\”Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,\” introduces a slew of new words and concepts. Quiz your parents, grandparents and older siblings and see if they know what is true and what is false. Are they as smart as Harry\’s gal pal Hermione Granger or as clueless as Harry\’s cousin, Dudley Dursley?
I asked my long-time friend, "Are you a strict father?" "Not really," he said, "but I wouldn\’t let my daughter out for Halloween."
\’Tis the season when children in public schools face the December Dilemma. As part of a classroom lesson, Jewish youngsters may be given Christmas trees to color. During holiday music programs, they may find themselves acting in a nativity scene or singing \”Silent Night.\” Santa Claus may show up on campus, passing out candy canes and asking them what they want for Christmas.
For many Jewish parents, who associate the holiday with demons, death and wickedness, as well as with Christianity, Halloween is problematic.
Halloween celebrations and trick-or-treating: just clean fun or forbidden anti-Jewish activities? Like most issues in the Jewish community, it depends on who you ask. And not surprisingly, a Jewish school\’s stand on Halloween observance may not be shared by the students or their parents.
Once again we are faced with the annual dilemma of what to doabout Halloween. Should we let the kids \”trick or treat\” or not? Weknow that Halloween is not a Jewish holiday; that is not the problem.We celebrate Thanksgiving and Presidents Day, both American holidayswhich reflect good values. Halloween, on the other hand, does notreflect a value system that we would like to pass on to our children.It focuses on taking, greed and violence, not to mention theconsequences, a nasty trick, played on those who refuse to give.
