[Avodah] Nittelnacht

[Zev Sero]

Richard Wolberg wrote:

> Does anyone have an answer for:  If one of the reasons for this minhag 
> was the danger of getting beaten up outside, then why isn't there a such 
> minhag for Easter?                                                                   
> In fact, the danger was much greater on the latter day, since that was 
> when anti-Semitic sermons were delivered blaming the Jews for the 
> crucifixion. Any ideas?

Yes, the obvious answer is that this is a made-up reason, which AFAIK
doesn't appear until the late 19th century, whereas the minhag is
attested to far earlier than that.   AFAIK there is no evidence that
there ever was a goyishe custom of beating up Jews on Xmas eve (for
one thing Jew-beating is an outdoor sport, and Easter has better
weather for it...)

Similarly, given the obvious similarity between "nittel" and "natal"
I think we can safely dismiss *all* other theories about its etymology,
no matter how well-attested they are.  All of these other theories are
obviously post-hoc speculation by people living in countries where the
goyim called it something other than "natal", "natale", "nadal", etc.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas