Like many Jewish Americans, I grew up with some Christmas traditions. But as I grew older, I felt less warm and fuzzy and more and more unsettled about this day.
Long before his birth, this time of year was filled with many similar traditions—except they were in celebration of a Roman winter solstice festival called Saturnalia. What we see today is simply a syncretic, hybrid holiday initiated in the fourth century.
I had to find out when Yeshua was actually born and maybe find a new tradition worth celebrating in the process. Early traditions claim that Yeshua was born in the spring. According to their logic, if Yeshua died on March 25, as many believed, then that was his conception date, and therefore, he would have been born a full nine months later on December 25 because pregnancies are always perfectly on time, apparently.
Then I had a realization: the magi had followed a star from the East to find the newborn Messiah, 3 and if the appearance of that particular star could be tracked down to a time frame, then ascertaining the birth date of Yeshua might be possible. For millennia, the coming Messiah has been associated with the appearance of a star:. I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.
Numbers These are the words prophesied over Israel by the pagan sorcerer, Balaam, while we were encamped in the wilderness. Perhaps the most fascinating reference to this phenomenon is in the post-rabbinic midrash Aggadat HaMashiach :. It is taught in the name of our Sages [that] This is the star of the Messiah A star shall appear from the east and on top of it a rod of fire like a spear. Okay, so the prophesied star was well known, referenced by Jewish sources throughout history, and connected to the Jewish Messiah.
But was there any scientific data to prove such a star actually appeared within the timeframe Yeshua was born? I returned to my digging and stumbled upon a video of Dr. Colin Nicholl introducing his research at Oxford University. Some records indicate that he was actually born in ; either way, when he died in November , Hall was the oldest licensed driver in the United States.
In , Hall moved north to Silvercreek, New York, just west of It went on to become one of the most commercially successful singles of all time, and Just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of German troops engaged in World War I cease firing their guns and artillery and commence to sing Christmas carols.
At certain points along the eastern and western fronts, the soldiers of Russia, France, and Britain even Hnida was the Angered over a card game dispute, year-old John Wesley Hardin reveals a singular lack of Christmas spirit by shooting James Bradley dead in the street. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. The Great Depression-era story of racial injustice and the loss of childhood innocence is told from the perspective of a young John and Patsy Ramsey, her parents, called police at the following morning to report that their daughter was missing.
Mikhail Gorbachev announces that he is resigning as president of the Soviet Union. In truth, there was not much of a Soviet Union from which to resign—just four days earlier, 11 of the former Soviet republics had established the Commonwealth of Independent States CIS , Note: Tiberius became Emperor in A.
Note: There is some debate concerning possible Christian additions within the writings of Josephus, as mentioned by Lea and Black on this page. Subscribe to receive our weekly emails PLUS access to the free digital theological library! Thank you! Please check your inbox to confirm your subscription. Oops - Something went wrong. We respect your privacy and take protecting it seriously.
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