Monday, January 01, 2007

'We' call it Sylvester

Although the day is just 'another day' here in Israel, people do get excited for it. However, instead of calling it New Years, it is commonly referred to as 'Sylvester'. Interestingly enough however, most people have no clue as to how the day (or event) acquired this name. Well, I decided to do some research on the name, and let's say, I'm slightly surprised at what I found out. The day is actually named after Pope Saint Sylvester I, a rabid anti-semite who labeled us Jews 'a perverse, dangerous and criminal sect'. Furthermore, Sylvester convinced Constantine, the Roman Emperor at the time, to prohibit Jews from living in Jerusalem. Wonderful ... Only in Israel, eh?

Coming soon to the world's only Jewish state, a day named after Pope Pius XII, the Nazi sympathizing pope.

3 comments:

Gilly said...

If you look at the Saints most have a CV which includes Jew hating of some sort (Le Tissier was suspected too - turned out he just scored lots against Spurs ;))

gilly

Avram said...

HA HA

Only a few will understood the joke Gilly ... but a classic one nonetheless.

Colin Solomon said...

Avram -Thanks for the research, got to agree with you, Gilly that was a classic.