Christmas in Yiddish Tradition

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 t