Being a young man who spent thirty years as a Christian, twenty-six years as an agnostic and fourteen years as a Jew, I sometimes reflect on my varied life experiences and come up with unusual questions. Today, December 6th, is Saint Nickolas Day. And so, about a week ago, I found myself reminiscing about my childhood experiences on Saint Nickolas Day. As a family of Czechoslovakian heritage, we celebrated Saint Nickolas Day by hanging our stockings from our bedroom door knob on the night before. If we were good that year, we woke to find our stocking filled with candy and toys. If we were bad, we instead found the stocking filled with coal. And yes, there were a few years where the coal from the basement furnace found its way into my stocking. These thoughts prompted one of those unusual questions, which I immediately typed into Google. “Do the Jews have a Saint Nickolas?”. The following three stories, which I had never heard of before, were very unexpectedly found in that search.
Anne Frank
From June 1942 to August 1944, a Jewish girl named Anne Frank kept a diary of her experiences in Amsterdam after the Netherlands fell to Nazi control during World War II.
Anne begins her diary entries by talking about her 13th birthday party, the day when she received the diary. Anne decides to give her diary a name, Kitty, and to write to Kitty as if the diary is the close friend she has always wanted. Anne mentions that the anti-Jewish laws in Amsterdam prohibit Jews from visiting Christian homes. Anne’s father has given her mother’s bicycle to Christian friends for safekeeping since Jews are not allowed to use bicycles. Anne’s father decides to buy Anne a children’s Bible so she can learn something about the New Testament. He determines he will need to give it to her on St. Nicholas’ Day instead of Chanukah because stories about Jesus do not seem like an appropriate Chanukah present.
Manna
Exodus states that the Israelites consumed manna for 40 years but that it then ceased to appear once they had reached the borders of Canaan. Despite the eventual termination of the supply of manna, Exodus states that a small amount of it survived within an omer-sized pot or jar, which was kept inside the Ark. For many years, Roman Catholics have annually collected a clear liquid from the tomb of Saint Nicholas; legend attributes the pleasant perfume of this liquid as warding off evil, and it is sold to pilgrims as “the Manna of Saint Nicholas”. The liquid gradually seeps out of the tomb, but it is unclear whether it originates from the body within the tomb, or from the marble itself; since the town of Bari is a harbor, and the tomb is below sea level There are several natural explanations for the manna fluid, including the transfer of seawater to the tomb by capillary action. In the seventeenth century, a woman marketed a clear, tasteless product as a cosmetic, “the Manna of Saint Nicholas of Bari”. After the deaths of some 600 men, Italian authorities discovered that the alleged cosmetic was a preparation of arsenic, used by their wives.
Elijah
Is Elijah, the annual Passover guest, also the ‘Jewish Santa Claus’?
Rabbi Laura Baum of Congregation Beth Adam in Loveland, Ohio – who is also the founding rabbi of OurJewishCommunity.org, an online progressive Jewish community – told JNS.org. In order to connect the story of Elijah to many modern Jews, Jewish leaders such as Baum have come up with creative new ways of bringing the story of Elijah to life. One of those ways is to connect the mysterious and mythical figure of Elijah with another – Santa Claus. “What I realized is that Elijah’s role during Passover is very similar to Santa Claus’s during Christmas,” Baum said. “Elijah and Santa Claus have this theoretical journey around the world, visiting homes and having food and drinks left out for them.”
The story of Santa Claus is based on the legend of Saint Nicholas, a 4th-century Greek and Turkish Christian Bishop who became famous for his generous gifts to the poor. Like Elijah in the Bible, Saint Nicholas, and his later incarnation as the modern-day Santa Claus, is seen as a fighter of injustice. “As a liberal Jew, Judaism is a lot of different things: community, connection to tradition, and an evolving framework of how we think about the world. But Judaism is also about having fun. So why not have fun with the story of Elijah and capital-ize on his journey around the world?” Baum said.
OurJewishCommunity.org launched the Elijah-Tracker.com website, which allows people from all over the world to follow Elijah on his journeys during the week of Passover.
“We have been doing it for two years and people are really excited about it,” Baum told JNS.org. On ElijahTracker.com, Elijah is seen visiting places all over the world, from Hawaii to Uganda to, of course, Israel.
The seasons of Hanukkah and Christmas are both seasons of hope. Hope for better times where we can all see the divine in each other and grow to love and respect all people as the one family that we truly are.
Shabbat Shalom.