Not Being That Noble

The Forward reports on a Jewish fella, an academic lecturer, who, while Jewish, is very much against cancelling classes for the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur at his university in Toronto because it discriminates against non-Jews.

Here are some of the details:-

A York University professor has lodged a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, alleging that the school discriminates against non-Jewish students because it cancels classes for three days annually during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

David Noble, a Jewish professor at York, filed the human rights complaint with the quasi-judicial commission after failing to convince university administrators that they should either cancel classes on all religious holidays or eliminate the practice. Noble, who teaches social and political thought in the Arts Faculty plans to hold classes on the High Holy Days in defiance of the current policy. According to Noble, this policy is in violation of the York University Act of 1965, which forbids the school to impose religious observances on any of its members.

About 10% of York's 50,000-member student body is Jewish, the largest Jewish presence on any Canadian campus. York is the only university in the country to cancel classes on any religious holidays other than statutory holidays such as Christmas. Students of any faith can be exempt from classes on their holidays without penalty if they speak with their professors in advance.

But what about any other cancellations, if they exist?

Noble insisted he is equally opposed to the cancellation of classes for Christmas and for the Friday before Easter. "But those are statutory holidays, and it's not within the purview of York University to act on it," he said. "The reason I'm focusing on Jewish holidays is because York is."

Ah, statutory. Like when the state forces religious holidays on you. That's okay?

And what about the very special observances of those three High Holidays? Going to synagogue. Not riding. Not writing.

And Noble is very Jewish:-

Asked whether he is a secular or religious Jew, Noble said: "Those are not categories that interest me. I have a certificate of my circumcision... if you want to see it."

Actually, I wouldn't want to see anything connected to Noble. Not his certificate nor his...