Christmas in Yiddish Tradition

With Jordan Chad

Presented by New Lehrhaus

Back in Europe, Yiddish-speaking Jews traditionally let loose on Christmas Eve with feasting, drinking, dancing, and gambling. Scholars have previously assumed that this Christmas Eve vacation from Torah study was some sort of antagonistic counterculture to Christians celebrating Christmas. But Jordan Chad’s recent book Christmas in Yiddish Tradition: the Untold Story* reveals that the Christmas traditions transmitted in Yiddish were very similar to those transmitted in other European languages. Drawing on a wealth of documents, Chad argues that while Jews never celebrated the birth of Jesus, their Christmas Eve celebrations were essentially what they looked like: Jews celebrating Christmas.

Program Fee: $18