On Oct. 6, 1965, one of the most famous events in Jewish sports history occurred, and nothing happened.
Sandy Koufax chose not to pitch Game 1 of the World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Minnesota Twins because it fell on Yom Kippur.
This coming weekend, Jews will be celebrating their new year, Rosh Hashanah.
Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah are frequently referred to as the high holidays, the two most important days on the Jewish calendar.
Much as the World Series went on in 1965, so will Penn sports teams compete this weekend. Eight Penn teams will be participating in nine events this weekend, all during the two-day period of Rosh Hashanah. Fortunately, no athletes will be faced with same decision Koufax had - no Quakers team is playing on Oct. 2, which is Yom Kippur.
Jews and sports have always been a rather incongruous pairing. There have of course been some fantastic Jewish athletes, but let's be honest: Jews are associated with a myriad of characteristics, and athleticism is not generally one of them. In fact, try to name some famous Jewish athletes. As Adam Sandler reminds us, Rod Carew converted.
However, it is not surprising that at Penn - which is almost a third Jewish - there would be many Jewish athletes. Many of them will not be challenged by difficult decisions.
As Josh Hirsch pointed out in his column on Tuesday, Penn Athletics was careful to avoid scheduling many events on Friday night or Saturday, instead arranging events on Saturday night or the second day of Rosh Hashanah, Sunday. Days begin and end at sundown in the Jewish calendar, meaning that many people will end their celebrations Saturday evening.
In addition, many coaches asked their players as far back as last spring whether they would play during the holiday and scheduled according to their responses.
With the accommodations Athletics has made, most Jewish players feel comfortable playing this weekend. They will be able to attend services Friday night and Saturday morning, eat dinner with family members and participate in competition on Saturday night or Sunday.
Some Jewish athletes will miss practice on Friday night or Saturday morning in order to celebrate the occasion and spend time with family, according to Mike Mahoney, director of athletic communications.
Penn's Jewish athletes have no expectation that the University will schedule around them given that classes are not cancelled during the holidays. Yet the fact that so many Jewish athletes will participate in games speaks to a larger trend in our society.
For many athletes, it is far from taboo to run, shoot, throw, block or hit on a religious holiday. We all watch players attempt to win on holidays, and many Penn athletes have been competing on these same holidays since they were children. After all, we watch athletes every year suit up on Christmas for big NBA and NFL games.
Our society expects many events to stop on religious holidays, yet sports always seem to go on. However, I am pleased that Penn and the Athletics department are considerate of the religious needs of athletes, bucking the trend set by national sports. By considering the desires of their athletes, they are also bowing to the needs of their fans.
Though I will not be at any Penn sporting events this weekend as I celebrate Rosh Hashanah, I wish those Jewish athletes who are participating the best of luck and L'shana Tova.
Matt Meltzer is a senior political science major from Glen Rock, N.J. His e-mail address is meltzerm@sas.upenn.edu.
