It's October and as far as emails in my inbox go, that always means one thing: lots of questions about Halloween and whether or not it is OK for Jews to celebrate the holiday. :)
Over the past few years Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser has written two formal responses to this question about American Jews celebrating Halloween. In both instances he traces the origins of Halloween, noting that what began as a Celtic holiday celebrating the harvest is now a secular holiday that is usually observed by dressing up in costume, giving out candy and going "Trick-Or-Treating." As a result, he concludes that - so long as festivities are not taken to excess - celebrating Halloween should be no more problematic for Jews than observing Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July.
Read Rabbi Goldwasser's answers in the following articles:
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