Q: Is it permissible for Jews to celebrate the holidays of other religions and nations, such as Christmas, January 1st, or Chag Hakorban (Eid al-Adha)?
A: There are three types of non-Jewish holidays:
-Religious holidays, which Jews are forbidden to celebrate, such as Christmas and Easter for Christians, and Eid al-Adha for Muslims and Druze.
-Civil holidays that were originally religious holidays, which it is not appropriate to celebrate, but there is no prohibition against doing so. An example of this is January 1st.
-Clearly civil holidays that it is permissible to celebrate, including Thanksgiving in North America, Novy God for immigrants from the former Soviet Union, and the Independence Days of various countries.
It is forbidden to celebrate other religions' holidays
A Jew is forbidden to celebrate the holidays of another religion, even when all those celebrating are Jews, and are doing so without any religious symbols. This is prohibited due to the Torah’s prohibition, “You shall not follow their laws.” It is written: “Like the practices of the land of Egypt, where you lived, you shall not do; and like the practices of the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you, you shall not do; and you shall not walk in their statutes” (Leviticus 18:3).
One interpretation of this prohibition is that Jews should not imitate the customs of non-Jews that are rooted in their religion, as imitating them may lead to adopting their culture and beliefs, and abandoning the commandments of the Torah.
Celebrating the beginning of the Gregorian Year
It is not appropriate to celebrate civil holidays that were originally religious holidays, such as January 1st, marking the start of the new Gregorian year. However, in practice, as long as the celebration is held without religious reference, there is no prohibition.
Therefore, it is permissible for educators abroad to organize a celebration for Jewish youths on January 1st, so that they can celebrate the beginning of the Gregorian year with Jewish friends, and not be tempted to celebrate with non-Jews in a forbidden manner (as also ruled by Rabbi Nachum Rabinowitz ztz”l, in M’arei HaBazak 5:46).
Additionally, when necessary, such as in the context of a business event, it is permissible to celebrate, since this date marks the end of the business year and taxes. However, when the participants are non-Jews, there are two limitations:
-It is forbidden to drink alcohol, and only kosher foods may be sampled.
-If it is a meal, it is even forbidden to eat kosher foods there (Peninei Halakha: Kashrut 29:12).
Celebrating Sylvester Is Forbidden
When the celebration of the beginning of the Gregorian year is called “Sylvester,” as is common in some Christian countries, the celebration becomes forbidden, as it changes from a civil holiday into a religious one. Sylvester was a pope who died on December 31st, so the celebration ties his memory with the beginning of the year. It should be noted that Sylvester worked to Christianize the Roman Empire, a process that caused much suffering for the Jewish people.
There were kosher businesses in Israel that wanted to hold a Sylvester party, but the kosher supervisors notified them that they would not be able to supervise the kashrut, and would therefore have to remove the kashrut certification from the business. The simple solution for them was to call the party “A Celebration for the Beginning of the Gregorian Year,” which would remove the prohibition from the celebration.
Christmas Tree
Q: Is it permissible for Jews to put up a Christmas tree for the beginning of the Gregorian year, as many do in the United States and Europe? Is it permissible for a maintenance worker to place a Christmas tree in a building he is responsible for? And is it permissible for a store owner to sell a Christmas tree to non-Jewish customers?
A: The Christmas tree, which Christians are accustomed to placing at the beginning of the Gregorian year, is a practice of a Christian holiday. Therefore, Jews are forbidden to place a Christmas tree in their homes, offices, or stores, due to the prohibition “You shall not follow their laws.” The same applies to other distinctive holiday symbols used by various religions, such as a Santa Claus figurine.
However, since the Christmas tree and other holiday symbols are not used for worship, they are not considered idolatry. Therefore, it is permissible for a Jew to provide them to non-Jews when necessary. For example, a Jew who owns a store that is asked to sell Christmas trees for the beginning of the Gregorian year may bring them to his store and sell them to non-Jews. Similarly, a Jew responsible for the maintenance of a building owned by non-Jews, and asked to place a Christmas tree there, may do so (see Shevet Halevi 10:141; M’arei HaBazak 3:111). A Jew who owns a printing press may fulfill an order to print greeting cards for the non-Jewish holidays, as there is no element of worship in the card (Masoret Moshe 4:52).
Permissible Civil Holiday – Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a civil holiday that the first European settlers in North America celebrated as an expression of joy for successfully settling in the new continent. The holiday meal typically includes turkey, which was discovered by Europeans in the new world. The settlers set it around the same time as Sukkot, when they express joy and thanksgiving for the year’s harvest.
Since it is a civil holiday, there is no prohibition in celebrating it. However, Rabbi Yitzhak Hutner wrote that since it is celebrated according to the Christian calendar, it is forbidden to celebrate it due to ‘avizrayhu’ (lit., ‘its accessories’, – prohibitions associated indirectly with idolatry). However, most rabbis wrote that there is no prohibition, including Rabbi Soloveitchik (Nefesh HaRav, p. 204), and Rabbi Feinstein (Igrot Moshe, Yoreh Deah 4:12). (Also in Mishneh Halachot 10:116; B’nei Banim 3:37; see also Torat Menachem, Sichot 1987, vol. 2, p. 54).
