Posted on 10/31/2012 10:31:16 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator
If you allow your kids to participate in the pagan rites of a gentile culture, they are likely to grow up with pumpkin heads instead of Jewish heads.
Tonight, Jewish youth all over the world – except in Israel– will celebrate the pagan holiday of Halloween.
Halloween is also called All Hallows’ Eve, because, for the gentiles, it is a hallowed evening, the eve of All Saints’ Day, a day which honors all Christian saints.
The Encyclopedia Britannica explains that in ancient Britain and Ireland, the Festival of Halloween was also celebration of the end of the fertile period of the Celtic goddess, Eiseria. It is said that when Eiseria reaches the end of her fertile cycle, the worlds of the dead and the living intertwine. This supposedly happens on October 31. Masks are worn to show respect for the Goddess Eiseria, who, like most Celtic gods, does not wish to be seen by human eyes. This is one of the reason behind Halloween costumes and for the holiday’s omens, spirits, demons, and witches.
This date was also New Year’s Eve in both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon times, and was the occasion for one of the ancient fire festivals when huge bonfires were set on hilltops to frighten away evil spirits. The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day, and the festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, black cats, fairies, and demons said to be roaming about.
It was the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature. In addition, Halloween was thought to be the most favorable time for divination concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes. These pagan observances also influenced the Christian festival of All Hallows’ Eve, celebrated on the same date.
Jewish Law states:
A Jew should not follow the customs of the gentiles, nor imitate them in dress, or in their way of trimming their hair, as it says, ‘You shall not walk in the customs of the nation which I cast out before you’ (Lev. 20:23), and ‘Neither shall you walk in their statutes’ (Lev. 18:3). These verses all refer to one and the same matter of not imitating them. A Jew, on the contrary, should be distinguished from them and recognizable by the way he dresses, and in his other activities, just as he is distinguished from them in his knowledge and his beliefs, as it is said, ‘I have set you apart from the peoples’ (Lev. 20:26). (See, Rambam, Laws Regarding Idol Worship and the Ordinances of the Gentiles, 11:1).
When it comes to the question whether Jews can take part in gentile holidays, the halachic discussion differs between clearly religious holidays like Xmas, which are forbidden, and purely secular holidays like Labor Day, which are permissible. Halloween’s religious origins and pagan history place it in the category of gentile holidays that are forbidden to celebrate.
Though Halloween in America has been secularized and commercialized to the point where it is now a frivolous time of costumes, candy, and pranks, it is still celebrated in places like Scotland and Ireland as a Celtic festival of the spirits, and in other places as a holiday honoring the Christian saints. Therefore, there is good reason for telling the kids that “Trick or Treating” is a no-no for Jewish children.
The law prohibiting our participation in gentile holidays and customs comes to protect our special Jewish holiness and cultural distinction. If you allow your kids to participate in the pagan rites of a gentile culture, they are likely to grow up with pumpkin heads instead of Jewish heads.
On the other hand, if you try to safeguard our distinction as Jews and not let your children go “Trick or Treating” with all the other kids in the neighborhood, there’s a good chance that they will grow up hating both you and Judaism for turning them into freaks in the eyes of their friends. Either way, as a Jewish parent, you lose.
What’s the solution? Move to Israel. The only place you will see a pumpkin here is in the supermarket (a small yellow one that looks more like a squash). If you truly love your children and don’t want them growing up with pumpkin heads, then the only solution is to bring them to Israel where they will grow up with Jewish holidays like we’re supposed to.
For example, my 12-year-old son doesn’t know anything about Halloween. He probably has heard about Xmas, but he’s never heard any “Silent Night, Holy Night” carols or seen mangers, or Santa Claus decorations on the street. He’s never heard of Ground Hound Day, and he couldn’t tell you what color is associated with St. Patrick. If you told him that Americans eat gefilta fish on Thanksgiving, he wouldn’t know you were pulling his leg. He’s totally ignorant when it comes to Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, and I doubt that he’s heard of Columbus. I can bet he’s never seen an Easter egg, and to him, the Fourth of July doesn’t mean a thing. For him, Memorial Day honors Israel’s fallen soldiers and not department stores sales. His official school holidays fall on the Days of Awe, Sukkot, Chanukah, and Pesach, and not on the Xmas and Easter celebration of Jezeus.
In other words, my son, thank G-d, is growing up to be a Jew without any foreign Xtian pollution, and without the schizophrenia of observing the holidays of gentile countries and cultures in foreign gentile lands.
Are you still going to let your kid go Trick-or-Treating tonight?
I think I learned all I needed to know about this subject and this thread by reading to this point.
Pretty clear to me.
Let's suppose that Messianic Jews in Israel, born in Israel and Israeli citizens, started becoming more successful in bringing other Israelis to Christ. What solution would you offer for the situation? Hopefully not a final solution.
Since Judaism is the root of Catholicism and all other Christian denominations......
I won't say he can't...for Almighty G*D even has allowed Satan to operate at times to function in ways we don't readily admit...that's what the word "sovereign" implies...
The tendency, however, when you look thru the Old Testament is for God to not use open idolaters...
(Otherwise, who would get the "glory" for a great Mormon presidency...why the distinct Mormon gods, of course!)
In any case I suspect G-d is OK with anything that brings us together.
