halloween

jewish approaches to halloween

Mar­la asked…
I have a 7 year old son. Can you refer me to some­thing that would help me describe Jew­ish views on Halloween?

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as of 1999

I found pre­cious lit­tle on the sub­ject online. The few links appear here. All of them are now rotten.

• Jew­ish Fam­i­ly & Life Mes­sage Board
  Should Jew­ish kids trick and treat?
• Is Hal­loween a Jew­ish hol­i­day?by (humorist) Ted Roberts
  “Hal­loween is not a Jew­ish hol­i­day. You should go to work as usu­al. And don’t fast.”
• Can Jews “trick or treat,” even on Shabbat?
  This year, Hal­loween falls on Fri­day night. Help Aliza under­stand this dilemma.

as of 2010

• Jew­ish Halloween?
  Again, con­sid­er keep­ing Purim instead. Jews have no need to cel­e­brate Gen­tile hol­i­days. Ours have so much more mean­ing and joy to us.
• Col­lect­ing Can­dy on Halloween
  Though many Jew­ish chil­dren go trick-or-treat­ing, this writer (among many oth­ers) believes the prac­tice runs counter to Jew­ish law.
  By Rab­bi Michael Broyde
• Ask Rab­bi Lerner
  Jews Cel­e­brat­ing Halloween
  The first real ques­tion is do Amer­i­can Jews cel­e­brate Hal­loween — and they do, whether they are per­mit­ted to do so or not, by their Rab­bi, day school or Judaism. They do as long as their par­ents per­mit it — and today often chil­dren only go out trick-and-treat­ing when they are accom­pa­nied by adults. 

and much more… sim­ply Google:
hal­loween jews

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©Mark Hurvitz 1999
first updat­ed: Sun­day, March 14, 1999
lat­est update: Thurs­day Octo­ber 14, 2010
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