The WORD 10/26/11. Every year, I get asked about the Jewish approach to Halloween. A couple of years ago, Halloween fell on a Friday night, which really made it a challenge for Jewish families. Although it falls on a Monday this year, there are still questions to be answered.
This week’s Torah portion is named after the gentleman who built an ark and brought the world’s animals on board with him during the Flood. As we are introduced to Noah, the Torah tells that he was “Tzadik tamim…b’dorotav – righteous and blameless in his generation.”
For centuries, readers of the Bible have wondered why that extra word “b’dorotav – in his generation” was added. Couldn’t Noah simply be righteous and blameless? Why the qualifier?
Ultimately, the rabbis decided that this was meant as a compliment, because it takes incredible strength to follow your faith when it seems as though everyone else is going in a different direction.
Noah may have been the first to discover this reality, but he was certainly not the last. Halloween is just one more example of the balancing act Jews play in today’s world.
While much is made of Halloween’s pagan origins, the truth is that the Halloween celebrated today by Americans bears little or no resemblance to the harvest festival celebrated by the ancient Celts and Gaels. It has become a secular holiday with two major customs associated with it: dressing up in costume and trick-or-treating. It seems to me that we can infuse these customs with Jewish values.
For example, when choosing costumes with our children, hopefully we can take the opportunity to talk about modesty. In particular, some of the costumes available for girls are incredibly inappropriate. Further, when choosing what to give out for Halloween and in assessing the night’s “haul” it is an opportunity to discuss Kashrut – what may we eat and what is not permissible.
However, there is an additional layer. We can “Juda-ize” this holiday and make it better. Instead of focusing on getting as much candy as possible, give kids a chance to give out the candy and feel the pleasure of sharing with others. Or, when our kids come home with enough candy to last until 2013, send some to the troops or donate some to a food pantry for kids who don’t live in safe neighborhoods.
In today’s world, it is not reasonable or necessary to ignore Halloween because of our Judaism. However, I would like to suggest that we should not ignore our Judaism in order to celebrate Halloween.
Shalom,
RAF.
October 26, 2011 at 2:17 pm |
I heard a different, not complimentary, comment on “in his generation”: Noah was OK in HIS bad generation, but he could not be judged righteous by the standards of Abraham, Isaak and Jacob. What was his first task after the flood: to plant grapes and to make himself drunk – is it task for a righteous person?