Post- Halloween thoughts

On my floor of my apartment building in NYC, there are actually four Jewish clergy.  My husband and me, and directly on the other side, two rabbis who are married to each other.   The only two apartments decorated for Halloween on our floor....  ours and theirs.  Strange?  Perhaps.  (see pic below of our door, designed by our girls and our fabulous au pair).

I grew up celebrating Halloween, trick or treating in my neighborhood and wearing costumes.  It would never have occurred to me as a child that this was something strange for a Jewish kid to do.  But other people I now know did not trick or treat--  that's "what the goyim do."  The more traditional the Jewish family is, the less likely it is that they will celebrate Halloween.  Why is this?

Jewish law allows us to adopt customs of the land in which we live when they are for reasons of honor (such as wearing a uniform if you are in the fire department) or if they fit with Jewish values (Thanksgiving).  But holidays of Pagan/ Catholic origin that include supernatural beings do not fall into that category.  Maybe dressing up as a devil could lead to idol or devil worship?  I suppose that is a risk, though I don't think that's what Lena (my six year old) had in mind when she designed her "Spooky Cinderella" costume this year.

Do your kids like dressing up?  For mine, dressing up is an essential part of play.  When Lena was younger I had to bring a costume with me to play dates just in case they didn't have dress-up there.  If she couldn't wear a costume during the play date, we would have to go home, she'd be so upset.  We do have a Jewish holiday for dressing up-- Purim!  This masquerade holiday, usually in late winter, differs from Halloween in that we wear happy costumes and tell the story of Queen Esther, Mordechai, and King Ahashuerus, reenacting the comedic drama of how Esther saved the Jews of Shushan from the evil Haman.

Spirits, zombies, witches, exorcism, monsters... these are all part of our Jewish tradition as well.  I believe the ancients had to explain the unexplainable in some way-- things that we modernists would understand as being scientific, or matters of the brain, were understood as the work of spirits or demons.  With infant mortality rates very high, and childbirth a dangerous process, procreation was regarded with fear and awe-- leading to many superstitions surrounding it and a mystic awe at humanity's divine-like power to procreate.

So maybe next year I'll dress up as the legend of the Golem of Prague-- the man the Maharal created out of dirt to protect the Jews.  This legend was so well known that it was written about by Jakob Grimm (of fairy-tale fame) and also was the basis of the Frankenstein monster.  Maybe next year I won't raid my kids candy either!!