Posted February 27 2008 by Marc Lerman
Will they have to forfeit?
The Herzl/Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy from Denver, CO might be in danger of losing a tournament championship game before they ever set foot on the court. In the midst of a championship basketball tournament, if RMHA wins one more game, they can play for the title. However, the championship game takes place next Shabbos, March 8. The school petitioned the Colorado High School Activities Association for a time change but was denied. Now, state senators are taking up the cause and calling on the CHSAA to change the time to allow the Jewish boys to play. One senator found the whole situation ironic because the CHSAA doesn’t allow games on Sundays because of religious reasons.
Best of luck to the Jewish students.
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6 Comments currently posted. 
Benji Rosenzweig says:
Zechariah Mehler says:
So it was written. So it has been Dugg.
spam says:
Benji, you can submit any story on Jewneric to a number of social networking sites using the handy links at the bottom of each post.
Dave Weinberg says:
I love how I just clicked on the DIgg link and there was only 1 digg, yet there are now 5 people involved in this conversation. Benji, Marc and Z……you should digg the story if you are already talking about digging this story.
Back to the point: This is nothing new, every few years a story like this comes up in the news where some high school, college or singular player (ala Tamir Goodman) need things changed for their sabbath observance. However, quick and directed political pressure, as mentioned above, might due the trick….Go RMHA!
P.S. does anyone reading this know someone working or going to school at RMHA? It would be great to show them our allegiance.
yakof says:
I think you make the request to the league, and then if they decline, just let everyone know that Shabbos is much more important to you than the playoffs. I believe that would be a kiddush hashem, and it would not leave the door open for other teams to complain about the Jews using political muscle to get preferential treatment.
Yaakov
Moshe Glasser says:
Oddly enough, Marc, this kind of thing happens all the time. My own school, Torah academy of Bergen County, made it to the National Mock Trial Championships, and was told that they would have to compete on Shabbat as well. Jewish, seventh Day Adventist, and even Muslim groups in New Jersey took up the cause, which got national news coverage on network TV. Eventually, they reshuffled the day’s schedule so they could play twice on Friday, then Saturday night. The willingness of organizations to ignore Shabbat concerns while treating Sunday as sacrosanct goes way back. The New Jersey State Bar and North Carolina State Bar associations both voted to remove themselves from the national competition, and start their own. While we do occasionally get stepped on, this country seems to have enough tolerant people to keep us up. Hopefully, enough publicity will create anger and protest, and force the basketball association to change its rules. You can read more about the Mock Trial conflict here: http://www.jstandard.com/articles/399/1/N.C.-to-abstain-from-mock-trial-in-protest
Is there a way to Digg this story. We should be getting the word out about htis.