Xmas In the 'Old Country'

Okay, it’s over. Christmas that is. The shopping, gift wrapping, tree trimming, waist fattening, all done. It seems like the whole calendar year here revolves around the holiday. Certainly businesses depend heavily upon this season.

So here’s something I found interesting in one of the blogs where I occasionally lurk. In my desire to broaden my mind to other people and cultures, I sometimes read this rather clever blog put together by an Israeli woman. Here’s a story she related this past week:


“I guess everything is shut down in the Old Country, what with the Xmas lethargy. I recall sitting in a meeting at a client site (in Israel) a few years ago. The engineers were trying to call the site in Silicon Valley, and there was no answer.

“It’s not Sunday, right?” asked one guy. We all shake our heads.

“And I didn’t get the time difference wrong, right?” We all quickly do the calculation and assure him that it should be early in their work day.

Finally, one guy says, “Maybe it is an American holiday or something: is December 25 anything?”


Guess somebody should have said to him “Gute Vaynakhtn un a Gut Nay Yor.”

That’s Merry Christmas in Yiddish.