London – Jews living in a north London neighborhood are outraged that the local council has scheduled an election for Yom Kippur.
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The election was triggered by the resignation of a Liberal Democrat councillor from the Alexandra ward. More than 300 Jews live in the ward, equivalent to 4 percent of the eligible voters.
“It’s a great shame,” Rabbi David Masson of the nearby Muswell Hill synagogue told the local Ham & High newspaper. “I haven’t seen an apology yet. It can’t take much for the council to get a calendar of the festivals.
“With all the complicated restrictions on the date, it puts it into ridicule,” the rabbi added. “And it’s not the first time this has happened. They have organized events and courses on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.”
Local Member of Parliament Lynne Featherstone said, “I feel very sad for the Jewish population…” She went on to say, “Anyone could tell you that Yom Kippur is the most high holiday. It’s not rocket science; you can find it in most calendars.
“It’s the sort of thing you don’t expect in Haringey, where everyone is supposed to be included, and here we find that the Jewish community is excluded.”
A council spokesman said, “We had little choice over the date. Under the rules, the window for the by-election was Sept. 30 to Oct. 10, excluding weekends.”
Elections are traditionally held Thursdays in Great Britian, and a change from this tradition could affect other segments of the electorate, the spokesman said. Those not able to vote on Election Day can send in a ballot early by mail.
Whats the outrage all about? You people are in galus , they can schedule the election when they want. This causes anti semitism.
vote by mail/absantee ballot is allowed and easier! so just do it and stop whinning
WHAT WOULD ALL OF YOU AMERECANS ESPECIALLY YOU PALIN/MCCAIN DO IF YOUR ELECTIONS WERE SCHEDULED FOR SHABBOS?
VOTE BY ABSENTEE BALLOT?
YOU ARE SO STUPID
Why are we Jews always “outraged”!
We look like fools.
This is golus, as we seem to outraged every time something reminds us of that. Maybe we have forgotten that we are in golus?
“Those not able to vote on Election Day can send in a ballot early by mail.”
The last time I went to a polling place on Election Day was a couple of decades ago, yet I’ve voted in every US election.
Galus or not, just remember that scheduling an election on Yom Kippur would not stand here in the U.S. – as we saw recently in Edison where a school budget vote was changed after first having been scheduled on Rosh Hashannah. We need to express more appreciation for our medina shel chesed.
I suggest they protest this outrage by going on a hunger strike…..
Yonason: US National elections are set by law to be the first Tuesday in November. If that happened to be a yom tov — nothing would change the election date.
they are a bunch of eurocentric anti semites!!
Antisemitism in the UK!? Come on, someones leg being pulled.
The final line of the article is the clincher: “Those not able to vote on Election Day can send in a ballot early by mail.” This being the case, why all the fuss? The last I checked, England was Christian company (or has it flipped to Moslem yet?)
Yes, it’s Moslem…a local council told its members not to have their usual tea & biscuits snack during meetings during Ramadan for fear of offending Muslim council members & workers.
You don’t know the half of it…thank G-d I emigrated to the US. Now it’s time to move on. Next year…Israel!!!
Thats good.. One less obligation to have..
Lock & Load
2:11 UseYourHead – That’s a good one!