8A
Federation Star
JEWISH INTEREST
December 2021
Our immigrant relatives brought “Happy Sylvester” to Israel! Aging Jewishly — What our traditions tell us about growing old By Rabbi Barbara Aiello
I
n Israel and throughout the world, the last night of the secular year traditionally is a party night, which means that on Dec. 31, along with the rest of the world, Israelis will be celebrating, too, but with one interesting difference. Instead of shouting “Happy New Year,” Israelis offer a different greeting. As the year turns from 2021 to 2022, Israeli Jews will wish each other a “Happy Sylvester,” a New Year’s greeting that invokes, of all things, the name of a Catholic saint! As the Jewish state, Israel formally acknowledges the Jewish New Year of Rosh HaShanah, which is marked on the Hebrew calendar on the eve of the first day in the Hebrew month of Tisrei — a Jewish Holy Day and national holiday that occurs in the fall of the year. Rosh HaShanah is the day to greet friends and family with “Shanah Tovah,” a Hebrew phrase that means “a good year” or “Happy New Year.” Hence the dilemma — What to say to differentiate the secular year from the religious one? That was the problem that immigrants from Western Europe faced when
they first came to Israel. These dead. Others opined that Sylvester was an Italian newcomers, especially those with roots in France, Belgium, monk known for his “friendly relationships” the former Soviet Union and with the local young ladies. the former Czechoslovakia, still wanted to celebrate the secular There are many stories about Sylvester, including New Year as they had done in their home countries. So, to his antisemitic inclinations, but recently new avoid confusion, they invented information about the elua new greeting. But why sive Sylvester has come to “Happy Sylvester?” light. In his book, “France Israeli writer and columnist Rabbi Barbara Daniel Rogov did some digging in the Middle Ages,” hisAiello torian Georges Duby speculates that and found that, for years, no one was Sylvester may have been Peter Sylvester, certain who this Sylvester really was. Until who was the bishop of Beauvais in 1431 recently, many scholars believed that the original Sylvester was a Catholic saint; when Joan of Arc was arrested in his city. Sylvester earned the respect of his felhowever, there was always some confulow Frenchmen because his was the voice sion about his life. Speculation included of calm among the hype and hysterics one popular story that Sylvester was an obscure Catholic priest who became surrounding Joan of Arc’s rise to fame. famous for walking from Bordeaux to Apparently, Sylvester was the only cleric who did not believe that young Joan was Jerusalem barefoot! acting under the influence of the devil. Others believed that the saint was Sylvester defended Joan of Arc as “a good really a Roman Catholic pope whose claim to fame was that he had brought Christian, a woman of purity who lived according to the rules of the church and an animal back to life. Pope Sylvester, who had no evil in her.” legend has it, raised a bull from the
Although Sylvester’s colleagues were determined to bring Joan to trial and subsequently execute her, Sylvester spoke out against them and the extreme punishment they proposed. On the morning of Dec. 31, Sylvester himself was arrested, thrown into jail and tortured there. Several minutes before midnight, the 82-year-old Sylvester died, but not before saying his final words, “The year ends and so do I.” Bishop Sylvester, as one who stood up to church authority and who died for his beliefs on the last night of the secular year, became the “Sylvester” of the Israeli greeting offered at the beginning of each secular year. So now you know ... for the secular “shanah,” Happy Sylvester 2022! For 10 years, Rabbi Barbara Aiello served the Aviva Campus for Senior Life (Sarasota, FL) as resident rabbi. Her most popular columns are now published in her new book, “Aging Jewishly,” available on Amazon books. Rabbi Barbara now lives and works in Italy where she is rabbi of Italy’s first Reconstructionist synagogue. Contact her at Rabbi@RabbiBarbara.com
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