The solstice is already behind us (December 21/22).

We count our years after the birth of Christ. We celebrated this on the night of December 24th to 25th.

What do we celebrate on New Year’s?

The Bible tells the following: After eight days, Jesus was circumcised and given the name Jesus/Yeshua, as the angel had said (according to Luke 2:21-22).

So we actually don’t count the years after Christ’s birth, but the years after the name of Jesus was made public. Jesus, Hebrew Yeshua, means saviour derived from the Hebrew word Yeshuah (salvation).

The Jerusalem Post published an article by Faydra Shapiro on January 5, 2020. In it he writes: “Jesus was not only a Jew, but according to Christian theology Jesus is still a Jew.”

In 2018 an article appeared in the NZZ with the title: Jesus was a Jew – a fact that is often forgotten. It is about the circumcision of Jesus, which was celebrated by the Catholic Church according to the old festival calendar as the festival “the circumcision of the Lord” (January 1). This festival was abolished by the Second Vatican Council.

During his visit to the synagogue of Rome in 2016, Pope Francis was asked by a senior rabbi if he would not like to reintroduce the feast of the Lord’s circumcision. “A good idea,” replied the pontiff.