Novy God
Novy God is a civil holiday that was instituted during the communist rule in the Soviet Union as a substitute for the Christian holidays marking the beginning of the Gregorian year. Therefore, its status is similar to Thanksgiving, a holiday that does not have roots in a foreign religion. The translation of “Novy God” is “New Year.”
Indeed, it is forbidden to engage in practices that remind one of the laws of non-Jews, such as setting up a Christmas tree. However, if a different potted plant is placed instead of a Christmas tree, there is no prohibition.
It is appropriate for immigrants from the former Soviet Union who celebrate Novy God to assign it meaningful value, marking it as a day of thanksgiving for having had the privilege of immigrating to the Land of Israel, and contributing to the building of the nation.
Gregorian Calendar
Q: Is it permissible to use the Gregorian calendar date?
A: The Jewish custom is to use the Hebrew calendar, which expresses faith in God, the Creator of the world, and its months are those by which the holidays are determined. In modern times, as trade and scientific connections between cities and countries became numerous and complicated, there was an increasing need to use an agreed-upon date in letters, bills, and newspapers. Since Christian countries were the leaders, the date they used became the global standard. As a result, Jews who came into contact with non-Jews began using it as their main date, and most rabbis in Western Europe and the United States agreed that there was no prohibition.
Opponents of the Gregorian Calendar Date
On the other hand, some of the Gedolei Yisrael (imminent rabbis) strongly opposed using the Gregorian date, claiming that those who used it were being dragged after foreign culture and using an idolatrous date, since its origin is tied to the birth of oto ha’ish (Jesus) whom Christians made an idol. As the Chatam Sofer wrote: “Not like those who recently began counting… the birth of the Christian messiah, writing and signing that they have no part in the God of Israel, woe to them for they have repaid their souls with evil” (Drashot Chatam Sofer, vol. 2, p. 221).
His student, Rabbi Maharam Shik (Yoreh Deah 141), even wrote that this is a Torah prohibition, as it is written: “And you shall not mention the names of other gods” (Exodus 23:13), and our Sages learned from this (Sanhedrin 63b) that a person should not say to his friend “wait for me next to such and such an object of idol worship,” and similarly, according to him, it is forbidden to mention the date marking the birth of the man whom Christians made an idol.
However, even the Chatam Sofer himself used the Gregorian date “November 8, 1821” in a letter to the government (cited in Sefer Igrot Sofrim, p. 105). Therefore, he did not think there was an absolute prohibition, and he used it out of necessity. It seems his argument was that those using the Gregorian date do so unnecessarily, with the intent to resemble the non-Jews.
Other rabbis who prohibited its use also did not consider it a strict prohibition, but rather, that one should make every effort to avoid using it (Responsa Hillel Posek, Yoreh Deah 65; Yafeh LeLev Vol.5, Yoreh Deah 178:3). Similarly, this was the view of the Chief Rabbi of Israel, the Rishon L’Tzion, Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim (Responsa Yayin HaTov, Orach Chaim 8), and our teacher and mentor, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook (L’Netivot Yisrael, vol. 2, p. 99).
The Opinion of the Majority of Authorities to Permit
However, even two generations ago, when the use of the Gregorian date was not as widespread as it is today, the majority of poskim (halakha authorities) ruled that lechatchila (optimally), it is preferable to use the Hebrew date rather than the Gregorian date, but in necessary situations, it is permitted to use the Gregorian date, as it is used in a secular context, just like the use of the names of the months and days of the week, most of which are named after idols. Some poskim added that, according to historians, this date is not the date of the birth of oto ha’ish, as he was actually born four to seven years earlier than the beginning of their counting of years (As’eh Lecha Rav 5:55; Yabia Omer, vol. 3, Yoreh Deah 9).
Practical Halakha
As a result of the development of transportation and communication, all countries became interconnected in countless ways, and the need for a universally agreed-upon international date for trade, contracts, email, communication, news, and history increased. The use of the Gregorian date thus became constant, and its religious context faded. Therefore, it is permissible to use it without restriction, though it is important to also write the Hebrew date.
We have also found that in recent generations, rabbis who interacted with the general public have regularly included both the Hebrew and Gregorian dates in their letters, as did Rabbi Goren ztz”l. Similarly, Rabbi Shalom Meshash wrote: “There is absolutely no prohibition to use the Gregorian date, and there is no concern about it” (Responsa Shemesh U’Magen, vol. 3, Orach Chaim 60:3). Likewise, the Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote: “In all our countries, it is simple practice to use it when there is some need or reason” (Shulchan Menachem, vol. 4, §16).
This article appears in the ‘Besheva’ newspaper and was translated from Hebrew.