What did this girl MOCK? Her school worked around her religious system and found a way to have her speech included in the ceremony. It could not force her to go against her religious observance of the holiday. They could have said, “sorry, you can’t give any speech then,” but instead, found a way to make it work so that her religious rights were not violated, which is how our country works. She did NOT interfere with anyone else’s rights. How were others’ interfered with? How did her observance of her religious holiday affect others? They all got to attend their graduation and then the val’s speech was a recording. Say what?</p>
<p>"But that doesn’t answer the question because Jews that are NOT observant will equate “gentile” and in that sense it means that “society won’t function with gentile”. "</p>
<p>once again, I am not sure how to answer, because your inablity to write a standard English sentence makes it hard for me to know what you are saying. Its like trying to argue with Sarah Palin.</p>
<p>However I will state that non-observant Jew does NOT equal gentile, either in Jewish law, or in the social norms of Israeli society. </p>
<p>Nor in English generally. Perhaps given your belief in learning, you might take some time to work on learning English, and then come back here later?</p>
<p>“As I indicated before all of the people who actually responded to this thread bashing OP are the one that will have problem sitting or sharing a meal with a person of different faith”</p>
<p>Nu uh. the most strictly kosher observant Jew can share a meal with a person of a different faith - as long as the FOOD is kosher. </p>
<p>One thing I could see for sure that my education actually is worth because it has taught me to at least ask question and doesn’t allow me to accept anything for the sake of superstitious beliefs.</p>
<p>I also thank my education to provide me the ability to understand that all the problems plaguing this world stem for superstitious beliefs.</p>
<p>I also thank my education to provide me the ability to understand that a child mind is a blank slate and if we write on that superstitions then they will live all their adult life struggling with that and may result in fanatics who will kill everyone else who don’t belong or agree with their belief system.</p>
<p>JHS: I’m not sure what you are thankful of about your education.</p>
<p>What exactly did she do to make a mockery of the graduation ceremony???</p>
<p>I’m sure that in the course of U.S history, there have been situations where the valedictorian was not able to attend the ceremony (perhaps an obligation to attend a funeral), and other accommodations were made. Does that make a mockery of the education system?</p>
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<p>Are you kidding me? Everyone knows who the valedictorian and salutatorian are. And everyone would have been asking why she wasn’t there if they had not pre-taped her speech.</p>
<p>Actually, POIH, YOU are NOT welcoming of people of all faith…you are not condoning that this teenager’s faith was accommodated and if you had been at that graduation, you were not welcoming of that fact and would have felt your rights were being interfered with (according to your other posts). This is a direct contradiction to being so welcoming of people of all faiths. If you truly welcome people of all faiths, respect their right to believe in what they do.</p>
<p>POIH you are the only one here to see what happened as “making mockery of the school system”, the rest of us see this as shining example of how the 1st Amendment of our Bill of Rights is supposed to work. Physician heal thyself!</p>
<p>I respect that you are not a native English speaker, but please understand that many of your statements including the subject heading of this thread do not make sense due to your language skills. </p>
<p>Also, tolerance is not about logic. You are lacking in tolerance. Those who respect religious differences are tolerant. It has nothing to do with logic. Being tolerant doesn’t mean agreeing with others’ religious belief systems. Being American means tolerance for the freedom of religion. Being educated in America means learning to think with an open mind and teaching acceptance of different points of view and beliefs.</p>