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.