eBook - ePub

Christmas in Yiddish Tradition

Name: Christmas in Yiddish Tradition
ISBN: 9781479840793

The Untold Story

Jordan Chad,

English
ePUB (mobile friendly)
Available on iOS & Android

eBook - ePub

Christmas in Yiddish Tradition

The Untold Story

Jordan Chad,

About this book

Offers the provocative argument that Jews had long celebrated Christmas in the "Old World"

This book seeks to answer a perplexing question: Why were Christmas traditions once transmitted in Yiddish, a language exclusive to non-Christians?

Back in Europe, Yiddish-speaking Jews traditionally let loose on Christmas Eve with feasting, drinking, dancing, and gambling. Scholars have previously assumed this Christmas Eve vacation from Torah study to have been some sort of antagonistic counterculture to Christians celebrating Christmas. But Christmas in Yiddish Tradition reveals that the Christmas traditions transmitted in Yiddish were very similar to those transmitted in other European languages. Drawing on a wealth of documents, Jordan Chad argues that rather than European Jews being antagonistic towards Christmas, their Christmas Eve celebrations were exactly what they looked like: Jews celebrating Christmas.

The volume offers the surprising argument that while Jews never celebrated the birth of Jesus, Christmas did not actually become the strictly Christian holiday that it is today until the period when Jews migrated to the New World. Prior to that time, Jewish midwinter traditions developed as variants of midwinter traditions that were widespread across neighboring European communities. Christmas in Yiddish Tradition recounts how Jews and Christians over the past millennium each awaited supernatural visits from diverse versions of Santa Claus. They only came to fully Christianize their concept of midwinter in modern times, at which point the place of "Christmas" in the Jewish collective memory evolved from the year's jolliest vacation to its most dangerous disturbance.

The volume uncovers the story of how Christmas once flourished in a language exclusive to non-Christians—and how modern Jews and Christians ultimately came to forget about the time when they celebrated Christmas in tandem.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.

No, books cannot be downloaded as external files, such as PDFs, for use outside of Perlego. However, you can download books within the Perlego app for offline reading on mobile or tablet. Learn more here.

Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete

Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.

Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.

We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.

Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.

Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.

Yes, you can access Christmas in Yiddish Tradition by Jordan Chad in PDF and/or ePUB format. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.