Shawn Green approves your post Cripple!
As for Halloween, dressing up and having fun is no different then me Enjoying Playing Skyrim just because it draws from Pagan Norse Mythology
That's way over the top. I grew up in a very Orthodox Jewish home, and all holidays were divided into 3 groups-- Jewish holidays, which we of course observed; "American holidays," which we also observed (Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Memorial Day, Washington's Birthday, etc.), and "Christian holidays," which we didn't observe (though we respected our gentile neighbors who did, and certainly didn't bad mouth them). My parents considered Halloween and Valentines Day to be in the "Christian holiday" group, but we knew plenty of other Jews who put those two into the "American holidays" category.
Does it matter?
Random Internet Dude clearly thinks so.
I think not.
Look . . . I know where you're coming from.
No, actually, you don't. And you're very presumptuous to claim that you do.
Chrstianity doesn't listen to G-d.
Wrong. And we don't have any superstition about spelling out the word "God", either.
There is no "new testament" in my Bible.
Well ... there's your problem, right there.
I do doubt that you are "convinced."
Your doubts are your problem.
Not mine.
RaMBa"N wiped the floor with chrstians in medieval Spain.
Whatever ... some folks are impressed with people's "performance" in "debates". I am not; indeed, I find that the "debate" may be the worst of all possible ways of determining truth.
I wonder if this is happening to Fundamentalist Protestant anti-"halloween" threads?
Fundamentalist Protestant threads don't babble about "Xtian" "pollution".
Beyond that, I generally agree with the Fundamentalist Protestants ... Halloween (as 'celebrated' in these United States today) has become creepy, vile, and perverse.
Everything is a subtext for this poster to bash Christianity...just keep reading the thread.
How could that be? The cheese and the meat come from different breeds of cattle--the cheese from Holsteins and Jerseys and the meat from Herefords, long horns, etc.
I realize that the thread (postings are not almost all in error.
In other words, a meaningless vote.
And I stand by my initial comment.
“The tendency, however, when you look thru the Old Testament is for God to not use open idolaters...” Are YOU saying that G*D didn’t use Solomon(sp?) a man who brought Idols INSIDE the Temple?
Shy can't you spell out "Christ," "Christian" and "God"? Perhaps you are fearful that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Messiah, as foretold many times in the scriptures from Genesis to Chronicles.
Lets not forget Sandy Koufax.
I never have been able to track down where the practice of playing the Hava Nagila at baseball games came from.
I think you hit the nail on the head with that.
While Protestants like to sweep a few facts under the rug, Jewish folks have little or no reason to trust or believe anyone who sings the praises Luther. They know full well it was no accident that Kristallnacht in 1938 occurred on Luther's birthday, or that most of what followed was exactly what Luther said should be done in his paper, "The Jews and Their Lies".
What better time and place to troll than where a whole crowd is praising someone who preached that all the synagogues and Jewish books should be burned, the property of all Jews confiscated, and any Jews who didn't flee to other countries killed?
Celebrating, "Reformation Day" at Halloween is an example of someone thinking they're very clever when in fact they didn't think their brilliant idea through. People who try very hard to ignore and deflect any mention of the fact that Luther advocated vandalism and arson directed at the Jews, turn right around and do their best to associate Luther with the day of the year most people associate with that very sort of vandalism.
If someone with good sense had thought it through, "Reformation Day" would have be December 10th when Luther burned a Papal Bull.
As it stands now, we have yet another example of how those who follow Eve rather than Christ may have the best of intentions, but foul their own nest by listening to whatever spirit happens to be hanging from a nearby tree.
You can't get much more Jewish than that melody.
All I know is it is from a Melody in the Ukraine and was used big time after the British Victory over the Ottomans in the First World War.
In some ways it is the unofficial anthem of the Jewish People XD.
Because really, what is the first thing YOU think of when it starts?
“Some people are simply the sworn enemies of fun.”
The Jewish “version” of this is Purim.
Our kids dress up, eat crap, and the parents drink too much. Very fun -— and Biblical.
You guys have fun tonight.
I suspect it because there were a lot of Jews in the early major league cities like NY , Detroit, Boston etc. After all, my great grandfather was apparently a Polish Jew who ended up working for the Purple gang who were a Jewish gang.
The regulation has been "simplified" into not being able to mix meat and dairy, and that there's a class of foods being "parve," meaning that they can be eaten with either meat or dairy.
Here's something that's always baffled me though...Given the above statement of not "cooking a calf in its mother's milk," why is it that you CAN fry chicken using eggs in the batter, yet you can't add milk to the batter, even though chickens do not give milk, since chicken is classified as "meat."
Just something that I wondered since childhood.
Mark
You are missing the oral law in your statement.
The oral law was also given to Moshe. The written law is essentially the headnotes. It’s not the complete law.
A very brief background on the milk/meat issue.
The law regarding milk and meat prohibition probably stems from the Cannanite ritual of boiling infant children alive in their mother’s milk —— a ritual also done with animals.
This is abhorrent on many levels, but particularly so because it uses life (milk) to create meat (death).
It is the complete rejection of mixing life and death as done by the Cannanites -— and a complete rejection of their culture -— that is spoken of in the Torah and Talmud and why the overall regulation is broader than the statement in the written law.
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