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Nittel Nacht
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amother
Babypink


 

Post Thu, Dec 24 2020, 10:11 pm
amother [ Turquoise ] wrote:
what is PTA nittel nacht? This is getting more interesting by the post.


It means that their kids school will be having PTA on nittel night.
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Thu, Dec 24 2020, 10:11 pm
amother [ Turquoise ] wrote:
what is PTA nittel nacht? This is getting more interesting by the post.


The fathers have parent teacher conferences for the boys on nittel nacht.
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amother
Turquoise


 

Post Thu, Dec 24 2020, 10:21 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
This is NOT a question about manners but I couldn’t find a good section for it

I’m truly curious. I was asking my husband and he didn’t know so I thought I’d ask here

For those who hold there is no Torah learning tonight, and also are noheg not to have sx tonight, what do the men do?

My husband said that the Lubavitcher rebbe played chess but I don’t know if that’s true or if different groups have their own traditions.

I hope I’m not offending anyone. We are RW MO and don’t have these customs at all but just for a notice from our local (inclusive) chabad that parsha shiur was cancelled tonight which inspired my curiosity.

TIA


Nittel is held b/c the reason for this specific non-Jewish holiday - 25th Dec. is so very terrible, and all sorts of tumah descend in the world on this holiday, thus Torah is not learned.
Not all communities hold nittel tonight. There are other dates that nittel is held. I don't know how the Rav/Rabbi of each community works out when is nittel by his community.
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funkyfrummom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 24 2020, 10:28 pm
amother [ Turquoise ] wrote:
What on earth are you talking about???
And what is Orthodox xmas? Or perhaps I shouldnt ask!!!



xtianity has different groups/sects. "Orthodox xmas" means the day xmas is celebrated by the eastern orthodox side of xtianity (which includes greek orthodox and russian orthodox subgroups). It is because they used the julian calendar, not the gregorian calendar, when catholicism had a schism (roman catholicism = west; orthodox = east)
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soap suds




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 24 2020, 10:46 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
I wasn’t sure if the previous response about January 6 was genuine or in jest. Can you clarify which, pls?
We do both. No learning/s-x on either night.
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amother
Teal


 

Post Thu, Dec 24 2020, 10:52 pm
amother [ Floralwhite ] wrote:
Yes. After that all is ok.
I don’t think that’s true for everyone. IIRC I think our Mikveh is closed tonight. I’m pretty sure I had to push off Mikveh one year because it came out nittel nacht.
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keym




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 24 2020, 10:56 pm
There's another historical practical piece.
Historically, tonight was (and Jan 6 in eastern Orthodox communities) very, very unsafe.
Mikvas were closed so women wouldn't walk alone and be vulnerable, shuls were closed and shuttered to protect the people and shuls.
Families would spend Xmas Eve hunkered down in their cellars for safety from the inevitable mobs drunk and enflamed after services.
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amother
OP


 

Post Thu, Dec 24 2020, 11:11 pm
amother [ Teal ] wrote:
I don’t think that’s true for everyone. IIRC I think our Mikveh is closed tonight. I’m pretty sure I had to push off Mikveh one year because it came out nittel nacht.


Wow! They close the mikvahs? I literally thought mikvaos are only closed YK and 9 Av!
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amother
Turquoise


 

Post Thu, Dec 24 2020, 11:13 pm
keym wrote:
There's another historical practical piece.
Historically, tonight was (and Jan 6 in eastern Orthodox communities) very, very unsafe.
Mikvas were closed so women wouldn't walk alone and be vulnerable, shuls were closed and shuttered to protect the people and shuls.
Families would spend Xmas Eve hunkered down in their cellars for safety from the inevitable mobs drunk and enflamed after services.


Nowadays also, many Yidden try to go out less from Dec. 25th until after new years day, for safety reasons. Though, probably, this year will be less rowdy b/c of the strict lockdown in some countries.
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amother
Khaki


 

Post Fri, Dec 25 2020, 12:35 am
keym wrote:
There's another historical practical piece.
Historically, tonight was (and Jan 6 in eastern Orthodox communities) very, very unsafe.
Mikvas were closed so women wouldn't walk alone and be vulnerable, shuls were closed and shuttered to protect the people and shuls.
Families would spend Xmas Eve hunkered down in their cellars for safety from the inevitable mobs drunk and enflamed after services.


