This Week's Article

Kalenda

Avodah Zara (1:3) | Yisrael Bankier | 7 days ago

This week we started masechet Avodah Zara which deals with the prohibition of idol worship. The masechet opens by teaching that various business dealings are prohibited three days prior to the festival. In previous years we have addressed the reason behind this prohibition (10:37, 16:37). The Mishnah (1:3) lists a number of the festivals including kalenda, setarnura and kerateisim.

The Gemara (8a) explains that kalenda was eight days after tekufat tevet (the winter solstice) whereas setarnura was eight days prior. The Gemara continues by explaining that Adam noticed that the days were getting shorter. He assumed that the world was in a state of decline and regressing back to the state of mayhem because of his sin. The Gemara describes that he fasted for eight days. Once the winter solstice arrived and the length of the days began to increase, he understood that this was simply the cyclical pattern. He then celebrated for the next eight days. The next year, he marked these two days as yom tovim.

The Yerushalmi records that the even name kalenda originated from Adam, he exclaimed kalan deo as the daylight began to increase. The Tosfot Yom Tov suggest that the word kalan alludes to greatness. (He cites the Bartenura in Sukah who explains that kalania was one that was free from tax payments.) Deo, the Tosfot Yom Tov associate with the Greek (or perhaps Latin) word for G-d. The Pnei Moshe also associates the word kalania with freedom but suggest that the full meaning is "freedom granted from Hashem".

The Pnei Moshe provides another explanation citing the Aruch who explains that the words kalun means good whereas dies means day, together translated as yom tov. Importantly, despite evolving into a pagan festival, its origin was one that was focused on Hashem.

Interestingly the Tifferet Yisrael explains that kalenda was adopted as the new year, eight days after the solstice when the lengthening of days was noticeable.

Regarding Satarnura however, the Tifferet Yisrael explains that the real name was Saturnalia*,* a well-known pagan festival in honor of Saturn. He continues that the distortion of the name in the Mishnah was deliberate since it was still worshiped in the time of the Mishnah. That being the case, they did not want to violate the prohibition of the mentioning the names of gods. The name used instead is a combination of two words, satar (side) and nura (fire), alluding to the sun being lower and to the side during the winter month when that festival was celebrated. The word kalenda however was not associated with idol worship at all, but rather originated from a Latin word that is associated with a new year and/or Rosh Chodesh.

This explanation of the Tifferet Yisrael relates to another discussion. The Rabbeinu Tam (Sefer HaYashar 969) explains that despite the prohibition, when necessary and to teach halacha, the names may be mentioned. He cites our Mishnah as a proof.

The Yireim (245) however argues that the prohibition is specifically related to mentioning the names of the gods. The Mishnah however only mentions the names of the festivals, which would not constitute a violation of the prohibition (see also Shulchan Aruch 147:2 and Gra 147:3). The Gra adds that the prohibition does not apply to a regular names even if it was later misappropriated for idol worship purposes. One might suggest that it is for this reason that the Yerushalmi explains that Adam originally named these festivals with pure intent.

The Tifferet Yisrael however presents the strictest opinion since it appears he maintains that the names were changed to avoid the prohibition.

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