11/05/24
September 13, 2007
Quebec Jewish hockey player agrees to play on Sabbath: A number of other high profile athletes have made a public effort to compromise between their sport and their religion.
posted by tommytrump to culture at 11:39 PM - 7 comments
It would be easy to try and be preachy (no pun intended) but the truth of the matter is how many people are in a position where they can tell their boss when they will or won't work. I have only had Sundays off since I got into banking about 2 years ago before that I was lucky if I could ever go to mass.
posted by kyrilmitch_76 at 06:13 AM on September 14, 2007
I guess he had a falling out with Patrick Roy. Last year, this story was all the rage: Roy was the only QJMHL GM ready to accept Rubin's religious choices. He drafted him with the intention of not playing him on Sabbath and other holidays. Now he's no longer with the Remparts, and his new team more or less put him under the gun, if we're to believe the article: "You play every day or you don't play at all." You can't really blame the Olympiques, they're just putting Rubin in front of a choice he was going to have to make sooner or later. I don't believe any NHL team would carry a player on its roster that voluntarily can not play on Friday night and Saturday afternoon games. I can't imagine how tough it must have been for him to make this decision. I hope his community will be understanding, and I wish him the best for his hockey career.
posted by qbert72 at 07:19 AM on September 14, 2007
I guess he had a falling out with Patrick Roy. according to this article it doesn't sound like it was a falling out. i think reality just set in when Rubin missed 35 games. the Remparts put him under the same gun it seems (play every day or not at all). but it doesn't sound like Rubin had any issues with Roy.
posted by goddam at 11:12 AM on September 14, 2007
Religion vs. dream job. I guess he made the choice that works for him. It's interesting as an employer in the USA, technically you cannot discriminate against someone based on religion, but if that religion precludes them from doing their duties on the job I suppose it is justified. Personally I think any employer has the right to say, "here are the days you have to work and if you cannot be here then we have to find someone who can." When the job is doing something you love it's up to the individual to make a choice. Both parties in this situation have the right to do what is in their own self interest.
posted by Atheist at 12:18 PM on September 14, 2007
From the article: "There were a lot of things such as religious holidays that were in the way, and we were able — with different rabbis of the religion to help us out — to make do, and make some concessions." Loopholes in religion. It's funny how anything can be justified, manipulated or sanctioned with a little creative thinking...
posted by SportsNarrative at 06:27 AM on September 15, 2007
Loopholes in religion. It's funny how anything can be justified, manipulated or sanctioned with a little creative thinking... Especially when the rules are just made up in the first place. Other examples I know of: Many imams have ruled that international footballers don't have to fast during Ramadan if playing in a big tournament. They can make up the days later, apparently. When a Methodist Tongan boxer made the Olympic final in 1996, he was given dispensation to fight on a Sunday in Atlanta because it was already Monday back home in Tonga.
posted by owlhouse at 07:29 PM on September 15, 2007
interesting. i can't imagine having to make a decision like that. i remember reading about Rubin earlier in the year when he was with the Remparts and the difficulties he had with playing time there. i was wondering what happened to him. thanks for the post tommy. after finding another article on this, he's actually only missing 2 games during Yom Kippur. the other one he's missing is tomorrow during Rosh Hashanah.