Seder and Sports: No Problem for Jewish New York Fans, Says Jeffrey Gurock As someone who has frequently been righteously critical of the world of sports for holding games on central Jewish holidays and gratified when recent protests have led the Lord of Athletics to change the starting times of games to permit Jews to get home or to synagogues or temples on time to celebrate with friends and relatives, I was pleased to note this Monday evening—Seder night—all major sports from the NHL and NBA playoffs to major league baseball in New York City have the day off. Nor are the Yanks or Mets scheduled for a road game.

Perhaps, it is a great sign of increased sensitivity to a minority group’s cultural needs in the largest Jewish city outside of Israel as the Seder—the first night of Passover—is annually the single most observed ritual followed by American Jews. (More religious Jews, who live outside of Israel, conduct a second Seder, but that is another matter of choice entirely.) Or, it just might be that coincidence simply rules here as Monday is a common day of rest for professional athletes. Certainly the way, the Mets are playing right now they could use some time off. No matter, I am happy that so many Jews in my city don’t have to choose this time between faith observance and the pressures of fandom. Baseball stadia are dark in five other cities but in fact, elsewhere in 10 other locales, the games go on. Interestingly, Monday is also the day of the Boston Marathon, but that major event ends long before sundown—as does the noon time Red Sox game on Patriots’ Day—permitting even the slowest strugglers to get home to re-carbo-load at their Seders or to recount the travails of the Sox. In other words, this Passover is a good time to be both a Jew and sports person in Gotham and admittedly in Boston too. Let’s hope that “next year in America”  there will be no sports and faith challenges for our  fanatics anywhere in this tolerant country as the holiday would be explicitly noted in athletics calendars even as Jews recite longingly in the hagaddah (the text that most Seder attendees read at their meal), “Next Year in Jerusalem.” Dr. Jeffrey S. Gurock, is the Libby M. Klaperman Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University and author of Judaism’s Encounter with American Sports ( Indiana  University  Press, 2005).