Comments on: Sylvester Sameach!

By: Aharon

Aharon — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:00:52 +0000

Pope Sylvester II and Pope Sylvester III are believed to be of Jewish background. Sylvester III was Elhanan Crescens (John) the son of Rabbi Simeon the Great of Mainz of the Kalonymus family.

By: Sylvester « Gefilte Fish Out of Water

Sylvester « Gefilte Fish Out of Water — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 09:28:44 +0000

[...] the eff is this Sylvester guy anyway? Not such a cool guy for the Jews, actually. He was a Roman pope in the fourth [...]

By: Happy… Sylvester? | Considerations by Samuel J. Scott

Happy… Sylvester? | Considerations by Samuel J. Scott — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:02:31 +0000

[...] Jewlicious, and Ynet look at the holiday as well, each in its own, different way. As the Wikipedia [...]

By: Ari

Ari — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:35:47 +0000

Did no one point out that it comes from all of the Yiddish speaking immigrants?

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 23:29:42 +0000

In Israel, restaurants will lose their Kashrut license if they advertise that they are putting on new year’s parties so they instead celebrate Sylvester. Really, most Israelis don’t even know the meaning of Sylvester – it just gives them a way to celebrate the changing of the Gregorian calendar’s new year just like everyone else in the world.

By: Laurence Lee Duman

Laurence Lee Duman — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:26:56 +0000

I attended an ulpan on Kibbutz Sdot Yam back in 1985.When the 25th.Dec came around, I borrowed a very large red night dress and some cotton wool and distributed presents to the volunteers.
When I asked a kibbutz member why they refered to this holiday as “Sylvestor” I was told it was the name of one of the cruelest Pogrom initiators in Russia.He had long white hair and a beard and dressed in red to intimidate the folk in the villages they terrorized.
Mind you, the guy that told me had been hitting the Shabbat wine pretty heavily that evening.

By: joe

joe — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 06:03:02 +0000

2 years after i read this, i really hope that you have now seen the light and understand you were wrong.

By: Fruits and Votes » Blog Archive » 2007 Israeli Non-Resolution: An electoral reform proposal

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 21:06:16 +0000

[...] In any event, albeit a bit late: Sylvester Sameach! [...]

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 18:50:46 +0000

Wow. what a conversation. Israelis call it “Sylvester” because many Europeans call New Years “Sylvester”, because that happens to be the name of the Catholic saint attached to the day. (They’ve got a saint for every day, if you didn’t know).
New Years isn’t a celebration of Saint Sylvester (just ask those Europeans who started calling it that!), it’s a celebration of the end/begining of the year.
Such rubbish.
And yeah, putting scare quotes around other people’s saints and town names is obnoxious and ridiculous.

By: Netsach Shebe Netsach

Netsach Shebe Netsach — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 22:55:26 +0000

I thought I saw a puddy cat…..
I did
I did
There you are Slyvestor!