The Myth of Xmas -- המיתוס של חג המולד

This article is taken from TorahAnytime.com's Weekly Parasha Hashavua Newsletter.

Santa Claus Was Created By Coca Cola!

  

So, X-mas has just passed and I'm willing to put money down that you fit into one of three categories with regards to this holiday: You either 1- love Chanukah but think that X-mas is pretty cool, 2- heard that X-mas has something to do with the birth of Yeshu (Jesus), but are curious how everything else (the tree, Santa, gingerbread men, etc...) fits in, or 3- couldn't care less.

Regardless of which group you're part of, it's absolutely necessary to know and understand what X-mas is reallyall about. After all, our families are raised in an extremely Christian oriented society, and if we aren't armed with the knowledge needed to combat this, we stand very little hope of preventing its influence on our families and selves.

Lets begin.

First off, we must state outright that it is a completemyth that Yeshu was born on 12/25. Not only does the New Testament fail to give any date for his birth, but the earliest Gospel written-St. Mark-records stories only of anadult Yeshu; there is no story recorded of his birth at all!

We could easily go into greater detail, but suffice it to say, there are 3 respected opinions in the Christian world as to when Yeshu was born, and-get this-none of them place it at December 25^th. DePascha Computus, the earliest Catholic document discovered, says he was born on March 28^th. Clement, a church Bishop from the same time period thought he was born on November 18th. More recently, Joseph Fitzmyer, a Cardinal with extremely close ties to the Pope disagreed with both of them, and claims he was born on September 11^th 3 BCE!

Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it?

If this is the case, you might be wondering how in heaven's name X-mas ended up being celebrated on the 25^th of December? Well, in order to answer this question, we need to take a trip back in time to ancient Roman days and learn about the pagan festival of Saturnalia,which took place from Dec. 17^th-25^th.

The custom of this festival was as follows: There were no rules-plain and simple. You could dowhatever you wanted however you wanted withwhomever you wanted. In addition to human sacrifice, other customs of this day included widespread intoxication, complete rampant immorality, going from house to house singing disrobed, and eating human shaped biscuits. The last two traditions are indeed the forerunners of modern day X-mas caroling and gingerbread men cookies.

Keep reading. It gets better.

In the 4^th century, the Church decided that it wanted to convert people en masse, and so they adopted the holiday of Saturnalia into Christianity in an effort to attract pagan followers! The only problem was that there wasn't anything inherently Christian about Saturnalia, so Christian leaders...can you guess it...named the last day of the holiday-Dec. 25^th as Yeshu' birthday.

Of course, the Church couldn't have its followers spend a week out of the year getting drunk, having illicit relations, and murdering whomever they wanted, so some leaders tried to stop it; they had very little success though. After all, who would want to give up such a great holiday? The kicker is this: From 1659-1681, the Puritans in Massachusetts [the famous Pilgrims] actuallybanned X-mas because of its terrible pagan origins!

The Origin of Christian Customs:

The Tree:Just like the Church incorporated Saturnalia in an effort to attract pagans, they attracted the worshippers of the Asheira Cult by incorporating the trees they worshipped into Christian Doctrine. Sounds familiar? Asheira Trees? The Torah mentions them outright as a form of idolatry!

Mistletoe: Norse/Druid mythology tells the story of their god Balder being shot and killed by an arrow laced with poisonous mistletoe. Druid rituals, therefore, used mistletoe poison to kill their sacrificial human victim. Just as with the Asheira cult, Christians adopted their customs in an effort to missionize them, and "kissing one's beloved under the mistletoe" (a combination of the immorality of Saturnalia and Druid sacrifices) was born.

Presents:  Roman Emperors forced their most despised citizens to give them gifts during Saturnalia. This soon became a tradition amongst all Romans during Saturnalia, and when Saturnalia became a "Christian" Holiday, the Church gave it a "Christian flavor" by claiming that St. Nicholas would give presents.

But how is Santa connected to St. Nicholas?

We're running out of room so I'll keep it short and sweet:

St. Nicholas, a Middle-Eastern Christian man, died and was buried in Turkey in 345 CE. About 800 years later, his bones were uprooted by sailors who idolized him, and they reburied him in Italy. Ultimately, because of his popularity in the region, he replaced the god of the area, Pasqua Ephiphania, who used to fill children's stockings with gifts. And so, Nicholas had now become a gift-giving god. His popularity spread north into the Germanic regions where he ultimately replaced their god, Woden, as well. Woden had a long white beard and rode a horse through the heavens in late autumn. Now it was Nicholas who grew a beard, had heavy winter clothing, and flew a flying horse. In deference to Saturnalia however, his flight was rescheduled to December.

Not quite the modern Santa, but we're getting closer...

In the 1800's, a new and improved history of St. Nicholas began surface. Firstly, the Dutch equivalent of St. Nicholas,called Santa Claus, became extremely popular through the efforts of popular author Washington Irving (who also wrote Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle), and people stopped calling him St. Nicholas and only called him Santa Claus. Additionally, through the publications of well-known professor Dr. Clement Moore and illustrator Thomas Nast, Santa Claus was popularly portrayed in books and newspaper cartoons as flying with reindeer, descending through chimneys, having a home in the North Pole, owning a workshop filled with elves, and keeping a list of good and bad children.

That's right. You read correctly. The majority of Santa Claus stories...are just made up stories.

All we're missing is the red suit.

Enter Coca Cola...

In 1931, Coke's sales had plunged because they'd removed their key ingredient due to legal issues-cocaine. In an effort to boost sales, they contracted Swedish artist Haddon Sundblom to create a coke drinking Santa. Sundblom modeled Santa, who up until then was a skinny man, after his friend Lou Prentice, a cheerful and chubby person. Coca Cola insisted that Santa's suit be colored Coca Cola Red, and at long last, our classic modern-day Santa complete with his red suit, big belly, and reindeer was born...

NOW I want you to think about the difference between Chanukah and X-mas. What does each holiday represent? Which has any intrinsic value and why?                                                                    Shabbat Shalom | Chanan Tzionov

Living Amalek, עמלק החי

I may not be a fan of Zionists, and Israel needs Moshiach to be in their next government (not the current Zionist regime which is made up of the Erev Rav), but this Amalek will be destroyed when Moshiach comes.  Here's a living proof of a living Amalek, whose words are  unbelievably foolish and utter nonsense and sounds like a Hitler, yemach shemo v'zichrono, which is also an acronym for Yeshu.




The STate of Isreal is not a Jewish country as the following is quoted:

• President Peres wishes Christians a Merry Christmas
• 12.20.2012
• 

  President Peres singing with the local children's choir (Photo: GPO)

  
  

  President Peres: “It is for me a privilege, as president of the State of Israel, to send profound wishes on behalf of all of Israel for a Happy Christmas to the whole Christian world and to express the hope that the Middle East may enter an era of peace and prosperity.”
• ​
  

  (Communicated by the Office of the President)

  President Shimon Peres, today (Thursday, 20 December 2012), paid a visit to the official residence of Archbishop Elias Chacour in Haifa. President Peres sang traditional Christmas songs with the local children's choir from the Christian-Arabic school in I'billin.

  President Peres delivered a festive greeting to Christians in Israel and across the world and said: "It is for me a privilege, as president of the State of Israel, to send profound wishes on behalf of all of Israel for a Happy Christmas to the whole Christian world and to express the hope that the Middle East may enter an era of peace and prosperity. The State of Israel is committed to protecting all the holy sites and the freedom of worship for everyone. In the Holy Land coexistence between Jews, Christians and Muslims will continue. From the city of Haifa, a model of peace and coexistence, I wish to send one clear message to the world – a message of peace and unity between all faiths, between all nations."

  President Peres added: "We are proud of the Christian community in Israel and are also proud that they feel fully at home, completely free to worship in their own way and to continue with their own traditions. I wish them and all Christians everywhere a Merry Christmas."

  President Peres was welcomed at the festivities by a children's choir dressed in traditional Christmas outfits, leaders of the Christian community in northern Israel and Archbishop Chacour who said: "I thank the president of the State of Israel for coming to speak with the Christian community and share his blessings with us before Christmas and the New Year. The Christian community in Israel is small but proud of being Israeli citizens. The community will continue to work in partnership to build the state, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder with Jews and Muslims.

  Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav said: "In Haifa we don't have coexistence but one existence – in Haifa we celebrate the Festival of Festivals with complete equality between all religions and that is my wish for Christians across the Middle East this Christmas."

And Netanyahu's message echoes similarly:



Would you want to keep this type of tradition alive in your next Israeli government? A source of heresy and heretics running the country?  When Israelis shout "Chillul Hashem" in the Diaspora, which is worse?  Chillul Hashem on Hashem's special land for Jews, or outside?

The current government is encouraging more Xians to live in the Holy Land not as Bnei Noach but as idol worshipers, and of course, to get tourism from blood money!   Maybe that's their way of atoning for Jewish blood over the centuries?

Noah Pozner's Family Fund -- קרן משפחתו של הנח פוזנר

Baruch Dayan HAEmes to Noah Pozner, a"h, who was one of the Jewish victims of the Newton elementary school shooting.

Noah Pozner's family has set up a fund to seek financial aid for counseling for his family.

Noah Pozner was among the children who died in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary on Friday, December 14, 2012.  This eventbrite link has been set up to accept donations to this irrevocable trust specifically for Noah's surviving siblings, two of whom were also in the school that day, in different classrooms.  

The funds received will be used to provide counseling services, education and basic needs for the children at this time of grief.  Noah leaves behind his twin sister and three other siblings, and is the youngest victim in this horrible tragedy.

Funds are being collected through eventbrite, and structured as tickets.  Please donate any amount and please select today's date as the day of event.

Thank you for your generous donation during this very difficult time.

You can donate to this fund here,  http://noahsarkofhopefund.eventbrite.com/

This link is legitimately given by Congregation Adas Yisrael of Newton.

For those who want to help

If you would like to donate to all the victims' families of the tragedy that took place on 12-14-12 at Sandy Hook School, we currently recommend two charities:  newtown.uwwesternct.org or www.everribbon.com If you would like to donate directly to the family of 6 year old victim Noah Pozner, you can donate directly on the web site Www.NoahsArkofHopeFund.eventbrite.com.  All checks we receive earmarked to support Noah Praver's family will continue to be sent directly to them as well. We are a small Congregation in deep financial trouble and need to keep our doors open for years to come so we can continue to be the Rock that supports the Jewish community of the Greater Newtown Area.  All donations would be greatly appreciated to help us meet our goal.  Checks can be made out to Congregation Adath Israel and sent to P.O. Box 623, Newtown, CT 06470.  You can also donate on our website using the link to the right. THANK YOU. Rabbi Shaul Praver

Best Chanukah Videos -- סרטוני חנוכה הטובים ביותר

Happy 8th Day of Chanukah!  As Israelis like to say "Chag Urim Sameach!"

A series of videos (the best in our opinion) available on the Internet for Chanukah.

Interactive Singing Menorah -- you must click on the candle(s) for it to show you how to sing! :)

How do we make Hashem do open miracles for us like in the past? איך אנחנו משפיעים קב"ה לעשות נסים גלויים בשבילנו כמו בעבר?

Appropriate for Chanukah and any time of the year.

Public Service Announcement -- הודעת שירות ציבורית

A public service message from a resident in an Anglo-populated community in Israel:

***Public Service***: xxxxx A woman's Vigilance saves the day!!!

In last week's chadash edition in the Hebrew side, a featured story (front page) told as follows:

A woman called the police after noticing a black car with 2 Arab guys, circling Dolev (during the day) looking quite sinister.

This was followed by the police coming to the scene and singling the two Arabs guys to slow down. Apparently as soon as the 2 men saw the police they broke into high speed and left through luz down the road and into a near by moshav. The high speed chase continued until the police lost track of the suspect's car. 

Later on the police found the car (the two men ran off and got away). Turns out the car was stolen and inside the police found 2 sets of chariedi men garb, complete with pants, shirt, hat, beards, shoes….police costumes as well as teaser guns make shift guns and some other things….the police was puzzled and assumed that the 2 men were either planning to rob or chas v'shalom abduct.

Baruch Hashem a most sinister crime was prevented due to a woman's vigilance. 

I read the whole thing in Hebrew and felt very sad this was not translated into English; I think it is imperative that our community appreciates the importance of being vigilance.

We must be aware of the real potential risks which we face daily having all these workers (perhaps some of whom are terrorists) around.