Corporate Retreat and Religious Compromise

My company just returned from a corporate retreat at Epcot Center. The company flew employees and guests to Epcot in chartered planes, put us up at the Boardwalk Hotel at Disney, fed us dinners and breakfasts, gave us admissions to the park for one day, and held 4 hours of meetings on Friday afternoon. The question that arises, did I make a corporate error by attending.

Several people at the company were "pleasantly surprised" that my husband and I attended. I went to the business meeting on Friday, but left early to light candles and bring in the Sabbath. The hotel room was on the ground floor, so no elevators were involved. The Friday night dinner was in the hotel, so attendance required nothing but walking. Saturday we kept to ourselves, and Saturday night's dinner was after Shabbat ended, so again, not an issue.

The question that concerns my husband is, did I "start down a very slippery slope" by attending.

I honestly don't believe I did, but I am slightly worried. My company, with almost 185 employees, has very few Jews. Right now, I know of only two, though there may be others who do not make their religion known. The company has, in the past, occasionally completely ignored the religion question, and scheduled events on Friday night or Saturday, that may have limited my ability to advance in my career at the company. However, recently, and on many occasions, they have bent over backwards to make sure I could participate. This is, partially, a direct result of my fairly vocal identification of my religion, and the constraints it imposes, but also a growing awareness that as the company itself grows, we cannot exclude anyone based on religion, race, sex, disability, age, or any other cause.

I would not have attended a corporate meeting on Saturday. I have done my best to educate my friends and colleagues on activities that are permissible, and those that are not, but still, I am sure that if the meeting had been on Saturday I would have heard "well all you have to do is listen." That I definitely see as being on the slippery slope, and I won't go there.

I did go to Epcot. I think everyone had a wonderful time. I hope to be around for the next corporate trip. But I will continue to educate, and hopefully will never come to regret my decision to attend.