At noon on Sunday, Juice Jam starts. At sundown that same day, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, also begins.

“Because the holiday starts after sundown, technically it’s not scheduled on the holiday, but certainly students are going to be enjoying themselves on Sunday,” said Brian Small, the executive director of Hillel at Syracuse University. “They’re going to be wrapped up with the big event and all the other things that are going on and I think a lot of them may make the decision not to actively participate in services or actively participate in our dinner.”

University Union knew about the conflict, but couldn’t avoid it because of construction at Skytop Field, said UU Public Relations Co-Director Alli Reich. Rapper Big Sean is set to headline the annual event and will be joined by EDM artist Oliver Heldens, rapper ILoveMakonnen, alternative pop duo Matt and Kim, indie pop singer BØRNS and EDM artist SNBRN.

“Obviously, we never mean to plan an event on a holiday, but unfortunately this year it just happened,” Reich said. “It was I guess the only time that we could really do it the way that we really can, the way that the festival is meant to be and we can really fully execute everything that we needed to.”

Reich said she had not reached out to Hillel about the conflict, but that she would be “more than happy to have a conversation with them if they would like to speak about it.”

Small said he plans to reach out to UU after the holy days. He said this is not the first time that Jewish students have had to make a choice between a university event and observing a holiday.

For the past two years, football games have been scheduled on Yom Kippur. Small said communication with the university has improved since the football game scheduling conflicts partially because Hillel made its concerns known.

“We had to vocally say that there’s enough weekends, and there’s enough time, and there’s enough football games, and there’s enough space on campus where we can all get along and figure out a scheduling that doesn’t offend anybody, that doesn’t hurt anybody, that doesn’t block anybody’s ability to do big events on campus,” Small said.

He added that Hillel was contacted about this year’s Mayfest because the event almost fell on the first night of Passover, which would have prohibited Hillel from hosting their annual Seder in the Dome. Small said they were able to reach a consensus that worked for all parties involved.

Small added that the conflicts have allowed students to think about what Judaism means to them.

“If Rosh Hashanah is so important to a student, Juice Jam shouldn’t matter,” Small said. “If Yom Kippur is so important to a student, then the football game shouldn’t matter.”

David Kimelman is one of those students who will have to make these choices. Kimelman, a former Hillel board member, said he will be going to Juice Jam and then attending services. He said most students he has talked to plan to go to Juice Jam and then go to services if they can.

He added that some students who would have wanted to go home for the weekend now have to choose between that and Juice Jam.

“It would be nice if it could be changed,” Kimelman said. “That being said, I do understand a lot of different restrictions go into this and though it’s not ideal, right now I’m not as upset about it as I might be if we see that this is a pattern.”

Published on September 9, 2015 at 10:42 pm

Contact: clmoran@syr.edu