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Field closed: Yom Kippur
In Hillsdale it has been borough policy for the last few years to close its fields on certain religious holidays.
The impetus behind this, according to Councilman Max Arnowitz, is to prevent leagues from holding games when some of the players might have religious obligations.
Beyond that, Arnowitz said that he’s concerned not necessarily with the coach or league punishing someone who doesn’t show up for a game due to a holiday, but with the punishment in the form of peer pressure, the player’s teammates who feel like they’ve been let down, and the resulting family conflicts that could ensue.
One of the cited concerns by other council members is the growing list of religious beliefs in our area. One representative from a recreation sports league, who attended the last council meeting on March 11 when the topic was discussed, presented a list of 81 days when the fields could potentially be closed due to various religious beliefs.
This misses the point.
The borough has absolutely no right to close any of its fields based on religion. It has no right to tell any religious sect if, when, or how it is to recognize its holidays or to punish other religions by preventing access to a field that belongs to the people.
The council spent well over an hour discussing this issue. In the end, the only person in the room who seemed to understand the issue to its fullest was resident Norbert Klecanda, who told the council that he moved to the United States and chose to become a citizen because of the freedoms that this country provides, among them religious freedom and the right to use the fields that the town’s taxpayers pay for.
Klecanda was right – this is a conversation that should have never taken place.
It is truly unfortunate and depressing that elected officials would ever need to be told that.
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