Question: Does the prohibition of “You shall not follow their practices” apply to writing the secular date which is, in essence, based on the Christian calculation of when Yeshu (Jesus) was born?
The Opinion of Our Sages Regarding the Time of Yeshu’s Birth
Answer: First of all, we must point out that it is not certain at all that the Christian count is based on the birth of Yeshu. Although they indeed claim that this is the case and based on this fact our question would be applicable, our Talmud (Sanhedrin 107b) states that Yeshu lived long before the Christian count even began. The Gemara states that Yeshu was a pupil of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachya. Once, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachya and his students stayed in and inn and Rabbi Yehoshua told his students, “How nice are these lodgings,” referring to the service they had received in the inn. Yeshu thought that his rabbi was referring to the inn-keeper and thought that he was pointing out how pretty she was to which he replied to his rabbi that her eyes were teary, meaning that she was not all that pretty. This angered Rabbi Yehoshua at which point he exclaimed, “Wicked one! Is this what you are involved with?” His rabbi then rebuffed him and did not agree to accept his repentance immediately. By the time Rabbi Yehoshua decided to accept Yeshu back as a pupil, he was in the midst of reciting Keri’at Shema and thus could not reply to Yeshu; Yeshu believed that his rabbi was rejecting him again at which point he decided to rebel against his rabbi and his Torah and he went on to become a Christian and lead the Jewish nation astray. (This portion of the Gemara has been censored; it appears only in ancient volumes of the Talmud or those printed in the past several years.)
It is clear from the Gemara that Yeshu lived in the times of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachya, whose students were Yehuda ben Tabai and Shimon be Shatach, whose students were Shemaya and Avtalyon, whose students were Hillel and Shammai; Hillel was the Nassi of Israel approximately one-hundred years before the destruction of the Second Temple. If so, Yeshu lived well before the destruction of the Second Temple, however, the destruction of the Second Temple occurred in the sixty-nine of the Christian calendar, as the Gemara states (Avodah Zara 9b). Based on this, there is actually no correlation between the Christian count and the birth of Yeshu who lived much before this.
Indeed, the Sefer Ha’Eshkol writes that Yeshu was crucified one-hundred and thirty-five years before the destruction of the Second Temple. The Ra’avad writes likewise in Kabbalistic works that Yeshu lived far before the destruction of the Second Temple. Rabbeinu Yitzchak Abarbanel writes in his Sefer Mayanei Ha’Yeshua that what people say that Yeshu died forty-two years before the destruction of the Second Temple is untrue, for we find in our Talmud that he was a student of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachya; rather, he died many years before the destruction. The Christians claim that Yeshu died forty-two years before the destruction of the Second Temple in order to link the destruction of the Temple as a punishment for the killing of Yeshu.
The Opinion of the Seder Ha’Dorot
On the other hand, the Seder Ha’Dorot disagrees with the aforementioned Eshkol and Ra’avad and writes that although Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachya did indeed have a student named Yeshu, there was another man named Yeshu who lived later in the times of Hillel and this man was the Jesus (Christ) in whom the nations of Europe believed. Based on this, the Christian calendar indeed counts from the birth of Yeshu; nevertheless, according to the Eshkol and the Ra’avad this is not the case and there was only one Yeshu. There are also many non-Jewish scholars who claim that Yeshu was born forty years before the beginning of the Christian count.
The Opinion of Maran Shlit”a
Maran Harav Ovadia Yosef Shlit”a adds (in his Responsa Yabia Omer, Volume 3, Yoreh De’ah, Chapter 9) that since those who write the secular date are not doing so specifically in order to count from the year Yeshu was born and are only doing so to be on par with the rest of the society which can better relate to the secular date, especially since this is done in Israeli banks, government offices, and the like, this does not constitute the prohibition of “You shall not follow their practices.” Indeed, according to Rabbeinu Yosef Cologne, whose opinion we have quoted on other occasions as well, this prohibition only applies when one follows a gentile practice which has no reasoning behind it, for it then appears that one is doing so because he agrees to the non-Jewish practices. However, there is no prohibition to observe a non-Jewish practice which has a logical reasoning behind it (besides for an immoral practice). Thus, even if we assume that those writing secular dates are counting back to the year of Yeshu’s birth (although this may indeed not be the case but it certainly seems so), nevertheless, since there is a strong reason why one should choose to use this date, there is no prohibition to do so.
Summary: According to the letter of the law, those who are lenient and write the secular date have on whom to rely, for halachically speaking, there is no prohibition to do so. Nevertheless, Maran Shlit”a quotes several authorities who prohibit writing the secular date either from a halachic standpoint or because of an unsavory custom and he therefore rules that in a situation that is not so pressing, one should use the Hebrew date. Even in situations where one must use the secular date, one should preferably mention the Hebrew date as well. (This was indeed the custom of Maran Shlit”a when he served as a rabbinical judge in the Chief Rabbinate of Israel that when he would need to write the secular date, he would write it alongside the Hebrew date.)
Let us not get into too much detail, but we must mention that one should not inscribe the secular date of demise onto the monument of a deceased individual. If one has already done so mistakenly, one should consult a prominent halachic authority about the proper steps to take.