Not just a piece. This is the reason for not going out to learn that night. It was unsafe. So some chassidim made a virtue of necessity, and voila, playing cards or chess rather than learning.
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amother
Linen


 

Post Fri, Dec 25 2020, 1:34 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Wow! They close the mikvahs? I literally thought mikvaos are only closed YK and 9 Av!


Maybe depends on the community... My mikvah was open tonight....
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NotInNJMommy




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Dec 25 2020, 6:10 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Can you elaborate pls? Are the minhagim only till midnight?


Yes
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amother
Seagreen


 

Post Fri, Dec 25 2020, 6:26 am
amother [ Khaki ] wrote:
Not just a piece. This is the reason for not going out to learn that night. It was unsafe. So some chassidim made a virtue of necessity, and voila, playing cards or chess rather than learning.

Chabad says the reason is that there are tremendous amounts of kelipah in the world at that time, and we don't want to give them energy from our Torah learning, so we do other productive activities then instead. It's literally only a few hours - from about 4:30 pm to 12:00 am.
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amother
Plum


 

Post Fri, Dec 25 2020, 6:53 am
amother [ Khaki ] wrote:
Not just a piece. This is the reason for not going out to learn that night. It was unsafe. So some chassidim made a virtue of necessity, and voila, playing cards or chess rather than learning.


No, that's not why. If that were the answer then it would be a minhag to learn beyechidus on nittel.
It's because of the klipos that are in the world during that time and we don't want to add to them so we fill our time with productive activities that don't involve Torah study.
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amother
Taupe


 

Post Fri, Dec 25 2020, 9:41 am
Raisin wrote:
Since most cleaning ladies are not coming tomorrow, there is plenty to do.

Sequoia, you either keep 25th dec or 6th jan, not both. Well, I guess you can eat chinese food and watch movies but you don't need to refrain from torah studies on both dates.


We keep both
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princessleah




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Dec 25 2020, 9:59 am
I have never heard the explanation about klipos, but my family is not Chabad.
My grandfather did not learn on either nittel or “Sylvester” which is what he called New Years Eve.
And the explanation given was that historically as someone mentioned above, it was a night when people would get drunk and go out and have pogroms and try to kill Jews. And so not only did you not go out to learn, you didn’t learn at home either so you weren’t being “obviously Jewish.”
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amother
Mustard


 

Post Fri, Dec 25 2020, 10:22 am
amother [ Seagreen ] wrote:
Chabad says the reason is that there are tremendous amounts of kelipah in the world at that time, and we don't want to give them energy from our Torah learning, so we do other productive activities then instead. It's literally only a few hours - from about 4:30 pm to 12:00 am.


This is the reason. Nitel nacht has very little to do with practicality and safety, and a lot to do with the impure influences around at that time. Kelipahs is what they're called in kabbalah. I think what this thread is highlighting is a difference between Chabad and other chassidim. Most chassidim don't discuss kabbalistic concepts. A lot of their minhagim are based on kabbalah and they don't talk about it. They say this is what we do and don't offer explanations. Chabad's approach is to teach and explain and they don't shy away from talking about the kabbalistic origins of their minhagim. Some imas are saying they never heard of nittel and that makes sense. Some imas are saying they heard of it but they think it came about for practical reasons. That's because the kabbalistic origins of the minhag weren't discussed where they come from.
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amother
Brunette


 

Post Fri, Dec 25 2020, 10:34 am
I'm Satmar and always learned nittel is a night of tremendous tummah. I don't think the mikva is closed though. Nittel is over at midnight so why would people not just wait?
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amother
Pumpkin


 

Post Fri, Dec 25 2020, 3:22 pm
Another litvish here. There is absolutely nothing done different nittel nacht by us.
It's like not a thing. DH had the same night seder as usual.
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amother
Khaki


 

Post Sat, Dec 26 2020, 11:32 am
amother [ Seagreen ] wrote:
Chabad says the reason is that there are tremendous amounts of kelipah in the world at that time, and we don't want to give them energy from our Torah learning, so we do other productive activities then instead. It's literally only a few hours - from about 4:30 pm to 12:00 am.


And the timing just happens to coincide with church services in Eastern Europe. If it was about commemorating what happened in Bethlehem, people would restrain from learning when it's Xmas eve in Israel.
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