In his new book, “Christmas in Yiddish Tradition: The Untold Story,” Jordan Chad explores the folklore of Yiddish-speaking Jews in Central and Eastern Europe from the Middle Ages through the Modern period. The study reveals that Christmas was surprisingly one of European Jews’ favorite days of the year, and how Christmas traditions were once transmitted in Yiddish — a language non-Jews didn’t often speak.
The sole remnant of the Jewish observance of Christmas Eve, as it was marked in Europe, is found among the largest Yiddish-speaking community. Hasidic men still vacate the study halls on December 24 and make merry. Those who aren’t up for the fun use the time to catch up on sleep, errands, or housework.
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Chasidic men are not "making merry" on nittel nacht - they are deliberately wasting time, by not learning Torah, so as not to allow any merit to accrue to the world on this night. That at least is the official story. I'm sure that the children - or at least most of them - enjoyed the break from the beis medrash nonetheless.
I've seen yeshiva bochrim in Chabad playing checkers on Nittel in the beth Medrash.
ReplyDeleteHow about sundays? That's when they daven to Yashke. Should we avoid davenign then? And Fridays is when Muslims have their special day. Well, Sephardim live Friday/ Erev Shabbat as normal, I suppose chassidim can say there were no muslims in Eastern Europe at the time.
Prof Marc Shapiro has a great lecture on this where he explains where it really came from.
ReplyDeleteBack then people didn't have lots of books in their home. Most were poor so if they wanted to learn, they had to go out to the local beis medrash. On X-mas eve, the streets were full of drunken goyim who had just heard sermons about how the Jews had killed their "saviour" so they were looking to avenge him by beating or killing any Jew they could find. As a result, Jews stayed home and since they didn't have lots of books, they couldn't learn.
Along came the Chasidim who said "Chas v'shalom that Jews should do something for a practical reason. We'll invent a spiritual reason to justify it and say that it was the real reason all along!"
Except it wasn't JC's birthday and since when do we observe a day of tragedy, even if this was one, on the secular date?
The whole thing is a joke, and the fact that it has become so mainstream, just shows how absurd it is.
DeleteOf course the same people tell us that learning keeps the world turning, and that if we were ever to stop learning, the world would be destroyed. Amazing how much they believe in some koifer who probably didn't even exist.
DeleteMuch obliged for the public entertainment, but no it's never was "the same people". At all.
DeleteNot that that make a difference for ya.
Putting aside the insidiousness,should blatant distorted ignorance be tolerated as stand -up comedy?
Prior to late 19th century domiciles were unsanitary due to lack of indoor plumbing. Therefore there had been the difficulty of most people being able to learn or observe much Judaism at home. As the middle classes started to install indoor plumbing the Chafetz Chaim published Toras Habayis to stress in the new reality there creates an obligation to learn at home
There are always the same 3 phases
Delete1) Jews adopt custom because it's practical
2) Chasidim come along and create a kabbalistic reason for it
3) "What do you mean you don't do this!"
What do litvish do on Nittel? Do they learn as normal?
DeleteIn a slightly (un)related topic
DeleteRav hutner wearing his jacket left side over right
Western style
https://x.com/i/status/1487809089858064386
Thus avoiding Torah prohibition of lo yilbash
The wearing the jacket backwards is stupid. Women's clothing is left over right so really by reversing the jacket, one is doing beged ishah.
Delete