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Minister’s Forum for October 31, 2003 By Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich Temple Bat Yam
Halloween – here is a celebration that everyone seems to love, and yet religious leaders seem to dislike it, to say the least. You are unlikely to find a rabbi, priest, or minister, who will enthusiastically tell their congregants: “Let’s go trick-or-treating!” Most rabbis would identify the holiday as, at the best, secular, and hence unimportant to Jews, and at the worst, a hold over from old Christian traditions, and therefore actually a negative practice for Jews. So, just in time for this year’s annual masquerade parade, I am going to buck the trend – I think Halloween is great. We Americans have pretty much rendered most of the history of this holiday irrelevant. Very few people know the relationship between “All Hallows Eve,” and the following “All Saints Day,” and one could certainly say that the majority of children going out this October 31st won’t care in the least. The meaning of this holiday, for most of us normal folk, can be summed up in two basic concepts – costumes and candy. You won’t find much evil sorcery being done on this holiday outside of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” re-runs. So what’s the harm, (aside to our teeth), and what’s the big deal (why is a rabbi writing about it in the minister’s forum)? We have become a splintered society – broken up into smaller and smaller units. Many of us don’t know our neighbors all that well, and most of us find ourselves spending time with people who are most like ourselves – co-workers, people in the same age group, people with kids, people without kids, and so on. Along comes Halloween, and asks us to do something very different – go out and knock on everyone’s door and ask for something sweet. Since “Trick-or-treating” is no longer laced with the threat of doing harm to people that refuse to provide treats, we can actually look at this as a positive community event. So this Friday night, take a few moments to reflect on the great opportunities that Halloween offers us. First and foremost, take this chance to get to know the people around you. Introduce yourself to your neighbors, and show just how warm welcoming and friendly you can be. Meet each other, kids, adults, seniors – and say how nice it is to spend a little time together. Then, give out treats that might be a little bit more special than normal. Everyone always worries about treats that aren’t packaged, with good reason, so don’t go overboard by making your own treats, but you could add something special and personalized. Here are two treat personalization suggestions: - Make some labels, and label the treats with a message, like “Happy Halloween from your neighbor…” and include your name. Sharing our names with our neighbors creates the feeling that we do live in a neighborhood. - Offer quarters taped to treats with notes of how only $.25 might be used to improve the neighborhood – donations to local organizations, especially those that promote local clean-up and fire awareness, or maybe a fund for more trees or maintenance of the bike and walking paths nearby. Don’t let this Halloween just be about costumes and a week-long sugar rush – use it as a chance to show how much you care about your neighbors and your neighborhood. Living in Tahoe means living in one of the most beautiful places on earth – let’s see just how much more beautiful it can be when we share the space, and some time, with our neighbors. |