Leonard Swidler: Zur Bedeutung von Weihnachten - Anfangsgedanken

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.

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 ---