This little boy dressed up as a kohen gadol (high priest) for Purim. Instead of dressing up and pretending to be a ghost or demon, he dressed up like the spiritual leader of the Jewish people. This is a much better message to send our children!

Halloween is upon us and many Jews are probably asking, can I or should I (and my children) celebrate Halloween?  I remember being a kid and celebrating Halloween and loving dressing up and collecting pillowcases full of candy by running from house to house in our neighborhood.  Could there be any harm in this fun pasttime?

Actually, yes, there could be.  There are actually many, many problems with celebrating Halloween.  Here are some of them:

1. Halloween is a pagan holiday.  Halloween comes from the Celtic holiday of Samhain, still celebrated by some pagans in the world.  It is an actively practiced pagan holiday, just as X-mas and Easter are actively celebrated Christian holidays.  Judaism teaches that we cannot participate in something that is part of a pagan ritual or celebration, for any reason.  And this cannot be justified by saying that Halloween as it is celebrated today is not the same as the traditional celebration – it is actually very similar.  The ancient Celts believed that on October 31st, the worlds of the living and the dead would mix.  They believed that by dressing up as evil spirits, they could fool the real evil spirits.  They also lit bonfires that attracted bats.  And the tradition of going door-to-door collecting goodies was a way to merge Samhain with the November 1st holiday of Hallowmas, where beggars went door-to-door collecting food in exchange for praying for the dead on the November 2nd All Saint’s Day.  And although this was a Christian holiday, not a Celtic one, it still isn’t ok for Jews to observe it. It isn’t Jewish!
2. Halloween teaches children the wrong morals and values.  Halloween is a holiday about getting.  It’s a holiday where children go door-to-door demanding candies.  If no “treat” is given, then a “trick” could be played on the poor house owner.  This is still done today, with children and teens wreaking havoc in neighborhoods by playing “tricks” such as covering a house in toilet paper or throwing eggs at it.  To teach your children to demand things of others is contrary to Jewish values, as is the act of threatening or seeking vengeance on someone who doesn’t give you what you want.  Furthermore, Halloween focuses on dressing up like “scary” things, like demons, ghosts, or zombies.  None of these are things we should want our children to emulate.  We should never glorify scaring others and we should never glorify anything contrary to service to Hashem, such as demons.
3. We simply don’t need Halloween – we have Purim instead! Purim, a holiday occurring in or around the month of March/April, is a holiday where we celebrate the Jewish people’s deliverance from the hand of the evil Haman who wanted to destroy us.  We celebrate by dressing up in costumes as heroes and by having parties.  We take our children to visit others, to bring them gifts of food and to cheer them up and make them happy.  We make donations of money to the poor.  And there is plenty of wine for the adults.  A good time is always had by all.  In contrast to Halloween, Purim is a holiday focused on giving.  We give gifts of money, food, and happiness to others and expect nothing in return.  We use Purim as an opportunity to make peace with old enemies by giving them gifts (peace offerings, if you will) without any fear of embarrassment.  We can use Purim to teach our children good values and to allow them to emulate their favorite heros, such as Mordechai or Esther (the heroes of the Purim story), or to dress up as princes and princesses or doctors and nurses.  We do not need Halloween as an excuse to have a costume party when we have our own party planned in just a few months’ time.

This little girl chose to dress up as a princess for Purim. From her smile, you can tell she is really enjoying herself. She doesn't need Halloween - she has Purim instead!

If you are worried that your child might not understand why he/she cannot participate in Halloween when all their neighbors and non-Jewish friends are, you can use it as an opportunity to talk to them.  You can explain to them what it means to be a leader.  Help them learn to stand up against peer pressure.  (After all, if a bag of candy is all the persuasion it takes to succumb to peer pressure now, imagine what will happen when their peers are trying alcohol and drugs! It is much better to talk to them now.)  Teach your children to be leaders and show them the reasons why they should love their Judaism and soon you will find they are proud not to be celebrating holidays like Halloween, X-mas, and Easter!