Just Challah No Halloween

I recently read an article "A Candy-Filled Challah for a Halloween That Falls on Shabbat." The author explained how she grew up celebrating Halloween and embraces both Halloween and Shabbat. Since this year, Halloween falls on Shabbat, she planned to have her children dress up, go trick or treating, come home celebrate Shabbat and then munch on their candy in front of the TV.

Sounds all American to me and from an emotional standpoint, I really get it. I know plenty of people who do the same. I also like the recipe. Sounds and looks yummy.

I grew up that way. Problem is that my focus was on Halloween and not Shabbat. Sounds to me like the author is really trying to mix the two; I'm just not sure that the result is spiritually beneficial. Maybe it is a commitment to both, but sometimes a commitment to multiple things is a commitment to nothing.

I'm not going to go into the details of the origins of Halloween and it's antithesis to living as a Jew. That would be the same article that I would write explaining why you cannot blend Christmas and Chanukah...or Easter and Passover. I'm not sure it even teaches tolerance. I think it teaches confusion.

As Jews, we are asked to go beyond our nature and the nature of those around us. As Jews we stand for a commitment to something that is separate from the mundane. It's not a badge we wear. It's a service we perform. Sabbath observance is quite biblical and like in the top 10 (number 4 to be exact...right under the commandments about G-d himself).

Mixing Halloween and Shabbat just does not work, at least not in a theological sense. It sings of compromise, but being an observing Jew is not exactly compromising...it is commitment (filled with joy, song and at our synagogue plenty of candy 52 weeks a year). That is not to say that one cannot do whatever he or she chooses. It really is a choice.  You can pick holidays from across he globe if you choose and hodgepodge them all together. But I wonder. If we don't stand up for who we are, if we get all mixed up, then how do we know who we are. And history has shown us, even today, when we do not stand up for our values, others remind us quickly of what they are and who we are.

At any rate, I do understand the allure of Halloween, and we are happy for our neighbors, but that is where we stop. We won't dress up, trick or treat or mix our challah with Halloween ....well maybe I'll sneak in a few candy corns for dessert. The challah represents something very holy and very different.

Challah actually is not bread (and some of the challahs I've eaten would attest to that). It is actually a piece of bread that is taken away (and was given to the Kohen (holy priest). When we take challah we remember ..who we are. Challah comes from the word Chol, mundane to remind us that we are to elevate the mundane. Challah reminds us of our connection to the divine. Perhaps one could say that Halloween does the opposite.

Yes, it's fun to dress up. It's even more fun to get candy. Yet, maybe there is a bigger lesson not just in avoiding a pagan holiday but in observing and celebrating Shabbat.

So, we don't celebrate Halloween, but we will buy the 1/2 priced candy on sale after Halloween and my dog may just dress up. She after all makes a perfect Halloweenie.