Posted on 10/31/2012 10:31:16 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator
If you allow your kids to participate in the pagan rites of a gentile culture, they are likely to grow up with pumpkin heads instead of Jewish heads.
Tonight, Jewish youth all over the world – except in Israel– will celebrate the pagan holiday of Halloween.
Halloween is also called All Hallows’ Eve, because, for the gentiles, it is a hallowed evening, the eve of All Saints’ Day, a day which honors all Christian saints.
The Encyclopedia Britannica explains that in ancient Britain and Ireland, the Festival of Halloween was also celebration of the end of the fertile period of the Celtic goddess, Eiseria. It is said that when Eiseria reaches the end of her fertile cycle, the worlds of the dead and the living intertwine. This supposedly happens on October 31. Masks are worn to show respect for the Goddess Eiseria, who, like most Celtic gods, does not wish to be seen by human eyes. This is one of the reason behind Halloween costumes and for the holiday’s omens, spirits, demons, and witches.
This date was also New Year’s Eve in both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon times, and was the occasion for one of the ancient fire festivals when huge bonfires were set on hilltops to frighten away evil spirits. The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day, and the festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, black cats, fairies, and demons 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 divination concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes. These pagan observances also influenced the Christian festival of All Hallows’ Eve, celebrated on the same date.
Jewish Law states:
A Jew should not follow the customs of the gentiles, nor imitate them in dress, or in their way of trimming their hair, as it says, ‘You shall not walk in the customs of the nation which I cast out before you’ (Lev. 20:23), and ‘Neither shall you walk in their statutes’ (Lev. 18:3). These verses all refer to one and the same matter of not imitating them. A Jew, on the contrary, should be distinguished from them and recognizable by the way he dresses, and in his other activities, just as he is distinguished from them in his knowledge and his beliefs, as it is said, ‘I have set you apart from the peoples’ (Lev. 20:26). (See, Rambam, Laws Regarding Idol Worship and the Ordinances of the Gentiles, 11:1).
When it comes to the question whether Jews can take part in gentile holidays, the halachic discussion differs between clearly religious holidays like Xmas, which are forbidden, and purely secular holidays like Labor Day, which are permissible. Halloween’s religious origins and pagan history place it in the category of gentile holidays that are forbidden to celebrate.
Though Halloween in America has been secularized and commercialized to the point where it is now a frivolous time of costumes, candy, and pranks, it is still celebrated in places like Scotland and Ireland as a Celtic festival of the spirits, and in other places as a holiday honoring the Christian saints. Therefore, there is good reason for telling the kids that “Trick or Treating” is a no-no for Jewish children.
The law prohibiting our participation in gentile holidays and customs comes to protect our special Jewish holiness and cultural distinction. If you allow your kids to participate in the pagan rites of a gentile culture, they are likely to grow up with pumpkin heads instead of Jewish heads.
On the other hand, if you try to safeguard our distinction as Jews and not let your children go “Trick or Treating” with all the other kids in the neighborhood, there’s a good chance that they will grow up hating both you and Judaism for turning them into freaks in the eyes of their friends. Either way, as a Jewish parent, you lose.
What’s the solution? Move to Israel. The only place you will see a pumpkin here is in the supermarket (a small yellow one that looks more like a squash). If you truly love your children and don’t want them growing up with pumpkin heads, then the only solution is to bring them to Israel where they will grow up with Jewish holidays like we’re supposed to.
For example, my 12-year-old son doesn’t know anything about Halloween. He probably has heard about Xmas, but he’s never heard any “Silent Night, Holy Night” carols or seen mangers, or Santa Claus decorations on the street. He’s never heard of Ground Hound Day, and he couldn’t tell you what color is associated with St. Patrick. If you told him that Americans eat gefilta fish on Thanksgiving, he wouldn’t know you were pulling his leg. He’s totally ignorant when it comes to Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, and I doubt that he’s heard of Columbus. I can bet he’s never seen an Easter egg, and to him, the Fourth of July doesn’t mean a thing. For him, Memorial Day honors Israel’s fallen soldiers and not department stores sales. His official school holidays fall on the Days of Awe, Sukkot, Chanukah, and Pesach, and not on the Xmas and Easter celebration of Jezeus.
In other words, my son, thank G-d, is growing up to be a Jew without any foreign Xtian pollution, and without the schizophrenia of observing the holidays of gentile countries and cultures in foreign gentile lands.
Are you still going to let your kid go Trick-or-Treating tonight?
Jews believe the Torah was given at Sinai. Christians believe the Gospel was directly revealed by the Son of God. Muslims believe that the Quran was revealed to Mohammed by Allah. In all three cases, it is a question of faith, with no physical-world evidence.
Can't we all just get along?
Muslims and Marxists are fine by me?
I don't care about Halloween one way or the other but I think you go a little too far in your arguments.
Every day I pass the house after house littered with displays of carnage and demonic figures. People think I’m nuts but I think there is something just wrong about this celebration of evil that gets bigger every year. I’m telling you this “holiday” has been hijacked and it was just a day for kids to dress up and have fun. There is still that but something far more sinister is running through it. Think of this the term “Merry Christmas” is almost banished but “Happy Halloween” just gets bigger. I can’t help feeling that means something.
BTW my wife thinks I’m nuts too.
Perhaps the use of the phrase "Xtian pollution" would be a clue?
