Oct. 30, 2023
Unraveling Halloween: A Halachic Inquiry into Pagan Traditions and Jewish Laws
Are you ready to unravel the mysteries of Halloween through the lens of Halacha? Brace yourselves as we dive into a discussion, breaking away from our usual format and exploring this secular festivity and its potential conflicts with Jewish law. We trace Halloween back to its roots, to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain and its integration into Roman and Christian traditions.
Are you curious if trick-or-treating or donning a costume might infringe on Halachic prohibitions? You're not alone, and we're here to explore these queries. But remember, we're not rabbis, so for practical Halachic guidance, always consult your local Orthodox rabbi.
We don't just stop at understanding the origins of Halloween; we also delve into the disconnect between the pagan roots of this festival and how it's celebrated today. Is it merely a harmless, fun-filled celebration or something that may infringe upon Darchei Emori or other Jewish laws? These are questions that we're excited to explore. To wrap things up, we extract a Mussar lesson and give you a practical takeaway. We encourage our listeners to approach life with thoughtfulness and, of course, Halachic compliance. Tune in for an episode that's as enlightening as it is intriguing.
Sources
1. From the Rav’s Desk: Celebrating Halloween- Are there any Halachic impediments against doing so?
2. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Purim
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Transcript
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Welcome in to the Motivation Congregation Podcast.
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We got something different going on today.
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It's not your regular scheduled programming, not a short muster talk with some music in the background, but more of a halacha discussion with the help of Hashem, concluding with a practical takeaway and a muster idea.
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Now, this episode is a bonus episode and really came about just through some honest curiosity.
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Most of you may not even know exactly what the context of this episode and the ideas discussed therein are all about, but, either way, I think that you'll find these conclusions to be rather surprising, to say the least, and stick around for the conclusion.
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That will be something that could help us to steer clear of some roadblocks and stumbling blocks in the future.
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Now, today's topic being that it is Monday, october 30th 2023, is Halloween in Halacha.
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Now, most of y'all may not even know what Halloween is, but if you live in the certain out-of-town communities of the world or maybe you grew up in Virginia, you'll know a bit.
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At least you thought about what a Halloween is.
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If you maybe grew up in Lakewood or Flatbush, maybe not so much.
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So what is Halloween?
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Why is it celebrated?
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Are there any halachic prohibitions in trick or treating If you decide to put your costume on tonight.
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Is there a halachic issue?
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While it may not be entirely practical, we do live amongst the non-Jews.
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Is there anything that we should be aware of about the nature of Halloween and how it coincides with the Holy Halacha?
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Would a person violate a prohibition Would it be a biblical or rabbinic prohibition by merely knocking on a door tomorrow night and asking for some candy, or maybe just putting on your old sweaty and wine-stained Purim costume and going for round two tomorrow night?
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So first things first.
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A little bit of a disclaimer I'm not a rabbi and I do not have any Halacha knowledge background, and definitely not in how to paskin and bring the different opinions to the modern day.
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So one should definitely seek the advice and counsel of their local Orthodox rabbi.
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But here is just one man's research and findings about the topic.
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Now first let's discuss what could be a halachic issue with all of this.
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Number one, there's actually something called Darchei emoyri, which is a prohibition that we find many times to be discussed inside of the Gemara, where Shulchan Arach actually brings it down to the halacha, where the emorites, the emoyrim, would engage in certain silly superstitions, it seems, or certain sayings, or create certain potions, or doing certain actions and it is forbidden for us to mimic their ways.
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There is a bit of some ambiguity as to what the real reason is.
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What is the underlying and underpinnings of this transgression?
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And following that, emel writes the base yo save brings from the smog that it really is twofold.
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That it could be based on sorcery, because it was well known that sorcery and witchcraft was widespread and the world of the and my room.
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So dark and my re.
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Maybe that could be an issue with Halloween or the base shows have also says that dark and my re could be based in the Jewish people ever gratuitously imitating other nations more along the lines of it will hook, I say I'm, they say leh, and following non-Jewish practices.
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So dark and my re, maybe you'll be who goes and most they like who.
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The last but not least, there are more Pascans in your idea that actually any Performance, any following of any custom that is originally Originating from any sort of a vote is Zara of service of the spirits of the, the foreign alien made up God's, even if it doesn't still Is instilled practice for that reason.
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But there's the slightest taint or does even Hard to suspect that this is because of a desire that you are doing and engaging in this practice still says a remote.
