[NU Sports] NU-Nevada game to conflict with Rosh Hashanah

[NEONRye at aol.com]

I have to weigh in on this one, being Jewish and having a very strong  
Freshman Year memory to relate that bears on this subject.
 
When I went out to NU  after growing up in Great Neck, LI (a heavily  Jewish 
suburban community), I dove headlong into an "assimilation" mode, where I  
sought not to hide my religious background, but wasn't always able to juggle the  
conflicting impulses of wanting to "fit in" among the diverse student body in 
 Evanston.  I pledged a mostly non-Jewish fraternity (Theta Delta Chi), from  
which I later dropped out at the end of my freshman year.  Through a frat  
party I met a girl from Minnesota, whom I started dating.  Of course, she  
wasn't Jewish, in keeping with my theme.
 
I went to services at Cahn Auditorium on Rosh Hashana--like a good Jewish  
boy.:-)   And then came Yom Kippur--the holiest day on the Jewish  calendar.  
And once again, I went to services at Cahn.  But with Yom  Kippur came a "Sandy 
Koufax-like" conflict for Yours Truly.  The 'Cats, led  by Mike Adamle, and 
playing quite well at the time (leading the Big Ten, with  OSU, if I am not 
mistaken) were scheduled to play a home game that afternoon,  and "Cathy's" 
parents were coming down for the game, which I think was against  their beloved 
Gophers.  
 
Well, I couldn't resist going to the game and watching it with Cathy and  her 
folks--and that's just what I did.  We won in a rout--48-0 if memory  serves. 
 But I have carried the guilt (and there's nothing like "Jewish  guilt" for 
those keeping score at home) for more than 30 years.  In fact, I  actually 
spoke about this situation to my entire Synagogue Congregation about 5  years ago 
when called upon to give sort of a "lay" sermon on Yom Kippur by our  
then-Rabbi, Rachel Mikva (the daughter of our former Congressman in Evanston,  Abner 
Mikva).
 
So, the moral of the story is:  NU has always scheduled games on the  Jewish  
High Holidays, for better or worse, so I wouldn't read to much into  the 
rescheduling of the Nevada game.
 
 
Northwestern may have had some serious issues as a community in years past  
with regards to its hospitability  to certain ethnic, racial and religious  
groups, but I would like to believe that our alma mater is now a tolerant place  
with as heterogeneous a student body as can be found in any premier academic  
institution in this country.   
 
Hope I haven't sounded too preachy here. but I thought this debate should  
not get out of hand.
 
 
Paul Levinson