Shabbat issues

[savotinaRN]

I am RN for the last five years. Recently i went back to my jewish roots, and started observing Shabbat meaning I cannot work fridays evening and until saturday evening. I was working two part times positions and was able to manage it with a lot of stress to switch all those days. Now I got married to an observant jew. I started looking for a full time position and I realized that I am not getting any jobs because of my religion.

What can I do? If someone was ever in the same situation plese share how you managed. Thanks a lot.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Yes, she can find a way to work out being a nurse while maintaining her religious standards.

However, I would like to know how you gleam that she is seeking a 'dispensation'.

I don't get that impression at all.

I notice the OP hasn't been back to this thread. I think when she started it she would get many replies about how heartless the hospitals were not to hire her and how yes, she is being discriminated against because of her religion. Instead, she got advice to consult her rabbi because caring for the sick is a mitzvah and it might be acceptable for her to work on the Sabbath.

When you work in an industry that expects you to show up for work on weekends, holidays and religious holidays, it's an enormous burden to hire a nurse who tells you up front that she isn't available to work Fridays and Saturdays. Period. Those are high-value days off for most nurses, even if it's not for religious reasons. Someone has to work those days, and if you hire a newbie telling them that they don't have to, that means more senior nurses will have to. Believe me, that would not be a popular decision, and with so many unemployed nurses to choose from, what manager in her right mind would hire someone who would create that dilemma?

If the OP truly wants to work in a hospital, she would have to be flexible enough to work the Fridays and Saturdays until she found someone who was willing to work them for her on some sort of an exchange program -- every Sunday and Monday off, for example. But she'd probably have to actually work the job for awhile before she found such a person -- if she was lucky enough to do so.

I'll admit that I don't understand that sort of inflexibility about working hours. I'm Catholic, I'm supposed to be in church every weekend. Yet every priest I've discussed it with has assured me that I'm doing God's work by caring for the sick, and that someone has to do it on the weekends and that someone can be me. Perhaps the OP's rabbi isn't that flexible either, but a first step would be consulting him on the matter.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I never work Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah. I really need those two days a year concentrate on the things I did wrong and what I'm going to do about it in the future. It would seem very disrespectful to the OP that the hospital cannot make that simple accommodation for her.

If the OP makes the request for those holidays early enough and explains why she needs those days off, I can't see any facility denying her the request. They may make her have to use PTO or work another day, but they should accomodate that request.

However, there is a big difference between requesting the High Holy Days off and putting down a blanket "I can't work any Saturday, period" request. And the specific religion is a moot point--it wouldn't matter if the person is Jewish, Catholic, Baptist, Seventh-Day, whatever...Saturdays and Sundays are high need days for acute care faciltiies. It's unrealistic for facilities--even ones that have a religious foundation--to be able to accomodate everyone taking off that day.

I don't know the OP so I don't know what her motivations were: whether she was truly looking for guidance, whether she wanted to see how other Jewish people handled things, or whether she was looking for a rousing chorus of, "how dare they do that to you but it's OK, we'll all happily cover for you!"

Hopefully she has taken the most common suggestion that we offered, and has talked to her Rabbi.

[Ruas61, BSN, RN]

It really is the only logical move to speak to her Rabbi.

Depending on her affiliation, the answer is going to vary widely.

I would suggest a google search for Jewish nurses' group Orthodox. There are communities on and off Facebook that can give more specific insights to the situation.

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I think there could be ways round this problem for the OP-job share or working in the pool.

I think if she wants to follow her religion there is a way to make it work-I feel for the OP it must be hard to be in a profession where we really can't support peoples religious beliefs.

Are there not Jewish Hospitals where they may support this kind of issue, I am sure it would not be new to them.

[Fiona59]

I'd like to know how hospitals in Israel manage their staffing, or do orthodox women not work outside the home there?

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

I think there could be ways round this problem for the OP-job share or working in the pool.

I think if she wants to follow her religion there is a way to make it work-I feel for the OP it must be hard to be in a profession where we really can't support peoples religious beliefs.

Are there not Jewish Hospitals where they may support this kind of issue, I am sure it would not be new to them.

There are, and oddly, they do not close themselves down for Shabbat. ::sarcasm mode::

[Ruas61, BSN, RN]

I'd like to know how hospitals in Israel manage their staffing, or do orthodox women not work outside the home there?

Of course some do, how the Israeli hospitals do their staffing I can't answer for that.

I can only take a stab at a generalized answer because one size doesn't fit all.

There's a continuum of possible observance in regards to what one might do on Shabbos or Holy Days.

A person identifying as Reform may not have an issue working where someone more observant such as Chabad or Yeshiva might not work at all any due to their beliefs.

It really falls on what they are advised by their Rabbi, their own choices and the traditions of their community.

I have seen the gamut of answers.

It can be a complicated thing for the individual.