Last spring, I encouraged you to contact employers, school officials, clubs and organizations with the calendar of Jewish holidays. By giving them notice well in advance, I suggested, you would have greater success in reaching accommodations on respect and consideration.

Soon it will be Sukkot. This year, the beginning and concluding days are on Monday and Tuesday, as was Rosh HaShanah. For the observant Jew, this configuration of holidays creates constant conflict in the secular world. But most of you reading this article are not observant. If you were, we would be leaving the extra six hundred seats in the Lainof Auditorium.

I have no doubt that if word reached you that a government agency or non-Jewish political activist was advocating the prohibition of Jewish observance, you would storm the ramparts in defense of our rights to free practice of religion. No such campaign is underway. Yet, through the neglect and inconsistency of non-observant Jews, the net effect is the same as the observant minority tries to justify its commitments to an uncomprehending secular world. The Jew who stridently objects to a meeting, a test or a game on Yom Kippur, but shows up on Sukkot undermines the credibility of our community as we seek accommodation.

I have no doubt that if word reached you that a government agency or non-Jewish political activist was advocating the prohibition of Jewish observance, you would storm the ramparts in defense of our rights to free practice of religion. No such campaign is underway. Yet, through the neglect and inconsistency of non-observant Jews, the net effect is the same as the observant minority tries to justify its commitments to an uncomprehending secular world. The Jew who stridently objects to a meeting, a test or a game on Yom Kippur, but shows up on Sukkot undermines the credibility of our community as we seek accommodation.

You know that I encourage the same integrity when it comes to Shabbat, and indeed within the Jewish community the principles are the same. But the weekday occurrence of a festival creates a special dilemma in communicating our principles to the general community: bosses, teachers and coaches watch what we do, not what we say. And the "exception" you make for yourself or your child because this project is important or this game is important doubles the pain and difficulty that the rest of us must overcome.

We must stand up for ourselves. It means being absent on weekday festivals from the secular world, even when your commitments to observance are far from traditional. It means being willing to sacrifice a certain amount of leave or homework points or inclusion in some decisions. It means not being embarrassed or ashamed to say, firmly and politely, "I am sorry I will not be there. It is a Jewish holiday."

Others cannot see into your heart. You must be willing to demonstrate the importance of being Jewish.