fbpx

Make Yom Kippur national holiday, French presidential candidate says

The Green Party candidate for the French presidency has called for national holidays on Yom Kippur and the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
[additional-authors]
January 12, 2012

The Green Party candidate for the French presidency has called for national holidays on Yom Kippur and the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Green Party leader Eva Joly said in a speech Wednesday that she wanted, “Jews and Muslims to be able to celebrate Yom Kippur and Eid al-Adha during a day off,” so that “every religion is treated equally in the public space.”

Though national holidays are customary for Christian celebrations, the call made waves in France, where religion is expected to be kept private in a strictly secular society intended to be blind to race and religion.

“That is one way to look at secularism,” quipped the French daily Le Figaro in its regular news coverage of the story.  Reader on-line reactions also expressed shock at the idea, and political opponents on the right and left defended the country’s Christian-only holidays out of an “old tradition.”

In a similar vein, Joly, who is Norwegian and French, said she was in favor of the controversial use of national statistics showing standards of living for different ethnic groups.  The French government by law cannot conduct surveys on groups identified by their religion or ethnicity.

However, such surveys are, “a useful instrument to permit equal access to employment, health, housing, even political responsibility,” argued Joly.
“We have a Christian history, that led to a certain number of holidays in our calendar,” said Education Minister Laurent Wauquiez on French BFM TV.  “That doesn’t prevent having the greatest respect for all religions,” he added.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

The Joy Within

Sukkot asks us to receive the harvest that has actually come in—not the one we imagined or wished for.

A Bisl Sukkot ~ Don’t Be Afraid, Go Outside

The sukkah reminds us to go out into the world, especially when the comforts of insularity beckon us closer—to explore paths we have yet to take and seek journeys ready for wandering.

A Harira Hug in the Sukkah

I love making soup for this holiday because even if the days are still warm, the cooler evenings make you start craving something warm and comforting.

The Beat Goes On

While so much of the world seems obsessed with and consumed by its hatred of Israel and Jews, Israelis continue to build, create, work, celebrate, argue, raise families, and plan for the future.

Viral AI Video Targets Jewish Comedian

“The biggest concern is that people now have a pathway to shut down Jewish voices through complete falsities that people will believe. … For the future of Jewish entertainment, it’s very scary.”

Yiddish Historians: Writing in Their Own Language for Their Own People

Mark Smith has compiled an important anthology of Jewish history using 49 works by Yiddish historians to recreate or at least open the door to a world of Jewish thought that was once almost mainstream, but which no longer exists, except in the minds of too few specialists.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.