The "Yom Silvester" that many Jews will celebrate is not for Jews. With G-d's blessing, we have many "yamim" of our own. And today, December 31, coincides with עשרה בטבת, the 10th of Tevet, a day of mourning and introspection that marks the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem leading up to the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash/Temple. As the Bible relates: 'In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth (day) of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon came, he and all his hosts, upon Jerusalem, and he encamped upon it and built forts around it. The city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah/צדקיהו. On the ninth of the month famine was intense in the city, the people had no bread, and the city was breached.' (II Kings 25). See http://www.ou.org/chagim/roshchodesh/tevet/fast.htm for more information.
"Silvester" is, by the bye, the name for the New Year's Eve celebration in two countries, according to Wikipedia: Germany and Israel. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Years_Eve.
-- H. A. Massig המשיג
