Giants’ Geoff Schwartz to Play on Rosh Hashanah

This year, Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Sunday, September 13. Also commencing that day is the first full slate of games of the 2015 NFL season—football’s New Years, if you will.

So what’s a Jew to do when work is scheduled during a Jewish High Holiday? That’s the question facing New York Giants’ offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz.

Every year, Giants owner John Mara requests that his team not be scheduled for a home game during the High Holidays. But last week, after the NFL released its 2015 schedule, it became evident that his request was only partially granted: although the Giants will play on the road in Dallas, they will face their opponent at 8:30 p.m., which falls after the start of Rosh Hashanah.

Schwartz, who’s Jewish, took to Twitter after a number of fans reached out to him when they’d heard the news:

Keep getting tweets about that being the first night of Rosh Hashanah… Don’t know what I’m supposed to tell you. It’s a tough break



— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) April 22, 2015

Of course, fans wondered if Schwartz, who recently fasted on Yom Kippur, would play in the scheduled game, despite the apparent conflict of interest:

Yes. I don’t miss games for Jewish holidays RT @danmillman: you gonna play??



— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) April 22, 2015

Thus, it appears that Schwartz is no Sandy Koufax.

The New York Jets, on the other hand, who made a similar request of the NFL’s schedulers, will play at home, though the game is slated for 1 p.m.