Nittl

[Alex Jacobowitz <Alex_Jacobowitz...>]

B"H Munich

Well, since few people seem to know about it, I'd like to let you all know
a little secret...

There's a little-known Jewish holiday called "Nittl", which is customarily
celebrated on Christmas Eve.
In the old days, particularly in Eastern Europe, the Karma was considered
so bad
on the night of 24 December that it became assur - ASSUR! - to study Tora
on that night. Of
course, roving bands of hooligans on the prowl to beat up any Jews who may
have been
out and about may have contributed substantially to this negative Karma.

So, what did they do in yeshivas in Eastern Europe when studying Tora was
forbidden?
Simple. In the old days, toilet paper wasn't nice and soft, like it is
today - old newspapers
were used. So the yeshiva bochurs would spend Christmas Eve cutting up
newspapers
to give the yeshiva the next year's supply of toilet paper!

So, you may ask - why am I writing to this list?

I'll tell you. 

In the old days, people would have wars of opinion in the newspapers.
Today, they have wars of opinion in their computers.

To the cantors who have written me:

"Hey, Cantors! Whatsa matta? Can't *cut* it?
Wipe yourselves on your PCs next time!"

Wishing y'all a Happy Hanuka. And if anyone would like to learn a good
Nittl tune,
write to me....clean language is preferred, of course.

Alex Jacobowitz