Posted in Holidays

I have always thought of New Year's Day as a pretty innocuous holiday.  I remember as a kid trying to stay up until midnight to watch the world change - and then being a bit disappointed when I finally made it and nothing happened. LOL

When I was in Israel it was a big celebration as well, basically the same as the rest of the world.  The only real difference was that they called it "Sylvester's Day"  For some reason, it never even occurred to me to ask "why?"

And then just last year a friend asked me if I knew why they called it Sylvester's Day and since I didn't I decided to do a bit of research.  What I found was a bit appalling and I now strongly believe that my family can not celebrate January 1st.

Before I go into that history, I just want to say that this is my personal belief and that there is no Jewish law against celebrating January 1st that I am aware of.  I know many members of my community went to "First Night" and one person in particular seemed to think it strange that I wouldn't go.  I certainly am not telling anyone else what to do.  But I decide what is best for my family - and we won't be celebrating.

So for those who don't know let me give a brief history of New Year's.

Julius Ceasar first set New Year's Day as a Pagan holiday on January 1st.  He set this day because he had named the month after the Roman god Janus, the god of doors and gates.  Janus had 2 faces - one looking forward and one looking back, and Ceasar felt that was appropriate for the start of the year.  He celebrated that first New Year by ordering an attack of Jewish "leaders" in the Galilee.  The carnage was absolutely immense, with blood flowing in the streets. 

When the Roman Empire became Chr-stian under Constantine, New Year's Day was moved to March 25.  This is Annunciation Day - the day Mary was told she would have a baby.  William the Conquerer tried to move it back to January 1st to coincide with his coronation in 1066, but it never took hold.

It wasn't until the 1582 that Pope Gregory decided to move the date to January 1st - to coincide with what would have been J-sus's circumcision (if in fact he had been born on Dec 25, which most scholars agree that he wasn't).  Gregory made this change as a part of a bunch of other changes he made to the calendar (now called the Gregorian Calendar) - establishing leap years, etc..

To celebrate that first New Year's, Pope Gregory decreed that all Jews had to attend church that day to listen to a conversion sermon.  Those not attending would be punished with death.

The next year Gregory enacted a new law imposing a tax on all Jews to support a "House of Conversion" whose main goal was to convert Jews.

The next New Year's Day he ordered all sacred texts be confiscated from all Jews living in the Roman Empire.  Many Jews of course were slaughtered in this confiscation.

You can begin to see a pattern.  For the next few centuries, New Year's Day was always a day of anti-Jewish activities.  The reason being  that J-sus's circumcision supposedly signified the birth of Ch-stianity and the end of Judaism.

So where does, Sylvester fit in to all this?  Sylvester was Pope during the Council of Nicea under Emperor Constantine.  He is now a Catholic saint, and like all Saints he has his own day -I believe it is his birthday.  So, under the Catholic Church, December 31 is St. Sylvester's Day.

Sylvester is known for encouraging Constantine to pass a whole host of anti-semitic laws- including the expulsion of all Jews from Jerusalem.  Constantine, as you may know, was the first Ch-stian Roman Emperor.

So for the Jews living in Israel today they have decided to take Sylvester Day and show that they are still in Israel, despite him.  So for them it is a gala celebration of Jews once again living in the Holy Land.

For me, living in America, I feel no desire to celebrate today.