Petre
Happy (calendar) New Year Yesterday (31 December) someone wished me a "gut yontif".I was grateful, but it didn't sound right to me somehow, given that 1 January isn't strictly speaking a yontif (yom tov). How do we correctly wish a person a happy (calendar) new year? I'm guessing simply "gut nei yor" or similar. Or should we be generous and extend the meaning of "yontif" to dates that are important for the goyim, too?
Jan 1, 2015 1:04 PM
Answers · 10
1
It's not a 'yontif'. I'd go for 'A Gute yor'.
January 1, 2015
Good to know, Ruthi, but surely they don't include "ezrachit" in a greeting(?). In our family, we say l'shanim both for Rosh Hashanah and 1 January, but don't go by us: my uncle thought it appropriate to say "next year in Jerusalem" in a hotel in Tel Aviv. Hey, Doddy, the buses go there, even on Pesach.
January 1, 2015
I always think the term 'Civil New Year' is hilarious. As if you're hoping that we'll all be polite and courteous in the year to come.
January 1, 2015
I don't know about Yiddish but in Israel it is called "shana ezrachit" or "civil New Year" as opposed to Jewish New Year.
January 1, 2015
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