Monday, October 31, 2005
Inyana D'Yoma
In the spirit of the day (spirit?! Get it??), I thought I'd share a relevant point. On Shabbos, I was listening to two religious married couples (You know who you are. Even though you don't read blogs.) share their excitement over the Halloween holiday. What else could Halloween mean than cheap Purim costumes at Target November 1st? They seemed to gain some primal excitement from the notion of dressing their one year old up in a themed costume for Purim. But it seems sad when these two holidays become intertwined. First, X-mas and Chanukah, now these two. We got the costume part down. We got the drinking stuff. Now if only we'd go around sharing candy. Oh, wait. Well, at least we go door to door handing out freebies, not demanding them.
While we're on the Purim theme, if you haven't checked out this video, you'll be able to picture Mardi Gras if it were in Jerusalem.
While we're on the Purim theme, if you haven't checked out this video, you'll be able to picture Mardi Gras if it were in Jerusalem.
# posted by Josh : Monday, October 31, 2005
Comments:
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Just don't forget that drinking and costumes originated within the halakhic confines of our religion. I don't even think halloween was a much celebrated holiday until late into the 20th century. Now it's just a sorry excuse for people do stumble about in a drunken stupor and vomit into their masks. Beautiful. Not that they need an excuse because seeing as the favorite pastime seems to be the pub.
# posted by 
: October 31, 2005 11:10 PM
: October 31, 2005 11:10 PM
hmmm. i don't actually know any religious jews (in my neighborhood at least) who celebrate halloween.
trick or treating i believe came to america with poor irish immigrants, who on St. someones day used to go door to door looking for food. i think the holidays fell on the same day. i am not 100% sure though.
# posted by : November 01, 2005 2:44 PM
: November 01, 2005 2:44 PM
Didn't mean to imply that I knew Jews celebrating Halloween, just that it seems that we find a way to dumb down our Jewish holiday by incorporating the "wonderful" contributions of secular influence. While drinking may have Halachic basis on Purim (costumes less so), it is obviously not meant to become a Frummies Gone Wild event.
So, halloween and purim both have costumes, drinking and recieving food. But the differences are that halloween celebrates death whereas purim celebrates survival. Plus, on halloween people go out taking food whereas on purim people go giving food.
# posted by : November 02, 2005 12:30 PM
: November 02, 2005 12:30 PM
Um, Shosh, from the person who pointed us to the background on Halloween, I'm surprised that you think of it as a secular holiday. Whether pagan or Christian, it's anything but secular, which should certainly put it at odds with any Jew's lifestyle.
I think Anon pretty much summed up my post. And that is exactly why we should be ashamed if Jews are learning to celebrate Purim from Halloween and not the other way around.
I think Anon pretty much summed up my post. And that is exactly why we should be ashamed if Jews are learning to celebrate Purim from Halloween and not the other way around.
Which anon? I thought i had temporarily misplaced my name but now i have found that it was stolen!
# posted by : November 03, 2005 2:28 PM
: November 03, 2005 2:28 PM
Anon 2
And let that be a lesson for you - if you can't even be creative enough to come up with a fake name, don't be upset that people can't differentiate your comment from somebody elses.
And let that be a lesson for you - if you can't even be creative enough to come up with a fake name, don't be upset that people can't differentiate your comment from somebody elses.
Um, josh, it was a joke, and it looks like THE anonymous got insulted and has taken revenge...
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# posted by : November 06, 2005 1:01 PM
: November 06, 2005 1:01 PM<< Home
