Nittel Nacht

"In Jewish sources, Christmas Eve is known as Nittel Nacht. The term nittel originates from the Latin Natale Domini, "Nativity of the Lord"; however, when spelled in Hebrew, it takes on a new shade of meaning …"

"The Yiddish name for Christmas is Nittel. It derives from the medieval Latin name of the holiday, Natalis Dies Domini, "the Lords birthday", which also gave French and Italian their names for the holiday, Noël and Natale respectively."

"It used to be dangerous to go out on this night. [Observant Christians] would go to church, hear sermons about how Jews were Yoshke (Jesus) killers, and so it wasnt safe for the Jews to go outside. If thats the case, then theres no room for [Nittel Nacht] to be kept today because that isnt a worry or fear anymore."

"Its a little bit—some of you might be troubled by what were going to say. Let me just first say that what Im looking at tonight is a Jewish folk custom. I certainly dont need to denigrate any other religion, but historically, we can understand that the religions didnt always get along as well as they do today, and Jews were subject to all sorts of persecution, and Jews responded with the pen. And I think we can appreciate this and look at what is a folk custom without—you know, seeing it as an aspect of Jewish cultural history."

"Just as some common people among the Jews sat up late on Christmas Eve keeping a boisterous apotropaic vigil, so too many Christian villagers watched out that night together in rowdy protective groups."

"In certain places, Christian authorities actually prohibited Jews from appearing in public places during the Christian high holidays, so Jewish schools and synagogues were closed. In other places, Christians attacked Jews on Christmas, thus staying home was encouraged for security reasons."