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This could be an issue, and in fact is an issue of engaging in Idol, just practices.
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So what's left is to get down to what exactly is going on.
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What's the celebration and what is Halloween all about?
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Is it just a memorial day, time to party that where it came from, or could it be something more?
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I discovered that Halloween began some 2000 years ago In the area and the country of what we know to be as modern day Ireland, at the ancient Celtic festival of.
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So in that nation thought it was so Hain, but apparently is pronounced so in when they would have this sort of festival where they would light, bomb fires and wear animal skins.
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And it was, seems to be because this was the turn of the season, october 31st, where some elements of this crazy sun god is now being put into jail by the winter.
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God.
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Needless to say that there seems to be some real of Odess our practices.
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People were fearful of the souls that were now unleashed from this other world, so they would wear animal skins.
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And then things got worse when the 18th century Pope Gregory wanted to propogate his all saints day, some sort of day where people would celebrate the deceased.
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But then, when people could not, or this church could not get rid of the pagan holiday, of the original all howls Eve day, which was that celebration of the Celtic festival, eventually they said let's just put it all on the same day.
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So the Eve of October 31st, the whole souls creepy thing, all Hallows, along with the daytime Christian all saints day, not to mention that the Romans in 43 CE also tried to put in some God named for all the some dead yard site weird thing, along with some Pomona God which was the God of trees also they would celebrate it on that day, something to do with a turning over of the seasons.
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So it was weird because it really does seem that the origins of this holiday is From total paganism.
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I never really thought that we would have some chance to Abstain from avoid Azara like a modern day of Ramavino.
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But it seems that the 31st of October is some quasi non-Jewish, gentile, roman, christian, celtic souls type of death Holiday thing and most definitely would seem, at least on face value, to be some violation of maybe dark a memory, but I know rabbi, or maybe some overstepping the boundaries into over who goes a I'm low, say lehco and and.
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Last but not least, one of the big three of our vote is our.
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Now Maybe there's some wiggle room, because modern day Gentile adherence to Halloween seems to be totally disconnected to any of this.
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But the Ramad did tell us that even if that is true, it still is an issue.
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It doesn't seem like a very innocent holiday, seems like the costumes were to protect from spirits, the trick or treating is that came in from the Gaiush, the.
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When the Christians got involved with the Pope and the handing out of free Food, people that would promise to do better in the future, it seemed very much rooted and idolatry, things that the Jewish people do not stand for and a violation of halacha.
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But then again, check with your local Orthodox rabbi for the may be some leniency that I'm not aware of.
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But here we talk about Musser, we talk about a practical takeaway, and we do believe that one can learn from almost Anything.
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No, we do believe that one can learn from anything.
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And in this situation the takeaway seems Pretty straightforward and glaring that I imagine that most Gentiles, most non-Jews, don't even understand or know what exactly they are celebrating.
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And that's take away number one, which that is very possible to engage in behavior, to be excited, but I've absolutely no idea what you're doing, and that's something for us to learn that maybe we should be more well educated about our own festivals.
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And, furthermore, it's unbelievable that a person will never question why something's happening if things are Going his way, when the goodies are falling from the heavens, when there's free candy and it's a free day off of work and it's time to party.
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Nobody seems to want to put an end to that or even think about if it is right or wrong.
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I'm not talking from the Jewish size of things, but it's just no one even seems to bat an eyelash or to question it.
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Maybe we should take more time that when we have all of the goodies Coming to us by way of the one and only God I call this baruch that he gives us everything and we have so much to be grateful for for sustaining us and giving us all the goodies, we should stop to think where is this coming from?
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Why is this happening?
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Who is supplying all of this?
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Why am I doing this?
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But to live life with our heads screwed on with das and with seiko, people go trekker trading without even the slightest clue why.
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Mostly, it just seems it's promoted by the candy companies to sell more candy.
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But for us Jews it definitely seems like this weird creepy night of October 31st may be a violation of the halacha but I ain't a post-sacrifice rabbi.
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But what we can say unequivocally?
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That there is a very valuable takeaway here that it's very possible for a human being to engage in a practice that he never understands or thinks about, and all the more so if he is benefiting from it.
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If something good is happening, he may never stop to question why, how, what, when or who is even supplying the goods?
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So take a second to think about your actions.
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Think Akadesh Baruch Hu is supplying all the goodies and live life with your head screwed on tight to your shoulders, using your das and using your seiko to connect all the more so to Akadesh Baruch Hu.
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