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Ask the Rabbi: Should we allow our
children to go Trick or Treating?
Answer: According to the Hallmark card company, Americans will spend over $2.8 million on Halloween in 2001, thus making it the second most important holiday for the retail stores (the first being Christ-Mass another pagan celebration). In a recent survey, 33% of adults said they would dress up this year. That’s is almost equal to the amount of children that will dress up for Halloween. It is become retailer’s bonanza. In every city, pumpkins, witches, ghosts, and goblins adorn homes, shops, schools, and supermarkets. They even have "Halloween lights" to put on trees and homes! This so-called holiday has indeed totally captured the minds and hearts of the American public and youth.Many well-meaning Messianics, not wanting their children to "be different" or "stand out" have little hesitation in allowing their children to participate in this totally pagan celebration. They are not aware that Halloween is associated with ALL SAINTS DAY, also called Hallow Mass or All Hallows Eve. It is the eve of one of the "church’s" most important feasts, which is celebrated by the Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans. Now, in America these faiths have the freedom to celebrate their holidays with all the pomp and circumstance that they see fit. That is their right and privilege in this country. However, I cannot accept Messianics being drawn into an observance of a pagan feast or any observance that does not promote the beliefs or practice of the Torah faith of our Rebbe Yahshua or His talmidim. It is a violation of the Torah AND the Brit Chadasha. Halloween has very clear connections to the pagan rites of the Druids and the pre-Roman, pre-Christian Celts in Ireland, Scotland, and northern Europe.These Druids performed rituals to honor the great SUN god as the Celtic year ended on October 31st, the Eve of Samhain.
Their white robed priests would celebrate a feast to the Sun god and the Lord of the Dead.It has also been proved to be connected to human sacrifices, though they were supposed to be outlawed by the Romans in 61CE.
The glorification of ghosts, witches, goblins, demons, and the devil, and exposing our children to these ideas does not promote the healthy development of our children as Believers in Moshiach who ought to be celebrating JOY and set-apartness rather than the horror associated with this holiday.
Halloween does not claim to be a secular holiday! It has strong pagan AND Christian roots, and as Messianics we should not be celebrating it. We also should be concerned that foods and candies being exchanged at Halloween are not Kosher.But most important we should be concerned about what message our young people are sharing AND receiving through trick-or-treating that is associated with criminal mischief and disorderly conduct that teen-agers seem to gravitate towards during this so-called holiday. For many adults, Halloween may seem to as harmless to them as Christ-Mass and Ishtar, but the heavy emphasis on ghosts, spirits, witches, goblins, demons, and s.a.tan imparts an unhealthy influence on our children’s character and development. We are exposing them to pagan ways of worship and practice.
For some this approach may seem radical, but this pagan celebration has nothing in common with the values that we are trying to impart to our youth in Messianic Yisrael.Let us treat our children to the true values and faith of the Torah that Yahweh has given us. We, as Yisrael, do not need to practice the rituals and holidays of another faith or culture to be accepted by peers. We are faced with a great challenge as Yisrael.Namely, retaining and strengthening our Hebraic way of life and Yisraelite identity, and at the very same time maximizing our contribution to the world.
I hope this helps to answer your question and concerns Rabbi Edward L. Nydle-B’nai Avraham |
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