Happy Sylvester
Posted on:: January 5th, 2004
Hanan Cohen explains why Israelis refer to New Years Eve as “Sylvester“:
It’s just because Israel is a Jewish state. The [Jewish] new year holiday is celebrated on the eve of Tishrei 1st. People who immigrated to Israel from western countries still wanted to celebrate the “old” new year, like at home, but could not say that they were celebrating the new year so they used instead the Catholic name of the day, Sylvester. That’s why the Jews in Israel celebrate the event using a name of a Catholic saint.
Hanan also points to an article about the 25% increase in poverty in Michigan.
I wished all my Catholic friends a “Happy Sylvester” this past year , and the only person who had heard of it or a Saint Sylvester was a Jewish guy who happened to overhear me. After that, everyone was saying it.