My principal threw a fit because I took off the first two days of Sukkot to observe them. She said that because I was “only studying Judaism” and not “entirely Jewish,” she felt that it was utterly ridiculous to take the days off. She said that she’s “pretty sure” that Jews don’t have restrictions for these holidays. She demanded that I call her at home on Sukkot to discuss this situation further (aka “bully me to try to get me to come into work”).

my sister said I should say:

little sis (10:07:25 PM): tell her jews don’t make phone calls on holidays and that once u consider urself jewish, u are a jew
little sis (10:07:35 PM): and therefore couldn’t call her
little sis (10:08:22 PM): anymore than u would expect her to call in on christmas if it wasn’t a nationally recognized holiday

My sis is the strong one. Me, the weakling, had nightmares two day in a row from stress from taking the two days off worrying about my students, all the work I need to do and all the pain the principal will try to bring upon my little body when I show up tomorrow. My best friend told me that conversion would be difficult and now I am steadily realizing the damage it has done to my relations with non-Jews but I refuse to give up something that I believe in.