I was reading a website that attempted to answer peoples questions about judaism. Here is one of the responses that really bothered me. (Names were changed to protect HaLashon )
Q: I am Jewish and my spouse is not. We are raising our daughter as a Jew, but my spouse wants her to be exposed to Xtianity as well. Every year we go to my in-laws to celebrate x-mas with them, but this year my daughter is old enough to understand what it's all about and I'm starting to feel uncomfortable about going. Will it be too confusing to her? I'm also concerned about hurting my in-law's feelings.
A: ...
The real issue is what you mean by "exposing" your daughter to X-tianity. Children who are given "exposures" to both traditions so that they can choose later are not considered Jewish. They are also put into the difficult position of having to choose between what they know deep down will please daddy and disappoint mommy, or vice versa.
Written by -----------, Temple ---- -- , ---------, New Jersey
Wait a second here... Who says that a child loses his status as a jew because his parents decided to expose him/her to a different religion. Why does a child get excommunicated from the jewish people because of what his parents taught him ? The way I understand it once a jew ( by birth or proper conversion with Mikva and brit mila for men ) always a jew*. I'm sure that many of you who consider your self jews might not believe in every thing that the jewish faith tells you, and some of you would rather die than keep shabbat, but does that mean your not jewish ? And I'm almost sure that almost all of you has had some exposer to other traditions, and you may have chose to make some of those traditions your own, but that mean your not jewish ? Of course not! We know that being a jew is not because you follow the jewish traditions, but rather the other way, We follow the jewish traditions because we are jewish! We as jews feel some complement to follow the traditions , either Religious, or just only for the sake of pleasing our grandparents.
Jews have a unique and predetermined function in this world, all of the different "Nations" of the world were given a special talent and divine task to perform in this world. Our jewish faith teaches us as jews how we are to perform our divine task, we are given the responsibility of bringing a certain amount of "Holiness" into this physical world, and The Mitzvot ( Commandments ) are the way to do that. Its like an artist who was given the talent to bring beauty in to this world , if she doesn't use her talent does that mean that she doesn't have it? The talent may not become refined without practice, but the natural talent still remains. It may be a shame if she choses not make the world a more pleasant place with her talent, but that doesn't mean she loses it. The same by us jews, just by not expressing our jewishness through Judaism, doesn't mean that we lose our special spark of kedusha (holiness ) that makes us jews. If we don't use our spark, we might not refine it, and we might not share its benefit with the world but we for sure don't lose it.
Those of you who know me know that I don't endorse encouraging jews to participate in other religions, but only for the reason that in doing so the jew is not developing his/her spark to the fullest, and is not bringing as much kedusha into the world as he could. If you don't believe in Kedusha then I can fully understand why you don't want to develop it , and while I may think you are uninformed I don't think your less of a jew.
Oh and by the way, I would recommend not to use that website for your questions on Judaism, but I would recommend this site englishorot.blogspot.com.
*I believe there are some rare cases where people are put in a form of excommunication.
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Recently a friend of mine attended a "fabulous lecture about the origins (and myths) of x-mas". by R' Lawrence Kelemen.He also sent me a the original notes for the lecture (http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm) What I'm passing on here is my summary/commentary on those notes. I strongly suggest that you read the original document as well as the sources, and draw your own informed conclusions about one of the western worlds biggest events of the year.
My views expressed here (or any where ) do not necessarily reflect the views of the original author or the Jewish people or any-one else.
When was Yeshkah really born?
It seems that the myth puts his birth on 23rd of Tevet, 3762 (December 25th 1 C.E. ). The x-tain scripture actually gives no date for his birth, the earliest of his publicists (Mark) wrote around 3825 ( 65 C.E) about Yeshkah going to toivel ( being baptized ). If his birth is such an important date why is there no mention of it by his first worshipers ?
