Nah, it means he’s cut, but never looks at it.
I guess I’d better return your Kwanzaa present then.
Technically, yes. In practice, most Jews won’t accept you if you’re Catholic. But if you decide to return to Judaism, you will not need a conversion like non-Jews do.
It’s a tribal identity. The religion is just part of it, although it served to hold the tribe together for four thousand years or so.
I always thought the difference between vacation and holiday was one of duration. Vacation a week or usually more; holiday usually a single day; holidays perhaps a week or less.
Agreeing with me:
[QUOTE=Google’s dictionary]
vacation: an extended period of recreation, esp. one spent away from home or in traveling.
[/QUOTE]
More relevant to OP: Is it curious that the very people most adamant that Christmas retain the name associated with Jesus are often the very same people who prefer a different name for Martin Luther King’s Birthday holiday?
Jeebus, why is this so hard to understand?
There is no central authority that declares who is a Jew and who is not a Jew.
Members of a certain group may subscribe to whatever that group’s policy is, but “Reform Jews” is waaaay too broad of a category to generalize about. There is no one “standard of Reform practice.” Whoever wrote that book certainly isn’t speaking for me.
You can’t lump “Orthodox Jews” in together either. While I think we can safely assume that most Orthodox Jews would have a stricter interpretation of who is Jewish than a typical Reform Jew, you can’t assume that a Modern Orthodox person would have the same threshold as a Satmar.
Green Bean:
Yes you can. Any version of “Orthodox” takes their version of “Who is a Jew” from the Torah/Talmud/Shulchan Aruch, as they do all matters of genuine Halacha.
And they all interpret the relevant scripture the same way?
:: sigh ::
The ultra-orthodox always think they make the rules.
p.s. You know I adore you, C. You’ve always been one of my favorite posters.
Ah, so you don’t actually know any black people.
Sammy Davis, Jr was a Jew* and Black.
I’m not sure which happened first.
- or was he Jewish? Goodness, now I’m confused…
.
Not in the world of Political Correctness and Human Resources, especially a spineless HR Dept. that has no idea of what they can and cannot say to an employee. My answer to you (and to this employee) would have been something along the lines of “I’m sorry you are offended by the word holiday, however it is not an offensive word and being offended by it would appear to be a personal choice, not one based on anything logical”. Actually, if I was on the receiving end of this complaint, I would have not said a word… If it was a phone call, i would have hung up (voice mail, deleted, no reply). Email would similarly be deleted with no response, and in person, I would probably have shaken my head, asked the person to please leave my office and close the door behind him, and hope he got the hint. I would NOT have contacted the person who wrote the email.
My wife is not able to tell the person anything, as HR has been brought into it. Anyone familiar with how HR departments are run (or can be run) knows that getting in their radar screen is bad enough, but to exasperate any situation is worse. So, my wife did the only thing she could have done, i believe. Politely refuse to apologize, and say no more until she has to. Of course, this has now snowballed to involve her boss as well as the next level of HR, so who knows where this will go… Hopefully, someone will come to their senses and say “enough… Let’s go back to work.”
Exactly.
In Europe, i believe they use the term “Holiday” to refer to vacation time… I’ve had many co-workers based in Switzerland and Britain who would say they were going on or just came back from “Holiday.”
Wasn’t the orthodox jewish smiley originally created for a guy who apparently was a complete fraud on this board? I think bringing that particular smilie back would be a bad idea because of all the baggage attached to it.
I know a number of black people, mostly co-workers, but a few friends. Not one has ever said anything to me regarding Kwanzaa at all, including asking for time off, demanding it be acknowledged, or anything else. I am guessing here, but at least the folks I know would identify themselves as some type of christian, and celebrate Christmas.
I had a conversation with a black friend in grad school about Kwanzaa and he knew nothing about it, other than the standard info that most people know. He didn’t know any family or friends that celebrated it. I admit my sample size is small, but I’ve never heard anything about it in a corporate setting.
You’re thinking of the Wally (Putz) for WallyM7
Green Bean:
Sorry, I don’t get it. Non-Orthodox Jews don’t consider the Torah the final word on matters of halacha, and Orthodox Jews - whether they’re called “Modern” or “Ultra” or “Haredi” or “Hasidic” - do. No “Modern Orthodox” Jew is going to say that the halachic standard of who is a Jew was imposed by the “Ultras” and that they disagree. There are certainly some differences, but not in core matters like that.
What’s black and white and Jewish and has two eyes?
Sammy Davis, Jr. and Moshe Dayan. or Rashida Jones.
So when you said, and I quote, “black people feel slighted if one says “Merry Christmas” instead of Happy Kwanzaa,” you knew ahead of time you were just making shit up?
Where I work my department used to have one person of the Jehovah’s Witness persuasion. We’d have seasonal potlucks, and every year in December the office would host a lunchtime feast that consisted of turkey with all the trimmings, Dress-blues Marines to accept Toys for Tots donations, and charity raffles. The JW wouldn’t attend the festivities because JWs don’t celebrate holidays. So it couldn’t be a Christmas party or a holiday celebration. She wouldn’t even participate in the potlucks or lunch. I just don’t get it. You DO eat, right? I can understand not wanting to decorate, participate in gift giving, etc., but you DO eat?
I say, if you’re going to be offended at the word “holiday,” then don’t take the day off! Not one person EVER complained of having to take a paid day off or getting an annual bonus. (Well, THOSE don’t happen anymore :()
No holiday pay for YOU!
And BTW, in the UK a day when the office is closed but you get paid it’s a “bank holiday.” If it’s your own scheduled time off, that we in the US call “vacation,” it’s just simply “holiday.”
What, the downfall of Western civilization as we know it?
Let’s settle this whole Jewish thing. Here’s my take on it:
Jews a remembers of a tribal religion. But that means that we view the world through the lens of a tribal religion, and in effect, think of all other religions as being tribal religions, too. That means that an atheist Jew is still a Jew - they may have chosen not to follow tribal customs, but they’re still members of the tribe. Jews who convert to another religion, though, have chosen to join a *different *tribe - say the Christian tribe - which means they can no longer be Jews. It makes no difference that Christianity isn’t tribal. To Jews, you religion is a sign of tribal allegiance.
Some I’ve known wouldn’t want to involve themselves in any part of the holiday requiring some form of participation. Having the office closed and getting paid for it doesn’t count as “participating” in their eyes. YMMV big time
That might be how certain dictionaries define things, but that’s not how it’s used by US Americans.