Dear Editor,

I would like to express my disappointment with some of the decisions made regarding this year’s calendar, as well as with the school’s lack of action during the snowstorm of March 2, 2009.

At sundown on March 9, 2009, the Jewish holiday of Purim began. In observance of Purim, many Jewish people go to Synagogue to hear the Meggilah read. Even though there was a Jewish holiday, school was in session until its regularly scheduled ending time.

For me, as well as for dozens of other students, that meant we would either have to go to class or miss class to observe the Jewish holiday. I believe this is unacceptable. Cardozo is a division of Yeshiva University and usually cancels or reschedules classes for Jewish holidays.

That wasn’t the case for Purim. As a result, this Monday night, instead of listening to the Meggilah at Synagogue, I found myself sitting in class until 8 p.m. By the time I got to the service I had missed the entire Meggilah reading for the first time in my life. I know others have similar stories.

I do not understand why school did not end early. For other Jewish holidays, Cardozo arranges its schedule so as not to interfere with religious observance. There are many students who specifically chose Cardozo so they would not have classes for Jewish holidays. It is not clear why the holiday could not be accommodated. I think that YU’s doctrine of Torah U’Maddah was ignored.

In addition, I believe holding school on a day when there was 14 inches of snow on the ground was an invitation for disaster, as many students, including myself, do not live in the immediate vicinity of the school and had to subject themselves the whims of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority, as well as to the perils of walking outside on the iciest and slipperiest day of the year.

Even Mayor Bloomberg closed New York public schools, which had not been done in five years. While it is in the past, I believe, as a student, that a similar situation should not occur in the future, and a formal policy should be implemented when school will be canceled in the future.

For example, Yeshiva implemented an emergency telephone/text messaging service; however, during this recent weather emergency, not one notice went out regarding whether class was in session or not. Further, there was no announcement posted on the Cardozo web page. Some notice is even better than no notice.

Jeremy Zenilman, 3L