The year of Yeshkah's birth was calculated by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian monk. In the Roman, pre-x-tian era, years were counted from the founding of Rome (AUC), 1 AUC is about 2973 since creation. The monk had a tradition Augustus reigned 43 years until about 7th of Elul, 3774 ( 19 August 0014) , and was followed by Tiberius. Another one of Yeshkah's publicists, Luke (3:1, 23) says that when Yeshkah turned 30, it was 15 years into the reign of Tiberius, about 3789 ( by my calculations ), so if Yeshkah was 30 in Tiberius' reign then the other 15 was in Augustus' reign of about 42 years, this puts Yeshkah's birth in the 28th year of Augustus's reign'. Augustus took power in 727 AUC, there fore, Dionysius put Yeshkah's birth in 754 AUC. ( do your own math and see if it works out ). But Luke (1:5) puts the birth in the reign of Herod, and Herod died in 750 AUC, four years before the monk calculated the birthday.
Joe A. Fitzmyer. writes in the Catholic Church's Official commentary on the X-tain additions to the bible:
Though the year of Jebus birth is not reckoned with certainty, the birth did not occur in AD 1. The X-tian era, supposed to have its starting point in the year of Jebus birth, is based on a miscalculation introduced ca. 533 by Dionysius Exiguus.Besides being a Fitzmyer, Joe has a PhD from Hopkins, is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at the Catholic University of America, member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and former president of the Catholic Biblical Association. He is hardly a light weight in the history of Yeshkah circles. Based on "historical records" the Fitzmyer guesses that the birthday was on September 11 (Spooky) 3 B.C.E. (3758).
The Deepish Computes, an anonymous document believed to have been written in North Africa around 4004 (243 CE), placed Yeshkah's birth on March 28. Clement, a bishop of Alexandria (3976) (d. ca. 215 CE), thought ol' Yeshki was born on November 18. Hmmm... Still no 12-25-0001.
Where in the world is 12-25-0001 coming from?
The Roman pagans had a holiday called Saturnalia "winter solstice festival". From December 17-25 they gave law the day off. Courts were closed, and no-one was held accountable for any damages to person or property, an anarchists paradise. They would start the festival by picking someone to represent the "Lord of Misrule", they would force this person to over indulge in physical pleasures throughout the week, and then at the end of the week they would eliminate( read murder ) this "enemy of the Roman people", and thus destroying the forces of dankness. Who can argue with "destroying the forces of darkness?"
Lucian, the ancient Greek writer, poet, and historian describes this celebration in his time in his dialog, Saturnalia. Some of the favorite ways of celebrating the holiday include, widespread intoxication; going from house to house while singing naked; rape and other sexual license; consuming human-shaped biscuits (Ginger bread men); and the ever popular human sacrifice. Now you can see why Greek style, college fraternities are so popular in the U.S.
Around 4060 (4th century CE), the X-tians attempted and succeeded to convert the pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate Saturnalia. There was only a slight problem with this, "What in the world does saturnalia have to do with Yeshkah worship !?"...... "It's our god's birthday"... "yeah, yeah, that's it, that's the ticket, yeah we must of forgot", "quick Johny hide that calendar!".
It appears, though, that instead of converting the pagans to x-tianity, they converted x-tanity to heathenism. Stephen Nissenbaum, professor history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, writes,
"In return for ensuring massive observance of the anniversary of the Savior's birth by assigning it to this resonant date, the Church for its part tacitly agreed to allow the holiday to be celebrated more or less the way it had always been."The earliest X-mas holidays resembled more of a trip to a sleazy strip-bar in PG county Maryland, than a holy day. Well I guess that also depends on your definition of a "holly day".
