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Nittel Nacht

Nittel Nacht

This is an archive of works composed for (or relevant to) Jewish customs for ניטל נאַכט (Nittel Nacht a/k/a Christmas Eve). The Yiddish word “Nittel” for Christmas is likely derived from the medieval Latin name for Christmas, natalis.

The origin of traditional folk customs (abstinence from sex and Torah study, consumption of garlic, card playing and other table games) observed in some Ashkenazi Jewish communities on Nittel Nacht is obscure. Often, some version of the following narrative of resistance is given: that in the Middle Ages under the hegemony of Christendom, Jews were often forbidden from appearing in public during the Christmas holidays, and Christmas Eve frequently marked the beginning of attacks on the Jewish population by Christians under the thrall of their religious passions and prejudices. Many Jews observed Nittel Nacht by adhering to these prohibitions and staying as safe as possible from marauders. To avoid giving the appearance of celebrating the Christian holiday, many also sought to avoid experiencing any pleasure or joy on Christmas, ensuring that no glory would be given to the day.

That explanation, however, was largely discounted by Marc Shapiro in his 1999 article, “Torah Study on Christmas Eve” (Journal of Jewish Thought & Philosophy, vol. 8, pp. 319-353). The origins of Nittel Nacht were further explored in Rebecca Scharbach’s article “The Ghost in the Privy: On the Origins of Nittel Nacht” (Jewish Studies Quarterly, vol. 20 (2013):4, pp. 340-373). Medieval Jews understood their Nittel Nacht customs as a form of ritual protection against some dark force abroad on Christmas Eve. From their European Christian peers, Jewish women and children heard tales of manifesting apparitions, such as Knecht Ruprecht, Krampus, Frau Perchta, and others (enacted by mummers at mid-winter pageants), sent to judge the relative goodliness of children, all ostensibly under the auspice of Jesus. The manifestation of demonic entities aligned with Jesus on the night of Christmas were then conflated in the form of a revenant Jesus, and framed within the lattice of enduring anti-Christian beliefs found in censored versions of the Talmud and Toldot Yeshu.

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🆕 The Martyrdom of Isaiah — additional sources for the Jewish core of the work compiled by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Additional early rabbinic and other sources supplementing the story of the Martyrdom of Isaiah, with attention to Isaiah being granted sanctuary in a tree. . . .

Categories: Nittel Nacht, Midrash Aggadah

Tags: deuterocanonical works, early Judaism, entification, martyrdom, mytho-historical chronicles, parabiblical aggadah, Trees, Yeshayahu

Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Unknown Author(s)

💬 ספר תולדות ישו, לפי נוסח שטרסבורג | The Book of the Generations of Yeshu, according to the Strasbourg Variant, cantillated and vocalized by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

One of many variants of this notorious work, the Sefer Toldot Yeshu is an irreverent retelling? a bitter deconstruction? a mocking parody? of the Christian narrative of the birth, life, and death of Jesus of Nazareth. Taking its general structure from the gospels, it coöpts and alters it to make the main character look like a petty, vindictive sorcerer, his disciples into either sectarian liars or loyal rabbinic plants, and his followers into easily duped fools. Toldot Yeshu was a very popular work in medieval times, and you can tell — this sort of a text was certainly written by someone whose primary relationship with Christians was fear. It’s the bitter invective of an oppressed people without power for themselves, the dirty laundry that two thousand years of murder leaves behind. It’s also, just, like unspeakably, hilariously crude. Have a garlicky Nittel, everyone! . . .

Categories: Nittel Nacht, Extracanonical Megillot, Asarah b'Tevet Readings

Tags: combating anti-Jewish oppression, entering magical territory, geonic period, Jewish-Christian relations, קלנדס Ḳalends, mytho-historical chronicles, particularism and universalism, polemic, סטרנורא Saturnalia

Contributor(s): Unknown Author(s), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

חֲרוּזִים עַל שְּׂחוֹק שָׁ״הּ־מָ״תּ | Rhymed Poem on Chess (long), by Avraham ibn Ezra (ca. 12th c.)

A poem on how to play chess, one of the oldest historical descriptions of the game of Chess, by Avraham ibn Ezra (12th century) . . .

Categories: Nittel Nacht

Tags: 12th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Chess, חרוזים ḥaruzim

Contributor(s): Nina Davis Salaman (translation), Thomas Hyde (Latin translation), Avraham ibn Ezra and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

חרוז על שחוק האישקקי | Rhymed Poem on Chess (short), by Avraham ibn Ezra (HS. Vatican 171 f.2, oben S. 180)

A medieval Jewish poem on the game of Chess by Avraham ibn Ezra.. . . .

Categories: Nittel Nacht

Tags: 12th century C.E., 49th century A.M., ABCB rhyming scheme, Chess, rhyming translation

Contributor(s): Nina Davis Salaman (translation), Avraham ibn Ezra and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=4637

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17