Jews and Halloween

Dear Rabbi Simon
With Halloween approaching, I am wondering what is the Jewish view of this civic (or is it religious?) holiday?
Many thanks,
Holly

Dear Holly
Thank you for your timely question.
Halloween has its inglorious roots in paganism and was later adopted by Christians as All-Saints Day. (See the history of Halloween here.) Today, of course, the decorations and dressing up for Halloween make it a (relatively) innocuous secular holiday. Nevertheless, Orthodox Jewish practice prohibits celebrating or participating in Halloween, in light of its historical roots in Celtic paganism and Christian theology. Even if we were to overlook its origins (as most Halloween participants/celebrants probably do), the Torah prohibits adopting the customs of foreign nations (known as hukat ha-goyim; see Lev. 18:3). [Nevertheless, if you are reluctant to spurn the local “treat-or-treaters”, you may give a “treat” to children who knock on you door for this purpose. This is in the spirit of darkei shalom (“ways of peace”).]
In any case, we have Purim. We don’t need a ghoulish autumnal opposite number. Which reminds me of a story:
A man moved from the Midwest to New York. He was perplexed to see, in the middle of March, trick-or-treaters of every shape and size buzzing around the streets of Brooklyn. Many of the costumes were incredible, and even some adults were dressed up.
When the doorbell rang, this man panicked. He didn’t have a single candy bar to give out. Who knew what tricks this crowd was capable of playing if he turned them away without a treat. And what a nightmare the morning after could be, cleaning up the damage done by kids that hadn’t been “treated” well enough.
He opened the door, and standing there, smiling broadly, were five costumed pre-teens, each holding a fancier stash of goodies than he’d ever imagined.
“I’m really sorry, guys,” he started to say. “I just don’t have anything to give you. I didn’t know today was Halloween.” The kids gave each other a puzzled look and began to giggle.
Finally, the biggest boy quieted the others and said, “Mister, I don’t think you understand. We didn’t come to take anything from you. We came here to give you something.” And with that, each of them handed him a beautifully wrapped gift basket.
“Today is Purim,” said a boy in a gorilla suit. “These are mishloach manos. We all go around today and bring gifts of food to our friends and neighbours. Happy Purim!” With that, they turned and left. Empty-handed and happy.
In Jewish consciousness, the “trick” for having joy in life is not to take…but to give.
Best wishes
Rabbi Rashi Simon