A major difference between Jews who grew up in Israel and those who grew up in the Diaspora is Christmas. Not that Diaspora Jews necessarily celebrate Christmas, but it is pretty near impossible to not be aware of it. The store windows, the trees, the commercials, the songs – you cannot avoid it. Jews in Israel (until relatively recently) don’t notice December 25th any more than December 24th. Were Roman holidays as ubiquitous for the Jews of antiquity? The Mishnah in Avodah Zarah lists some major Roman holidays:
“MISHNA: And these are the festivals of Gentiles: Kalenda, Saturnalia, and Kratesis” (Avodah Zarah 8a)
The reason for knowing about these holidays is to avoid doing business with non-Jews on or near these days (and certainly to avoid celebrating them).
Reproduction of Roman Calendar from 1st century BCE
Bauglir, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Kalends is Latin for the first day of the month and it is the source for our word “calendar.” Interest on loans came due on Kalends, something that would have affected Jewish-Roman economical ties. However, the Mishnah seems to be referring to a specific Kalends, one that takes place around the time of the winter solstice. The Bavli connects both this holiday and the Saturnalia with Adam and says that he was fearful as he saw the days growing shorter. However, as the winter solstice passed and the days began to lengthen, he understood that this was how the world worked and in gratitude made two holidays, one the Saturnalia before the solstice, and one the Kalends after it. The parallel Yerushalmi text adds an etymological connection:
“When he saw that days were getting longer, he said kalen dies [kalen is good or beautiful in Greek, dies is day in Latin: beautiful day]” (Yerushalmi Avodah Zarah 1:2)
This is Rav’s explanation for Kalenda. However, Rabbi Yochanan disagrees and says the holiday that the Mishnah is referring to is not just Kalenda but Kalenda Januariius, the first day of the Roman year (i.e., January 1st). Rabbi Yochanan seems to have more knowledge of the Roman calendar and the practices associated with it. He ties the day to a specific event in Roman history and not to the universal idea of Adam and the solstice:
“Rabbi Joḥanan does not say so, but [rather that] the empire of Egypt and the empire of Rome were fighting with one another. They said, how long are we killing one another in this war? Let us institute the rule that the empire should be preeminent which will tell its army commander, fall on your sword, and he will obey. The Egyptian did not obey. In Rome there was an old man by the name of Januarius who had twelve sons. They told him, if you obey us we shall make your sons dukes, eparchoi, and generals. He listened to them. Therefore, it is called Kalendae Januarii. .” (Yerushalmi Avodah Zarah 1:2)
Saturnalia was a well-known seven-day Roman festival, lasting from December 17 to December 23rd. Alongside its idolatrous element: sacrifices at the Temple of Saturn and banquets in honor of Saturn; it was also a subversive holiday where the social order was upended. Slaves and masters would sit together, gambling was permitted, gifts, partying, and drunkenness were the hallmarks of the day. There were also gladiator games. Many scholars assume that when the Roman empire became Christian, Saturnalia was turned into the celebration of Jesus’ birth and the idolatry and frivolity were toned down.
Temple of Saturn in Rome
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tavares.Forum.Romanum.redux.jpg&oldid=823407736.
Finally Kratesis, the holiday that is least understood. It seems to derive from the Greek word for power and the rabbis in both the Yerushalmi and the Bavli connect it (rather differently) with the Roman ascent to power. The Bavli sees it as the moment when the Romans defeat the Greeks because of Jewish support:
“As when Rav Dimi came he said: The Romans waged thirty-two battles with the Greeks but were unable to defeat them, until they formed a partnership with the Jewish people” (Avodah Zarah 8b)
The Yerushalmi’s explanation is also tied to the Jews but in a different way, as we shall see.
Despite the rabbinical prohibitions, did Jews celebrate or take at least some part in these holidays? It would have been hard not to in a Roman dominated world like Eretz Yisrael in the second and third centuries. While they may have avoided idolatry, the commercial opportunities were tempting, as we see in this tale in the Yerushalmi:
“Rebbi Ze‘ira sent Rebbi Bevai that he should buy him a small web from the Saturnalia of Bet-Shean.” (Yerushalmi Avodah Zarah 1:2)
One of the fascinating elements of Masechet Avodah Zarah is that its purpose is to tell Jews they must separate from the surrounding culture but in order to separate, they need to know something about that culture, like the timing of its holy days,. Rabbi Dr. Sarit Kattan Gribetz (in her article “A Matter of Time” AJS Review 2016) explains that calendars and holidays tell a story about identity and collective memory. When the rabbis give Jewish origins to Roman holidays, they are inserting the Jewish story into the Roman story, sometimes to build up the Jews and other times to show how Jewish sins are responsible for the trouble in the world. She takes as a proof text the Yerushalmi’s explanation for Kratesis, the holiday of Roman imperial power. The Gemara shows that there are three stages to the development of Rome and each one came about because of Jewish idolatry and rejection of Torah:
“Rebbi Levi said, on the day when Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh Necho, the king of Egypt, Michael descended and put a stick into the sea which attracted debris and formed a forest; that is the great fortification in Rome. On the day when Jeroboam put up two golden calves, Remus and Romulus built two sheds in Rome. On the day Elijah disappeared a king was installed at Rome; .” (Yerushalmi Avodah Zarah 1:2)
Kattan Gribetz shows how each of these Biblical tales connects to a story the Romans tell about themselves. King Solomon allies with Egypt, the Romans’ great enemy. The angel Michael forming the ground of Rome is analogous to the Roman tale of how the god Tiberinus plants a reed in the Tiber, thereby creating Rome. This was a scene depicted on coins and would have been well known to the rabbis.
The story of Jeroboam and the calves is connected to the Roman founding myth of Romulus and Remus:
Rabax63, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
An additional element is that Jeroboam is known for creating a false calendar and a fake holiday, perhaps a subtle dig at the Roman calendar.
“On the fifteenth day of the eighth month—the month in which he had contrived of his own mind to establish a festival for the Israelites—Jeroboam ascended the altar that he had made in Bethel.” (Kings I 12:33)
Finally, Elijah’s disappears because the people reject his teachings and continue to worship idols. Kattan Gribetz shows how this story is also part of Rome’s foundational stories. Romulus disappears in a cloud (i.e, goes up to heaven) and then the first king of the Romans, Numa, is appointed.
These parallels show us the immense knowledge the Rabbis had of Roman culture. But more significantly, they are meant as an object lesson: look what happens when you sin and you worship idols: you empower (or create) your worst enemy! The Babylonian approach on the other hand is more forgiving: the Jews are really at the core of all history and it is because of them, and their God, that events happen. Perhaps a fitting message for this week of historical events.
