INITIAL RELFLECTIONS
ABOUT THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
LeonardSwidler, Temple University, Philadelphia (USA) --- dialogue@temple.edu
If
we are going to talk about a particular subject, probably the first thing we
should focus on is the “meaning” of the subject. What we are going to focus on
today is Christmas. The first thing about Christmas is that the word in English
refers to celebration of the “Mass at Christ mas” time. However, if we look at
the name in different European languages, we find out that the name means quite
different things. For example, in German, the term is Weihnacht, which literally means “Holy Night.” In Latin, the name
use is simply, Dies Natalis, “The
Birth Day.” Looking at all the different names for Christmas, interesting as it
may be, nevertheless, does not tell us very much about what we are focusing on.
Of
course. we are focusing on the celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
We might ask, “What is so important about the birth of anybody? In fact, the
birth of a new human being seems to always create a sense of awe, and positive
feelings in general. So, in this case, we are dealing with the firstborn child
of an unimportant, presumably, very young woman. However, even with the birth
of such a seemingly unimportant baby, it makes one think of a later saying in
Jewish writings, the Talmud, where it is written “Whoever saves a single human
life, it is as if he saved a whole universe.” It is also interesting to note
that the same idea and almost the very same words were also many centuries
later attributed to Mohammad. So, every person’s birth, and death, are each a
whole universe!
What
brings us to focus on the birth of Jesus is, of course, what happened with him
in his ensuing 30-some years, and even more than that, what has happened in the
2000 years since then.
Jesus
grew to adulthood in the area that today we call Galilee, which is a part of
present-day Israel. Now we should remember that Galilee was thought of as
rather second-class Judaism by the inhabitants of Judea. In any case, he
apparently grew to young manhood, and as young boys in the Jewish world at the
time, he studied the Scriptures. He seems to have done so in an extraordinarily
deep manner.
How
do we know this? Because there is a passage in the Gospel of Luke which relates
how Jesus along with his mother and father went to Jerusalem for a large
celebration, and when his father and mother returned to their home, they walked
separately Mary the mother with the women, and Joseph the father with the men.
It related in Luke’s Gospel that after a day’s journey the mother and father
met again, each one assuming that Jesus was with the other one. When they
discovered that he was not with either of them, they returned to Jerusalem and
spent apparently quite some time searching for him. When they did finally find
him, it is recorded in the Gospel that he was discussing deep religious issues
with the rabbis. My suspicion is, that among these rabbis were quite possibly
the leaders of the two major rabbinical “schools”, namely, Hillel and Shammai.
Luke records that the rabbis were extremely impressed with the knowledge of the
scriptures on the part of Jesus. As one might expect from anxious parents, it is
noted that Joseph and Mary scolded Jesus, saying that he caused them a great
deal of anxiety. However, Jesus is reported to have said something rather
imperious: “I must be about the work of my father.”
Luke
also notes at that point that “Mary kept all of these events in her heart and
pondered upon them.” This line suggests quite strongly, that Luke as a writer
of a Gospel, one way or another had access to these thoughts that Mary pondered
in her heart. The chances are that Luke never met Mary herself, but somehow had
access to things that she may have said to others, who then wrote them down—eventually.
The chances that Mary could read and write are quite slim. Such was not
expected of young girls in that culture, or in hardly any cultures, for that
matter.
Of
course, Luke must have had access to some of the experiences and thoughts of
Mary, for he is the one who most of all writes about them. As I said, we have
no idea about how he had access to the sources, whether they were spoken and he
just heard them from living persons (who would have been quite elderly), or
that they had been written down, and he had access to the written material.
In
any case, as we know, Jesus grew to manhood and in the process he must have
learned to read and write and studied with the rabbis, for at one place in the
Gospel he was invited to read from the Scriptures at the synagogue service in
Galilee, after which it is recorded that the people spoke among themselves,
asking, “Where did he [Jesus] get all that knowledge. Is he not the son of
Joseph, the Carpenter?”
An interesting question to ask at this point would be,
who might have been the rabbis that Jesus studied with, there in Israel, north
of Judea, the province of Galilee? Well, we have evidence elsewhere that both
Shammai and Hillel had spent time teaching in Galilee, and that Hillel, who is
the older of the two, died around the year 10. We also know that Jesus probably
was born around the year 6 BCE. That would mean that, if the dates are
reasonably accurate, Jesus would have been 16 years old at the outside when
Hillel died. That would certainly have been old enough for him to have been
studying with Hillel for two years or more. As far as Shammai concerned, he lived
several decades longer then did Hillel.
