How Jews spend Christmas Eve

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NITEL NIGHT: CHRISTMAS EVE IN HASIDIC JUDAISM

For Hasidic Judaics it's an auspicious time for making toilet paper

By Michael Hoffman | Dec. 24, 2010

This column is online:
http://revisionistreview.blogspot.com/2 ... sidic.html

"Christmas Eve is one of the few occasions when Hasidim refrain from Torah (Talmud) study, do not conduct weddings or go to the mikveh (ritual bath). But they do play chess and work on their bills.

"On Christmas Eve, known in Jewish circles as Nitel Night, the klipot are in total control. The klipot are parasitical evil forces that attach themselves to the forces of good.

"According to Kabbalah, on the night on which 'that man,' (a Judaic euphemism for Jesus) was born, not even a trace of holiness is present and the klipot exploit every act of holiness for their own purposes.

"For this reason, Nitel Night, from nightfall to midnight, is one of the few occasions when Hasidim refrain from Torah (Talmud) study. On this horrific night, they neither conduct weddings nor do they go to the mikveh.

"An entire folkloric literature has developed around the unusual recreational activities of Nitel Night. The customs, it should be emphasized, are practiced only by Hasidim...

"The Knesset correspondent of the ultra-Orthodox newspaper Hamodia, Zvi Rosen, relates that celebrated Hasidic admorim (sect leaders) would cut a year's supply of toilet paper for Sabbath use (to avoid tearing toilet paper on Sabbath) on this night (Christmas Eve).

"Actually, this disrespectful act has profound kabbalistic significance, because Kabbalistic literature extensively discusses Christianity as waste material excreted from the body of the Jewish people...."