Balancing academics and religion is a challenge Jewish students face year round, but it’s especially difficult during the High Holiday when classes conflict with religious observances.This year’s holiday, the collective term for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, is no different because Yom Kippur coincides with fall break cancellations, causing students to again choose between attending school and observing the holiday’s traditions.Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, began Monday at sundown and will last until Wednesday night. Yom Kippur begins Oct. 8 at sundown and lasts until the night of Oct. 9.Work is prohibited on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. So, religious Jewish students usually skip class for three days to dedicate their time to the holiday’s traditions, said Moshe Cohen, mathematics graduate student and program coordinator of Hillel, the Jewish student organization on campus.Rosh Hashanah is a time for admitting mistakes made during the year, repenting for them through charity and good works and asking God for blessings in the new year, said Cohen, who plans to miss class to observe the holiday.Yom Kippur is a day of repentance when Jewish students will usually go to temple to ask God for forgiveness. Yom Kippur is also a day of fasting. Jews abstain from eating and drinking for 24 hours, a sacrifice broken by a large feast at the 25th hour, Cohen said.The cancellation of fall break poses a problem for students who were looking forward to spending the day with their families without other commitments to consider. Observant Jews will now have to make up another missed day of school plus the two days they will miss for Rosh Hashanah today and Wednesday.The fall break cancellation was based solely on the academic calendar and did not take religious observations into consideration, said Jeannine Kahn, assistant vice chancellor of Academic Affairs.”LSU is certainly committed to making people of all religions welcome and not having to make a choice between religion and going to class,” Kahn said.There are two guidelines in the University’s policies and procedures that include religious conditions for missing class — policy statement 22 and 31, which express the need for faculty members to be sensitive to different religious traditions, to excuse students who are unable to attend class because of religious observations and to allow them to make up for all work missed.More traditional Jews will set aside the whole day and adhere strictly to prohibitions. But there are not many traditional Jews in Baton Rouge, said Ruth Navarre, music senior.”Here in Baton Rouge, people will take the day off and devote it to the holiday, gather with their families, have meals, go to synagogue, sing songs and pray, even if we don’t keep all of those stringent rules,” Navarre said.Balancing Judaism with everyday life is a challenge Navarre faced since she embraced ballet and the viola.”When I was growing up, it was very important to me and my mom that I get educated in the arts, but almost all of my activities had classes every Saturday,” she said.The Jewish day of rest held every Saturday is known as Shabbat, a day when working, driving and using electricity, appliances and electrical devices are prohibited. The Jewish community traditionally uses the day to spend time together and focus on their faith, she said.Navarre, who plans to skip class for the holiday, said she attended synagogue in the morning and ran off to practice, unable to attend the social aspect of Shabbat. After Navarre joined a youth orchestra that practiced on Saturday mornings, she was unable to attend Shabbat services for two years, she said.Navarre must now choose between academics and religion during her college career.”It’s hard to have a career if you’re a totally observant Jew,” she said.The level of observance Navarre would like to keep in Judaism conflicts with commitments to her musical studies, she said.But Navarre said she has been able to reach compromises with her professors in the past. She had a class scheduled to last until 6 p.m. on Fridays, which interfered with the time Shabbat actually starts.”You’re supposed to be home doing rituals, lighting candles, not driving and not using electricity at that point,” she said.Navarre said she explained her religious observance to her professor and how she was trying to balance her career and Judaism. As a token of respect, he agreed to end the class 30 minutes early, Navarre said.”I’m kind of disappointed in myself that I’m not succeeding in being as true to my tradition as I would like to, but a lot of these [conflicts] come up as you get further into your career,” she said.—-Contact Margy Looney at [email protected]