What is Nittle Nacht? What does the name mean? What is its significance? Which Halachic authorities speak about it, and what do they say? What is the actual date for it? How is it effected this year when it comes out on Shabbos?
Answer
"Nittle nacht" is the Yiddish reference to the night going into Christmas. (It was observed on different dates, depending on if you lived in a Catholic/Protestant country, or an Eastern Orthodox [Christian] country; the former have Christmas on December 25th, thus "nittel nacht" starting at sunset December 24th; the latter have a different calendar.). There were customs in Eastern Europe about men not learning Torah and/or women not going to the mikva that night, at least not until after midnight.
The simple meaning of the term is "nacht" means night; "nittel" as in "neonatal"; "birth night", as it was the night observed by Christians for the birth of Jesus.
The simplest explanation is found in Rabbi Dr. Leiman's lecture on yutorah.org; that the night of Christmas often had a lot of non-Jews roaming the streets (occasionally drunk), and thus it was a dangerous time to be outside. Therefore, women were told not to go the mikva, and men not to go out to study halls or synagogues to study (most people didn't have a lot of study material at home). Past midnight, everyone was in church (or headed home), and it was safer outside.
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