Do not spit in the faces of people who you may need to call upon for aid in the future. It's bad policy.
You’re not nuts
“Perhaps the use of the phrase “Xtian pollution” would be a clue? “
Yeah...
but my “moron” without the vowels was deleted....
It would be interesting to see that explained...but Frankly, I don’t give a patoot.
Marxism...
Did you know that the Mormon leaders had a whole host of communist cities being run in the 19th century???
Were those "fine by you?"
These were communist communities such as ...
Orderville, Utah,
Kanab Utah,
Brigham City, Utah,
St. George, Utah,
and Bunkerville, Nevada, etc...
The Mormon leadership had 200 such communistic communities planned...but became extinct by 1900.
(Joseph Smith had the "revelation" for a "United Order"...and later Lds "prophets" like Brigham Young and Lorenzo Snow either implemented or ran them...Snow ran the Brigham City communism...)
Here is Lds author George Givens (a faithful Mormon author) elaborating on the Mormon-Soviet Communism connection:
"One of the most famous utopian books ever written was Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, published in 1889. Some scholars believe Looking Backward had considerable influence in the making of Lenin's Soviet Russia. If this is true, then [ensuing Lds "prophet"] Lorenzo Snow and the Latter-day Saints must receive some of the credit--or blame. Hearing of the success of the United Order in Brigham City, Edward Bellamy made a special trip to Utah in 1886 to study its operation. There he spent three days with Lorenzo Snow, Brigham City's founder and forty-year resident. Impressed with the thirty to forty industries run by its 2,000 inhabitants and the vitality at that time of one of the most successful United Orders, Bellamy returned home and wrote his influential book." (Givens, 500 More Little-Known Facts in Mormon History, p. 185).
Way to go, 19th century Mormon leader-“prophets” of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor & Lorenzo Snow!!! They all unwittingly fueled Soviet Communism!
What did you think that Brigham City had in common with Soviet Communism?
All it takes is the Mormon god to change his mind again; tell his "prophet" to re-implement the United Order...and "presto" via Romney!!!
After all, Joseph Smith’s original idea of a United Order was something he falsely prophesied would be everlasting order...see Lds Doctrine & Covenants 82:20; 104:1
(You can't permanently remove something that the Lds "prophets" have proclaimed was "everlasting," can you???)
I'm just glad God gave Paul a dispensation on Gentile food!
I know...next thing ya know there'll be some guy in the White House truly believing he is a "god-in-embryo" and who has a temple recommend where occultism is practiced...
...For details, see Post #3
Don’t forget we have zombies, vampires and wherewolves year round as of the last few years.
Now you're being absolutely ridiculous. There is no separate American "gxd" or "religion." There is only the One True G-d and His Laws for all mankind. Chrstian holidays (whether in America or elsewhere) violate these Laws.
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I said you insult America. Lets go back to the article (which you say you approve of)....
For example, my 12-year-old son doesn’t know anything about Halloween. He probably has heard about Xmas, but he’s never heard any “Silent Night, Holy Night” carols or seen mangers, or Santa Claus decorations on the street. He’s never heard of Ground Hound Day, and he couldn’t tell you what color is associated with St. Patrick. If you told him that Americans eat gefilta fish on Thanksgiving, he wouldn’t know you were pulling his leg. He’s totally ignorant when it comes to Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, and I doubt that he’s heard of Columbus. I can bet he’s never seen an Easter egg, and to him, the Fourth of July doesn’t mean a thing. For him, Memorial Day honors Israel’s fallen soldiers and not department stores sales. His official school holidays fall on the Days of Awe, Sukkot, Chanukah, and Pesach, and not on the Xmas and Easter celebration of Jezeus.
Where to begin? First of all, lets agree that Ground Hog Day, the Fourth of July, Presidents Day, Columbus Day and others days mentioned ARE NOT Religous Holidays. These are secular. Yet you eagarly lump these days along with Thanksgiving and Easter as you snark at our American holidays and traditions.
I am saying you are Anti-American, and your approval of these comments - plus your own comments in this thread prove it. And for those sentiments (not your anti-Halloween tirade) I've called you a 'swipe.
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I’m not interested in anti Mormon propaganda in the context of a person who would assist a Communist Marxist get elected...or a possible radical Muslim.
We are dealing with a subversive in the WH, who needs to be defeated and I find your arguments peripheral at best.
God had to speak TWICE at Sinai, and still they got it wrong. Always lots of room for a Messiah after that. Now not sayin’ God didn’t have something else on His Mind at the time, but people are people ~ His mistake; not ours.
It’s also for the chilluns, and if there was ever a group “for the chilluns” the Jews, in general, are all “for the chilluns” ~ then when they grow up at 13 and become men, that’s all over and they have to worry about “the law” ~ I’d suspect that’s the theological escape hatch American Jews of all kinds use to justify allowing their kids to go on the street to accept candy from the neighbors ~ it’s NOT comparable to the Babylonian deal where they put their daughters out on the road to be de-virginized and paid a silver piece or whatever. The Babylonians wouldn’t have been wasting all those pumpkins anyway ~ it’s tough living in the desert.
I’m sure with next-to-no effort we could get this one-trick-pony all wound up about the true evil that is Steve Young, and how his evil [fill in whatever bogieman threats you need] ways make him a crappier choice as quarterback compared to Alex Smith.
Can’t wait!
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