A few months ago, the New York Jets football team made headlines when they moved they 4 PM Sunday game on Erev (the day before) Yom Kippur to 1 PM. This time change would give Jewish people wishing to observe Yom Kippur the opportunity to be home before the start of Yom Kippur at sundown on Sunday evening.
This was a nice gesture. It was also, completely unnecessary as Jews are comfortable with and used to compromising to satisfy their Religious beliefs. Jews who keep kosher often cannot eat at business lunches and Shabbos observant Jews miss live college football every Saturday in the fall. Missing a Jets game the day before Yom Kippur is not that big a deal. Plus, it is like a badge of courage to miss an event for your religion. Just ask Sandy Koufax. Missing the game is not that big a deal. Yet, the change was made.
Now it seems that this decision by the Jets is causing a bit of a problem.
NY Times Arts Beat Blog is reporting that this minor schedule change by the Jets is affecting thousands of people. The award winning band, U2 had scheduled a concert in the same stadium the Jets use (ironically, called Giants Stadium) for the Friday before Yom Kippur. Thousands of fans made travel plans, inlcuding flights and hotels ot make thier U2 pilgrimage and see the band’s live show. That Friday night show has been canceled and moved two days earlier to Wednesday. According to U2′s piblicist, the change was needed to make the show logistically possible, due to the now earlier Jets game, they were concerned that the field would not be ready for the Jets on Sunday.
As U2 lead singer and social activist, Bono, croons in “City of Blinding Lights“, blessing’s not just for the ones who kneel, luckily. Meaning, all prayers are valuable, not just the “kneelers” (I assume “ones who kneel” means Christians for whom the kneel is a contemporary prayer pose). So, Bono is just respecting the Jews right? Maybe.
But, there is an elephant in the room. Thousands of U2 fans are being inconvenienced. Thousands of U2 fans are going to need to make alternate travel plans and will lose money because of this change in schedule.
That is not fair. It may even be grounds for a law suit. Who knows? Ask your local lawyer for some insight into promissory estoppel and breach of contract.
More importantly, for people like me this has spawned an outrage from U2 fans and others on the NY Time Arts Beats Blog and I am sure other places as well. Now I get to read Jew friendly comments like this and this from rightfully angry fans.
Disturbing as well, is the headline for the blog post on NY Times: It’s a Mitzvah”, insinuating that changing the concert date is a good deed. I disagree. It is not a mitzvah to cause financial harm to innocent U2 fans.
There is one more thing that nags at me about all this. The Jets made their change months ago. U2 knew about the change months ago. Changing the date now may be necessary but it should have been done at the time the Jets made their schedule change. By not making the change and then crossing their fans by changing the date after fans have already made plans and then “blaming” it on a Jewish holiday (it says in the press release “out of respect for the Jewish faith”) gives Jew haters (like this guy) the opening they need to spew their venom. That is just not right.
Take the blame yourself. Don’t blame it on us. That is certainly not a mitzvah.
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