Midpoints: A Norwood Day for all

Most people have access to at least one calendar that provides the holidays during each month of the current year. Many also look ahead at the following year’s calendar to plan vacations and trips, parties and weddings, appointments, and even surgeries. It’s what we do in a busy society. We plan ahead.

Why, then, did the people who plan Norwood Day not notice sooner that this year’s event, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19, falls on the first day of the high Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, which is commonly known as the Jewish New Year?

Everyone in town knows that Recreation Department Superintendent Gerry Miller, his dedicated staff, and many volunteers work incredibly hard to make what has become a much anticipated and enjoyed Norwood tradition happen. Local businesses and civic organizations enjoy a unique opportunity to get their message out, to raise funds, and to allow people to sample their products.

There is plenty of food, crafts, raffles, entertainment, and rides for the kids. A large percentage of the town’s residents turns out for this day-long “block party.” To make it impossible for a significant number of Norwood residents to participate is counterproductive to the intent of Norwood Day, which is to celebrate the entire community.

Even more astonishing, how can the Board of Selectmen delay making a decision on the issue? It should be simple. Change the date. Find a way to include the entire community in Norwood Day. Excluding a portion from participating, no matter how unintentional, is unforgivable.

One Jewish resident told me attending Norwood Day would not be an option if it was held on Rosh Hashanah.

“I’ll be at the synagogue,” she said. “I go to the synagogue in the morning and I’m back in the evening.”

The first day, she said, is the holier of the two-day observance. Eight days later, the Jewish community will celebrate Yom Kippur, the holiest of days in the Jewish calendar.

According to various reliable sources, Rosh Hashanah is a time of introspection, of looking back on mistakes of the past year, and planning changes to make in the New Year. No work is permitted on Rosh Hashanah. Much of the day is spent in synagogue, where the daily liturgy is expanded; it includes a special prayer book used especially for this holiday.

How would Christians feel if a secular event was scheduled for Easter weekend? I suspect the outrage would be considerable.

Some of the arguments in favor of keeping to the originally scheduled date of Sept. 19 fall short of valid.

“Unfortunately, as anyone who has tried to organize anything like this in town knows,” Selectman Mike Lyons said, “there are always conflicts no matter what date you pick.”

But with a major religious holiday? Clearly, that is not just a minor conflict. Lyons urged the board to hold off mandating a change of date until they could meet with Miller.

Miller, who heads the Norwood Day committee on which Lyons serves, said in one report, “We have always scheduled Norwood Day for the second Saturday in September.” Most of the contractors, who handle such things as running the kiddie rides, have other engagements through September, he explained. The only options would be moving the event to August when most people are out of town, or to early November, when the weather is too cold. Changing vendors, he said, would mean switching to substandard providers.

“We’re stuck with the 19th,” he said. “It’s almost the case that if we cancel it because of Rosh Hashanah, then we’ll have to cancel it altogether.”

Members of the Jewish community are understandably upset with the cavalier attitude of the organizers.

“I’m sorry that our school will not be a part of this celebration,” said Jane Taubenfeld Cohen, head of the South Area Solomon Schechter Jewish Day School in Norwood. “We really want to be a part of the Norwood community, but Rosh Hashanah is one of our holiest days.”

A public meeting of the Norwood Day Committee is scheduled for Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Civic Center to address the issue. The Selectmen will not make a decision on the matter until its meeting with Miller on Tuesday, July 14.

Hopefully, the Selectmen will follow the advice of one of their own.

“It seems to me that if we inadvertently planned to have Norwood Day on Christmas, we’d move it,” Selectman Tom McQuaid said. “This is an important holiday for the Jewish community and we should change (the date) out of respect.”

Norwood resident Candace Leary’s Midpoints column appears Mondays in the Transcript.