The Puritans even banned the Observance of X-mas because of its pagan origins, and it's observance was made illegal in Massachusetts (the modern state of open-mindedness) The Reverend Increase Mather of Boston observed in 5448 (1687 ) that:
the early Christians who first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens' Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into X-tian ones.(see the original article for how the Catholic church revived some of the most depraved customs of the pagans (sections G and H )
)Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city. An eyewitness account reports, “Before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators. They ran… amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.”[5]
H. As part of the Saturnalia carnival throughout the 18th and 19th centuries CE, rabbis of the ghetto in Rome were forced to wear clownish outfits and march through the city streets to the jeers of the crowd, pelted by a variety of missiles. When the Jewish community of Rome sent a petition in1836 to Pope Gregory XVI begging him to stop the annual Saturnalia abuse of the Jewish community, he responded, “It is not opportune to make any innovation.”[6] On December 25, 1881, Christian leaders whipped the Polish masses into Antisemitic frenzies that led to riots across the country. In Warsaw 12 Jews were brutally murdered, huge numbers maimed, and many Jewish women were raped. Two million rubles worth of property was destroyed.
Yeah but there is none of that pagan stuff left
Oh yeah!? Lets examine some of the more common customs that much of the world practices today.:
Lets start with the good old clean fun of x-mas trees. Yeah well if you thought worshiping some guy was bad, how about worshiping a tree. Just as early x-tians recruited Roman pagans by associating x-mas with the Saturnalia, so too worshipers of the Asheira cult and its offshoots were recruited by the Church sanctioning "x-mas Trees". Pagans had long worshiped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them, and this observance was adopted and painted with a x-tian veneer by the Church.
"OK, well what about a sweet kiss under the mistletoe?! What is wrong with that." Oh come on, this one is just so weird it had to come from Pagans. Norse mythology recounts how the god Balder was killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting for the female Nanna. Druid rituals use mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victim. The x-tian custom of kissing under the mistletoe is a later synthesis of the sexual license of Saturnalia with the Druidic sacrificial cult. And I'm not even going to get into the issue of kissing compleete strangers... Cootie-city.
"Please tell me there is nothing wrong with the free stuff." Well if your already comfortable with being a freeloader, think about where the custom started. In Rome, the emperors compelled their most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January). So if your a giver your playing the part of despised citizen and if your a receiver your the Roman Dictator.
And this brings us to the Coke Spokes model ( wait, you'll see ).The Catholic Church gave this custom a x-tian flavor by re-rooting it in the supposed gift-giving of Saint Nicholas. Nick was born in Turkey around 4030 (270 CE), he became a bishop , and died. He wasn't saint until around 5560 (1900 CE). He came up with the novel idea that Jews are "the children of the devil" and they sentenced Yeshkah to death (Johny Boy 8:44). (Next time you see him in the mall try to refrain from giving him a kick in the teeth)
In 4848 (1087 C.E.) some sailors Idolized Nicholas and moved his bones from Turkey to Italy. In Italy Nick replaced the deity known as "The Grandmother" (I'll bake you a lasagna that you can't refuse). She used to fill the children's stockings with gifts. She was kicked out of her shrine at Bari, which became the center of the Nicholas cult. Members of this group gave each other gifts during a pageant (like the M.Gibson movie?) they conducted annually on the anniversary of Nicholas' death, December 6.
The cult-of-Nick spread north until it was adopted by German and Celtic pagans. These groups worshiped a pantheon led by their chief god who had a long, white beard and rode a horse through the heavens one evening each Autumn. When Nicholas merged with the Chief, he shed his Mediterranean appearance, grew a beard, mounted a flying horse, donned heavy winter clothing, and rescheduled his flight for December in the evenings (becoming nick-at-night).
In an attempt to convert the members of the cult-of-nick-at-night the Catholic church gave Nick a flight delay from the 6th to the 25th of December, and taught that he did (and they should) distribute gifts.
In 5570 (1809 C.E.), the novelist Washington Irving (most famous his The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle) wrote a satire of Dutch culture entitled Knickerbocker History. The satire refers several times to the white bearded, flying-horse riding Saint Nicholas using his Dutch name, Santa Claus. Later a poem by Dr. Clement Moore, changed the horse to 8 reindeer, And turned nick into a chimney cleaner.
