submitted by dames@augsburg.edu
“High Holy Day Primer”, created by Interfaith Fellow ‘17-’19 Wendy Goldberg, to help Augsburg know about this big season for Jews in our community.
1. The Jewish High Holy Day season runs from Fri. evening, Sept. 18 – Sun., Oct. 11. Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur are listed on secular calendars, but there is another 9-day holiday called Sukkot, right after Yom Kippur.
2. For college students, being away from home for these holidays can highlight the homesickness and the yearning to be in the nest, and for some, quite the opposite. If you celebrate Christmas, imagine staying on campus while most students return home for the holiday. If you celebrate Ramadan, this season is similar to that month of observance. All synagogues and the University of Minnesota Hillel will welcome students and we can help connect them, though everything is on Zoom this year.
3. How to be an ally: We encourage you to have conversations with your Jewish students and colleagues about their observances. They will likely welcome the questions or the greetings. And you could also move important meetings or events away from Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur. The 2020 dates for these holidays are:
Fri.– Sun., Sept.18-20: Rosh Hashannah begins at sundown on Sept. 18 and ends at nightfall on Sept. 20. Some American Jews celebrate for one day, others for two.
Sun., Sept. 27, Yom Kippur begins an hour before sundown and ends at nightfall on Monday, Sept. 28, and after a fully 25-hour fast and being in services most of those 25 hours, it’s unlikely that students would do any work on Monday, Sept. 28.
Sukkot begins at sundown on Fri., Oct. 2. The first two days are “Holy Days” where some Jews don’t work, use electricity, engage in commerce. Sukkot ends at sundown on either on Oct. 9 or 10.
Augsburg Religious Holidays Policy https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bsiyBZp2sQHfuA2jUGM2cnagAlz_tb0W-TIPnlocSus/edit?usp=sharing