Shabbat Parashat Hayyei Sarah

Should Jewish Families Celebrate Halloween?

Living as Jews in the modern world today is, in many ways, much more difficult than it was when we lived in small autonomous communities, free from the influences and lifestyles of larger surrounding cultures. Life in an open and pluralistic country makes us just one of the many patches in the quilted fabric of Canada, exposed both to all that is good about freedom and democracy and to customs, practices, and holidays that are not our own. As Jews who choose to integrate ourselves into the modern world, we must find a balance between emphasizing our Jewish uniqueness and finding comfort with what larger society has to offer. A decision about Halloween is one that we must make every year.

Four thousand years ago, a man named Abram (later Abraham) faced a similar dilemma. He grew up in a land where pagan religions were the norm, while he had come to a realization that he was different and believed differently. Abram realized the concept of the one and only God and, after having acted upon his new-found understanding of the world, was spoken to by God.   Just two Shabbatot ago, we read from the Torah about how he was told that he must leave his land, the place where he was born, and his father's house for a new place where he could settle his family in a new faith without the influences of the larger pagan population. Abram needed to create a safe distance between himself and the pagan peoples and nations in order to ensure the birth and on-going existence of the new "ONE-GOD BELIEF." Over the course of his lifetime, Avraham establishes a new family and new faith tradition through his covenant with God. As a result of Avraham's pioneering, brave and faithful choice, we exist as a Jewish people today.