HALLOWEEN, ALWAYS ON THE LAST DAY OF OCTOBER (albeit sometimes moved to the nearest Friday or Saturday)
* Is NEITHER a national holiday nor a Jewish holiday.
* Is NOT a non-Jews variation of Purim; the only similarity is wearing costumes.
To be fair, some non-Jews have special religious services on the day after Halloween, what is termed “All Saints Day.”
A little Halloween history
There are many articles1, 2, 3, 4 on the Internet that claim to tell the origin of the event. All of the articles come to the same conclusion: Halloween started off as a pagan holiday.
CBN2, borrowing from Encyclopaedia Britannica concludes that (I)n ancient Britain and Ireland, the Celtic Festival of Samhain was observed on October 31, at the end of summer…. The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day and the autumnal festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, goblins, black cats, fairies and demons of all kinds 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 divinations concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes.
Why on the last day in October?
Take a look at sunset times in late October/early November.
Will the sun ever return?
The Celts are not the only people to have a “Day of the Dead.”
Mexico is famous for its Day of the Dead. According to The Travel Leaf 5, The day before Dia de los Muertos, October 31 is a preparation for the upcoming celebration and also a Halloween celebration. Halloween is not the same thing as The Day of the Dead though.
November 1st is the day that’s when “Angelitos” or little angels returns to the earth. It’s also called Día de los Angelitos (Day of the Little Angels). These are the souls of all babies and children who have died at the young age.
The next day on November 2nd all the adult souls visit their loved ones here on the earth. Spirits are welcomed with a joyful celebration, specially built altars and the their favorite meal from back when they were alive. It’s common belief that the spirit arrives mighty hungry and thirsty after having to travel from the spirit world back to the living world.
U.S. News3 contends that Halloween coincides with Christian celebrations honoring the dead. In the autumn, Christians celebrate All Saints' Day – a day to honor martyrs who died for their faith and saints. They also celebrate All Souls' Day – a day to remember the dead and to pray for souls more generally.
The history of how these dates came to coincide is worth noting: It suggests ways in which the pagan holiday may have been absorbed into Christian observance. Starting around the seventh century AD., Christians celebrated All Saints Day on May 13. In the mid-eighth century, however, Pope Gregory III moved All Saint's Day from May 13 to Nov. 1, so that it coincided with the date of Celt’s Samhain.
In the United States – and elsewhere – those who died for their countries have a day set aside for remembrance. Sadly, most Americans ignore the reason for the day. Israel, in addition, has Yom HaShoah.
Some differences between Halloween and Purim
Jews are commanded – not in the Torah or Talmuds, but in the Book of Esther --to remember that happened on 13 Adar, 357 Before the Current Era (BCE).
To that end,
* Jews fast on the 13th of Adar (Fast of Esther) and feast on Purim day (14 Adar).
Pur, as everyone knows, means the casting of lots, which Haman did to determine the date to exterminate all the Jews of the world. (Sound familiar?)
* Jewish men are obliged to hear the story (the whole megillah) twice; once at night and once on the following morning. Women also are obliged to hear the megillah twice, but most women only attend the night reading.6
* Unlike non-Jews who go door-to-door demanding a trick or a treat from the resident (or perhaps “give us a treat or we’ll “trick” you – damage your property). Jews, often children, go from Jewish home to Jewish home with gifts, meshloach manot with at least two food items.7 Details of what to send and to whom to send (including sending to the home of a mourner) are provided by Aish.com.8
A few words on lo yadah (לא ידע) .
“Rava said: It is one’s duty levasumei, to make oneself fragrant [with wine] on Purim until one cannot tell the difference between ‘arur Haman‘ (cursed be Haman) and ‘barukh Mordekhai’ (blessed be Mordecai)” (Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 7b). 9
Rabbenu Ephraim ibn Avi Alragan, an 11th-century North African halachist, rejects the statement of Rava, and it is wrong to act in such a way ”to become so inebriated that we murder someone as in the story of Rabbah getting up and slaughtering R. Zeira."
Rambam, however, rules that one should eat meat and prepare as nice a meal as one can afford and drink wine until one becomes drunk and falls asleep from drunkenness. (Laws of Megillah 2:15).
After a big meal and hearing the whole megillah, taking a small amount of potent potable at home might just be enough to meet Rambam’s requirement to fall asleep.
Sources
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
2. http://www1.cbn.com/the-pagan-roots-of-halloween
3. US NEWS: http://tinyurl.com/y7z8yh7y
4. Jehovah’s Witnesses: http://tinyurl.com/yaq29tjs
5. Travel Leaf: http://tinyurl.com/ycnve46y
6. https://www.ou.org/holidays/purim/purim_mitzvot/
7. Chabad: http://tinyurl.com/ydbwxj4c
8. http://www.aish.com/h/pur/m/48968806.html
9. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/drinking-on-purim/
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
