Shabbat Gathering: What's Nittle Nacht?
Dear Chevra, as is our custom, we will gather tonight at 5.45p ct to welcome Shabbat and light Chanukah candles. Bring your menorahs and we will light up Zoom. These are the coordinates:
Zoom
Meeting ID: 963 5113 1550
Password: 1989
Phone: +1 312 626 6799
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Here we go.
What’s your Christmas tradition? A movie? Chinese food? Those are traditional ways many modern Jews observe Christmas. But back in late 16th Century Europe, things were different. Welcome to the Jewish holiday of Nittle Nacht.
The story goes that Jews on the streets of Europe during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day would frequently be attacked and killed by roving bands of gentiles. It became a general principle for Jews to stay in off the streets and not go to synagogue or yeshiva. Better safe than sorry. Nittle Nacht was only observed in areas where Jews were endangered by Christian pogroms. This is why Sephardim never observed it and it generally isn’t observed in Israel.
So, if you’re not in synagogue, and you’re not in the street, and you’re staying at home, what do you do? The answer is, you play board games. Really.
In 16thC Europe, board games were mostly checkers and chess. (Candyland, Settlers of Catan, and Monopoly would come later.) Card games were played too.
Now, for a holiday where people are staying home, one might assume that this would be a perfect opportunity for what let’s call "Together Time" for married partners. Nope. There was a belief that apostates were conceived on Christmas, so no hanky-panky was allowed. (Rats!).
We’ve come a long way from the pogroms in Europe, I hope. We can drive with confidence to our local Chinese restaurant (or have it delivered with UberEats) and then go to the movies to catch "Glass Onion" (or watch it on NetFlix). And we can do these things without fear of being caught up in a pogrom, thank goodness. I’m all for relegating Nittle Nacht to a footnote in Ashkenaz history.
And may it be for all of us a blessing.
See you tonight!
Gut Shabbes!
All my love,
brian.
PS
Ever since my mother died, I haven’t watched any Hallmark movies, but I will find the time to watch its Chanukkah specials. This year, Hallmark has added a second movie to its Chanukkah line up, “Love, Lights, Hanukkah.” Kveller has a funny take on the supposed origin story of the movie and it’s the right time of year to share it with you.
I Can’t Stop Thinking About This Fever Dream of a Hanukkah Hallmark Movie
"Love, Lights, Hanukkah!" is one of the most deeply weird viewing experiences you can have this holiday season.
I originally watched Hallmark’s second attempt at a Hanukkah film about halfway through a long-haul flight. This is honestly the ideal use case for Hallmark holiday films: You’re a little blurry, brain-wise, and emotionally-delicate (or maybe that’s just me. It’s normal to silently weep if they run out of ginger ale, right? We all feel like that about flying?). Having gone into the film looking for mindless fluff, I found myself in the twilight zone of Hallmark holiday films. This season, I needed to revisit this film to confirm that it was a) real and b) as weird as I remembered.
It was.
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