Rabbi Brad Hirschfield on Removing Religious Holidays from the School Calendar

This week, the Board of Education in Mongomery County, Maryland voted 7 to 1 to eliminate references to all religious holidays in their published calendar for 2015-2016.  They acted in response to a request from the community’s Muslim leaders that the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha be added alongside holidays such as Christmas, Easter, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hoshanah. The move is bad policy and wrong thinking, according to Brad Hirschfield, president of Clal and co-founder and executive editor of TheWisdomDaily.com. “We don’t make room for each other best when we banish parts of who we are.  We make room for each other best when we bring all of who we are and invite others to do the same.”

Tags: Board of Education, Brad Hirschfield, Christmas, Easter, Eid al-Adha, Faith, Faith on the Record, Holidays, Islam, Mongomery County, Muslim, Policy, Religion, Rosh Hoshanah, School Calendar, Yom Kippur