What
we are going to focus on today is “Christmas.” The first thing about the name “Christmas”
is that the word in English refers to the celebration of the Mass at Christmas time. However, if we look at the name of the celebration in
different European languages, we find that the name used means quite different things.
For example, in Latin, the term used is Dies
Natalis, the “Birth-day, and the French name for Christmas is Noel, which is derived from the Latin Natalis, meaning birth.
In German, the term is Weihnachten, which literally means “Holy night.” Looking at all the different names for Christmas, interesting as it may be, nevertheless, does not tell us very much about what we are focusing on: Of course, we are focusing on the celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
In German, the term is Weihnachten, which literally means “Holy night.” Looking at all the different names for Christmas, interesting as it may be, nevertheless, does not tell us very much about what we are focusing on: Of course, we are focusing on the celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
We
might ask, what is so important about the birth of anybody? In fact, the birth
of a new human being seems to always create in us a sense of awe, and positive
feelings in general. So, in this case, we are dealing with the firstborn child
of a, presumably, very young woman. It makes one think of a later saying in
Jewish rabbinical writings where it states that “Whoever saves a single human life, it is as if he saved
a whole universe.” It is also interesting to note that the same idea, and
almost to the very same words, were also many centuries later attributed to
Mohammad.
What
brings us to focus on the birth of Jesus is, of course, what happened with him
in his ensuing 30-some years, and even more than that, what has happened in the
more than 2000 years since then. Jesus grew to adulthood in the area called
Galilea, which is a part of present-day Israel. Now we should remember that
Galilee was thought of as rather second-class Judaism by the inhabitants of
Judea. In any case, Jesus apparently a grew to young manhood, and, as all young
boys in the Jewish world at the time, he studied the Scriptures. He seems to
have done so in an extraordinarily deep manner.
How
do we know this? Because there is a passage in the Gospel of Luke which relates
how Jesus along with his mother and father went to Jerusalem for a large
celebration, and when his father and mother returned to their home, they walk
separately: Mary, the mother, with the women, and Joseph, the father, with the
men. Luke’s Gospel relates that after eight days journey the mother and father
met again, each one thinking that Jesus was with the other one. When they
discovered that he was not with either of them, they returned to Jerusalem and
spent apparently quite some time searching for him. When they did finally find
him, it is recorded in the Gospel that he was discussing deep religious issues
with the rabbis. My suspicion is, that among these rabbis were quite possibly
the leaders of the two major rabbinical schools, namely, Hillel and Shammai.
Luke records that the rabbis were extremely impressed with the knowledge of the
scriptures on the part of young Jesus.
As
one might expect from anxious parents, it is also noted Joseph and Mary scolded
Jesus, saying that he caused them a great deal of anxiety. Then, Jesus is
reported to have said something rather imperious for a twelve-year old: “I must
be about the work of my father.” Luke also noted at that point that May kept
all of these events in her heart and pondered upon them. This line suggests
quite strongly, that Luke as a writer of a Gospel, one way or another had
access to those thoughts that Mary pondered in her heart. The chances are that
Luke never met Mary herself, but somehow had access to things that she may have
said to others, who then wrote them down eventually. The chances that Mary could
read and write are quite slim. Such was not expected of young girls in that
culture, or in hardly any ancient culture, for that matter.
Of
course, Luke must have had access to some of the experiences and thoughts of
Mary, for he is the Gospel writer who recorded them most of all. As noted, we
have no idea about how we had access to the sources about Mary, whether they
were oral and he just heard them from living person's, or that they had been
written down and he had access to the written material. In any case, as we
know, Jesus grew to manhood and in the process he must have learned to read and
write and studied with the rabbi's, for at one place in the Gospels it is
written that he was invited to come to the front and read from the Scriptures
at the synagogue service in Galilee, after which it is also recorded that the
people spoke among themselves, asking “Where did he get all that knowledge? Is
he not the son of Joseph, a Carpenter?”
An
interesting question to ask at this point would be, “Who might have been the
rabbis that Jesus studied with, there north of Judea, in the province of
Galilee? Well, we have evidence elsewhere that both Shammai and Hillel had
spent time teaching in Galilee, and that Hillel, the older of the two, died around
the year 10. We also know that Jesus probably as born around the year 6 BCE.
That would mean that, if the dates are reasonably accurate, Jesus would have
been 16 years old when Hillel died. He would certainly have been old enough for
him to have been studying with Hillel for two years or more. As far as Shammai
is concerned, he lived several decades longer then did Hillel.
Whole
libraries have been written about Christmas and about Jesus. May this brief
reflection add a few details to the reader’s reflection at Christmas time.
DICTATED
TO CELL PHONE AND EMAILED BY LEN SWIDLER ---23.12.2018 ---
