Nitl Nakht

COurtesy of my reading of Jewish blogs earlier tonight...

I was reading about an Ashkenazi (and now I think mostly Hasidic) custom called "Nitl Nakht" (Spelled in various ways: it's Yiddish, I can't spell Yiddish at all: I don't know Any of the transliteration schemes appropriate for it) in which on Christmas Eve one Doesn't Learn Torah Or Jewish Stuff. The info I found gave a few reasons:

1. So as not to get hurt going to and from the Beit Midrash (or more culturally appropriately, the Beis Medresh) with rowdy churchgoers around in Eastern Europe. This one was countered by the question as to why there wasn't a similar custom for Easter Eve- err, wrong term: what's the appropriate one, oh-someone-who-knows?

2. Learning creates benefit for the world, and we don't want that to be attributable to their intense prayers because it happened at the same time. That one seems awfully mean-spiritted, but understandable for that cultural context.

3. Learning on someone's birthday or Yahrtzeit (why Do we capitalize Yahrtzeit?) gives their soul benefits, and we don't want to do that for Jesus. (Disregards the fact that Christmas was moved to fit the Pagan holiday calendar, and Jesus was probably born in the spring, I thought... I forget the likely date. But well, the custom came about pre-this-sort-of-scholarship. Although I'm surprised it wasn't brought up.)

4. So that it doesn't look like we're celebrating a gentile holiday in any way.

And the following benefit/amusing result was brought up:

No matter how unobservant a Jew is, they're going to observe this custom, most likely. Of course, this is somewhat less relevant considering that the custom is utterly irrelevant to Jews who come from or live in non-Christian dominated countries now.

But well, it makes IFD marathons all the more appropriate- it's culturally appropriate to do on Christmas that isn't Jewish learning. Also because Chinese restaurants get crowded. Also because people who are Very good and learn often may want a break on occasion so they can do something else with their evening.

I'm not sure the real purpose of that post, but I thought it was an amusing custom, partially because I had random images of bringing some sort of Jewish text to the marathon last night as I was dancing, for some unknown reason. I forget the context- just random daydream, but this somehow linked stuff together in some non-linear/nonsensical way.

Nitl Nakht

COurtesy of my reading of Jewish blogs earlier tonight...

I was reading about an Ashkenazi (and now I think mostly Hasidic) custom called "Nitl Nakht" (Spelled in various ways: it's Yiddish, I can't spell Yiddish at all: I don't know Any of the transliteration schemes appropriate for it) in which on Christmas Eve one Doesn't Learn Torah Or Jewish Stuff. The info I found gave a few reasons:

1. So as not to get hurt going to and from the Beit Midrash (or more culturally appropriately, the Beis Medresh) with rowdy churchgoers around in Eastern Europe. This one was countered by the question as to why there wasn't a similar custom for Easter Eve- err, wrong term: what's the appropriate one, oh-someone-who-knows?

2. Learning creates benefit for the world, and we don't want that to be attributable to their intense prayers because it happened at the same time. That one seems awfully mean-spiritted, but understandable for that cultural context.

3. Learning on someone's birthday or Yahrtzeit (why Do we capitalize Yahrtzeit?) gives their soul benefits, and we don't want to do that for Jesus. (Disregards the fact that Christmas was moved to fit the Pagan holiday calendar, and Jesus was probably born in the spring, I thought... I forget the likely date. But well, the custom came about pre-this-sort-of-scholarship. Although I'm surprised it wasn't brought up.)

4. So that it doesn't look like we're celebrating a gentile holiday in any way.

And the following benefit/amusing result was brought up:

No matter how unobservant a Jew is, they're going to observe this custom, most likely. Of course, this is somewhat less relevant considering that the custom is utterly irrelevant to Jews who come from or live in non-Christian dominated countries now.

But well, it makes IFD marathons all the more appropriate- it's culturally appropriate to do on Christmas that isn't Jewish learning. Also because Chinese restaurants get crowded. Also because people who are Very good and learn often may want a break on occasion so they can do something else with their evening.

I'm not sure the real purpose of that post, but I thought it was an amusing custom, partially because I had random images of bringing some sort of Jewish text to the marathon last night as I was dancing, for some unknown reason. I forget the context- just random daydream, but this somehow linked stuff together in some non-linear/nonsensical way.

In Which Maya Plays With Toxic Substances, and Her Mother Freaks Out

Translation: I started waterproofing my new boots. They just need one more coat, and they'll be all set and waterproof. But well, I ended up applying the -toxic smelling, as it contains petroleum products- waterproofing guck in the basement, using a paper towel to hold the applicator so that I wouldn't get that smell in the kitchen, and come in as little contact as possible with the waterproofing stuff, which did indeed smell like petroleum (although Mom at first insisted that she could smell it before it was opened, which Dad proved wrong: it was a funny interaction). And as they were off to pick my sister up from the airport, they called down to me not to be around the stuff for long.

Mom's original idea was to have me do this in the unheated back hall (makes getting to the downstairs bathroom a Cold phenomenon in the winter: the bathroom is heated, but it's off the unheated back hall) so that I'd get it done as quickly as humanly possible... Brr...

But it's mostly done. Quite quickly, actually, once Dad helped me get the applicator out- it was sort of stuck.

On the lighter side of toxic chemicals, buying it was the excuse to go to the local hardware shop which is a tight-packed delight of an old-fashioned hardware store, rather than Home Depot or other such horrid place. There's also a cobbler there. And it Smells like a hardware store- but you can get pots and pans there too, and cookie cutters. (I remember buying cookie cutters there when we were little as a special reward for being good, at some point. I was awfully excited.)

In Which Maya Plays With Toxic Substances, and Her Mother Freaks Out

Translation: I started waterproofing my new boots. They just need one more coat, and they'll be all set and waterproof. But well, I ended up applying the -toxic smelling, as it contains petroleum products- waterproofing guck in the basement, using a paper towel to hold the applicator so that I wouldn't get that smell in the kitchen, and come in as little contact as possible with the waterproofing stuff, which did indeed smell like petroleum (although Mom at first insisted that she could smell it before it was opened, which Dad proved wrong: it was a funny interaction). And as they were off to pick my sister up from the airport, they called down to me not to be around the stuff for long.

Mom's original idea was to have me do this in the unheated back hall (makes getting to the downstairs bathroom a Cold phenomenon in the winter: the bathroom is heated, but it's off the unheated back hall) so that I'd get it done as quickly as humanly possible... Brr...

But it's mostly done. Quite quickly, actually, once Dad helped me get the applicator out- it was sort of stuck.

On the lighter side of toxic chemicals, buying it was the excuse to go to the local hardware shop which is a tight-packed delight of an old-fashioned hardware store, rather than Home Depot or other such horrid place. There's also a cobbler there. And it Smells like a hardware store- but you can get pots and pans there too, and cookie cutters. (I remember buying cookie cutters there when we were little as a special reward for being good, at some point. I was awfully excited.)