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Last update - 14:01 28/02/2008 Jewish school may forfeit basketball playoffs over Sabbath game By The Associated Press Tags: American Jews, Jewish world State senators are trying to help a Jewish school's basketball teams whose playoff run may be halted because its players can't play on the Jewish Sabbath. Herzl/Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy's boys team could be headed for a regional championship Saturday, March 8, if it wins Thursday. But the Denver school's religious beliefs prohibit students from playing between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday. Earlier this month, the Colorado High School Activities Association, which governs sports and other high school activities, rejected a request for a schedule change. Advertisement "If Herzl/RMHA makes it to the regional championship and refuses to play a Saturday game, another school would be chosen to take its place," CHSAA Commissioner Bill Reader said. Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, said Wednesday the athletic association is sending the wrong message to schoolchildren, but he acknowledged there is little lawmakers can do to help the privately funded organization. Gordon, the Senate majority leader, said the association could leave itself open to a lawsuit because it passed a rule barring playoff games on Sundays. The association has said that was to give children and coaches a day off. Reader said CHSAA can't accommodate everyone. "We speak for 110,000 athletes and 340 member schools that all have different needs and desires. It's impossible for us to be all things for all people," he said. "(Herzl/RMHA) joined in 2002 with the full understanding that sundown Friday to sundown Saturday is a prime time for high school athletics, and they voluntarily joined anyway." Reader said the CHSAA board allowed the school to compete at the district level of playoffs if other schools agreed, which they did. He said late scheduling changes at the regional level would be more difficult, with teams having to travel to a rented facility in Sterling. At the end of morning debate in the state Senate on Wednesday, Gordon had called on CHSAA to be more flexible. Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, said Sandy Koufax was branded a hero when he refused to play the first game of the 1965 World Series on religious grounds. He said the school team deserves the same respect. "They should be given the opportunity to win the championship they have worked for and they deserve," Groff said. Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Sedalia, said there must be a way for CHSAA to accommodate the team. "It just seems like the bureaucracy has run amok here," Wiens said. Bruce H. DeBoskey, mountain states regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, said the group was disappointed by CHSAA's decision. Campion Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist Church school in Loveland, also does not play from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Instead of participating in CHSAA's Class 2A state tournament, the school went to an annual high school tournament at Union College in Lincoln, Neb. The boys team won, athletic director Troy Beans said. In Michigan, a judge ruled this month that students at the Jean and Samuel Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit were penalized for their religious beliefs by the scheduling of Michigan High School Athletic Association postseason tournaments on the Jewish Sabbath. The association said it planned to appeal Bookmark to del.icio.us   Power to the people Egypt plans to provide all of Gaza's electricity, to wean dependency on Israel. Calculated escalation Hamas has been trying for some time to create a balance of deterrence with Israel.   1.   More religious blackmail 14:09  |  SJ 28/02/08   2.   A Valuable Lesson For The Kids- And Their Parents 14:10  |  Yishai Kohen 28/02/08   3.   THEY ARE ALREADY CHAMPIONS 14:13  |  Jay A Friedman 28/02/08   4.   Someone Please Explain Why One Cannot Play Basketball On Shabbat? 15:56  |  B`Galil 28/02/08   5.   Jewish School 16:18  |  Calyxcrater 28/02/08   6.   Jewish school`s denial to play 17:17  |  Katie 28/02/08   7.   Why not wait and play the game after sundown. 18:22  |  Paul Wood 28/02/08   8.   The Jewish School is not denied, it is refusing 18:25  |  Defenestrator 28/02/08   9.   THEY ARE ALREADY CHAMPIONS!!l 18:26  |  Jay A Friedman 28/02/08   10.   Denial anyway-5 18:52  |  Seth 28/02/08   11.   Basketball 18:57  |  Larry 28/02/08   12.   Christian Sabbath Observed, But Not Jewish Sabbath 19:10  |  Zusya 28/02/08   13.   Sports on Shabbath 19:45  |  Otto Rand 28/02/08   14.   Zusya - US is a CHRISTIAN NATION! 20:05  |  MAN 28/02/08   15.   Zusya - How does Israel accomodate Christians? 20:53  |  Crusader 28/02/08   16.   That`s why there are Jewish leagues 21:18  |  Judith 28/02/08   17.   man#11 22:39  |  mike 28/02/08   18.   US is a CHRISTIAN NATION??? 22:39  |  Izzy 28/02/08   19.   They Know Best 23:25  |  Mark 28/02/08   20.   7 - Christmas 00:02  |  Defenestrator 29/02/08   21.   Mike 00:05  |  Man 29/02/08   22.   Izzy: Ofcourse the US is a Christian nation! 00:09  |  MAN 29/02/08   23.   9 -- not true 00:10  |  Denestrator 29/02/08   24.   12 - birth of Jesus 00:13  |  Defenestrator 29/02/08   25.   13 - True that 00:14  |  Defenestrator 29/02/08   26.   Shabbat Basketball Playoffs? 00:15  |  Zev 29/02/08   27.   Jewish Basketball team 02:55  |  BobH 01/03/08

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