The Living Local Harvest Festival this year excludes a significant portion of the community, people who would want to be part of the activities. The website describes itself as a community event. The dinner is called a community supper. From their website promoting the Oct. 3 to 4 activities: “We strive to bring together the unique community of Martha’s Vineyard . . . ” Unfortunately, this is not true.

Holding this year’s anticipated community festivities on Oct. 3 to 4, coinciding exactly with Yom Kippur, is the epitome of poor planning and thoughtlessness. Observing the holiest day of the year, a sunset-to-sunset 24 hours of atonement and fasting for all Jews, means that the Jewish part of the community is left out, not only from eating at the Living Local supper, but from attending it and the all-day Saturday workshops, family events and the Friday opening night (during the Kol Nidre service) free screening of the film Open Sesame.

It obviously was not done on purpose. The point is, when these events are planned, months in advance, it wouldn’t hurt to look at a calendar to make sure the date doesn’t fall on a day when a good number of people cannot attend. Even the most generic calendars have the days of all Jewish holidays marked, so it is astonishing to me that no one looked.

Seriously, even if you know nothing about Judaism and don’t care to know, if you want to hold a great big, 24-hour party (which is what this is) but do not want Jewish families to come, just schedule it on Yom Kippur.

Jackie Mendez-Diez
Chilmark