The Bavarian illustrator Thomas Nast almost completed the modern picture of Nick. Based on Moore's poem, Nast drew more than 2,200 cartoon images of Nick for Harper's Weekly. Before Nast, Saint Nicholas had been pictured as everything from a stern looking bishop to a gnome-like figure in a frock. Nast also gave Nick a home at the North Pole, his workshop filled with elves, and his list of the good and bad children of the world. All nick was missing was his red outfit....
And Coca Cola needed a new spokes model. In 5691 (1931 C.E.), the Coca Cola Corporation contracted the Swedish commercial artist Haddon Sundblom to create a coke-drinking Nick. Sundblom modeled his Nick on his friend Lou Prentice, chosen for his cheerful, chubby face. The corporation insisted that Nick's fur-trimmed suit be bright, Coca Cola red. And the modern day Nick was born - a blend of X-tian crusader, pagan god, frat boy, and American idol.
So what do you want from me !?
Well first off, if your a X-tian, I in no-way am encouraging you to become a Jew. X-tians have always been the champs of seeking converts and us Jews have no desire to join the competition. My purpose in writing these comments is for 2 groups.
Group one is the Yeshkah worshipers who have at least some interest in the truth, maybe they will re-examine their practices, and realize that not everything they grew-up believing is the word of g-d, especially the idea that Jews are "the children of the devil" and they sentenced Yeshkah to death (Johny Boy 8:44). Maybe through re-examining their religion they will realize that they don't need any guy on a stick to atone for their sins, all they need is to be good people.
Group 2 is those who aren't Yeshkah worshipers (Jews, Muslims, Pagans, Chicken Voo-doo murder). These guys need to know what is really going on on 12-25. And when they get invited to a party, and the host says " It's your holiday too" you can respond, "sorry, you must have me mistaken for a pagan." I'm not telling not to go act like pagan, if that is what your into, I just want you to be tricked into thinking it is "your holiday too" (unless you are a pagan).
Another point, don't take my comments too seriously. Read the original article and the sources. If you think I'm insulting you or "full of hate" or some other defensive label. Stop and think, re-read what I wrote, re-read the original article, and if you still are offended, just ignore this as the ramblings of a fundamental extremist.
I will close this with a quote from the original article:
Many who are excitedly preparing for their Christmas celebrations would prefer not knowing about the holidays real significance. If they do know the history, they often object that their celebration has nothing to do with the holidays monstrous history and meaning. We are just having fun.
Imagine that between 1933-45, the Nazi regime celebrated Adolf Hitlers birthday April 20 as a holiday. Imagine that they named the day, Hitlerday, and observed the day with feasting, drunkenness, gift-giving, and various pagan practices. Imagine that on that day, Jews were historically subject to perverse tortures and abuse, and that this continued for centuries.
Now, imagine that your great-great-great-grandchildren were about to celebrate Hitlerday. April 20th arrived. They had long forgotten about Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen. They had never heard of gas chambers or death marches. They had purchased champagne and caviar, and were about to begin the party, when someone reminded them of the days real history and their ancestors agony. Imagine that they initially objected, We arent celebrating the Holocaust; were just having a little Hitlerday party. If you could travel forward in time and meet them; if you could say a few words to them, what would you advise them to do on Hitlerday?
On December 25, 1941, Julius Streicher, one of the most vicious of Hitlers assistants, celebrated Christmas by penning the following editorial in his rabidly Antisemitic newspaper, Der Stuermer:
If one really wants to put an end to the continued prospering of this curse from heaven that is the Jewish blood, there is only one way to do it: to eradicate this people, this Satans son, root and branch.
It was an appropriate thought for the day. This Christmas, how will we celebrate?
Oh one more thing, for you Jews who feel under attack this month... You can always come home.
- Scythia
- an ancient region in southeastern Europe and Asia. The center of the Scythian empire, which existed between the 8th and 2nd centuries bc, was on the northern shores of the Black Sea and extended from southern Russia to the borders of Persia.
