Spiked on Yom Kippur
School big snubs coaches over holiday
She’s the Grinch of Jewish holidays.
A city athletic official told two Jewish high-school volleyball coaches in Queens that it wasn’t kosher to reschedule matches set on the eve of the highest holy day, Yom Kippur.
Brenda Morgan, sports coordinator for the Public Schools Athletic League, told girls’ varsity coaches Edward Shechtman at Martin Van Buren HS and Gail Rothfeld of Beach Channel HS they had two options.
“Get a replacement/substitute coach or forfeit the game,” she wrote in a terse e-mail.
The coaches were “dumb- founded and disturbed” by her response, Shechtman told The Post.
“She was being like a Nazi,” said Shechtman. “Would she have scheduled these games on Christmas Eve? I doubt it.”
Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, begins at nightfall on Tuesday, Oct. 11. The holy day is observed by fasting for about 24 hours, reciting prayers and attend- ing synagogue. Jews usually eat a big dinner the evening before, and then break the fast the following night.
Yom Kippur is recognized as a holiday by the Department of Education, which gives students the day off, but not the eve.
Martin Van Buren HS was to go up against Queens Metropolitan HS and Beach Channel HS was set to play Richmond Hill HS on Oct. 11. The four coaches had all agreed to postpone the games until Oct. 20.
But Morgan spiked their plans.
Rothfeld first e-mailed Morgan on Aug. 28, saying a switch was needed because “the game can be changed, but the holiday cannot.” Morgan did not respond. “If she’s the sports coordinator and we’re in the middle of a season, then she has to read and respond to her e-mail,” said Rothfeld.
On Friday, after The Post began making inquiries, Morgan canceled both games, posting a notice online. She left it unclear whether the games will be rescheduled.
“What is the point of canceling the game and not playing at all?” asked player Alianis Castellanos, 16. “It would be unfair to have to forfeit because our coach practices a certain religion.”
Reached on the phone, Morgan hung up without comment. The DOE declined to comment.