A Haunting Halloween Havdalah

In just a few days, the sidewalks of our neighborhoods will teem with creatures of all sizes, shapes, and apparel. In addition to our weekly ritual of marking the end of Shabbat with Havdalah, this Saturday evening brings us Halloween, the holiday of costumes, carved pumpkins, scary stories, and massive quantities of sugary goodness. For many American Jews, participating in Halloween activities feels harmless, as they consider Halloween to be a national tradition without the attachment of any real religious meaning. As part of the process of assimilating into the greater culture, American Jews have adopted this tradition, seeing no religious conflicts. But, is it okay for American Jews to celebrate Halloween? Where does this holiday find its roots, and what does it all mean for Jews?

Halloween has origins in the ancient Gaelic festival Samhain, which marked the end of the summer. This festival, celebrated mostly in Ireland and Scotland, had some elements of a festival of the dead, as the ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and that of the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits - both harmless and harmful - to pass through. Family ancestor's were welcomed while harmful spirits were warded off, perhaps the earliest source of costumes and masks.

Until about 1300 years ago, Halloween was purely a pagan event. Then the Roman Catholic Church, in an attempt to wean people away from their former practices, simply absorbed some of them and combined them into two new holidays. The Church moved All Saints' Day, a day to remember minor saints, from May 13 to November 1, and created All Souls' Day, a day to remember the dead, on November 2. All Saints' Day was also called All Hallows Even, often shortened to All Hallows E'en, eventually becoming Halloween. In one medieval custom, people dressed up and went door to door, asking for food in exchange for giving prayers for the dead. Halloween is no longer celebrated in any way as part of a Christian holiday.

When Halloween hit America, it took on another meaning. While today's celebration of the holiday contains elements of its various origins, Halloween in the United States is a decidedly secular event and retains no connection to any religious meaning or observance. So where does this leave American Jews? Should families allow their children to dress up and traipse around the neighborhood in search of sugary bounty?

On one hand, halachah, Jewish law, particularly in Leviticus 18:3, seems to forbid any celebration of Halloween, as Jews are forbidden to partake in any "gentile customs." However, there are those who contend that the original injunctions refer mostly to the prohibition to adopt any religious customs of another people and therefore is not relevant in the case of Halloween in its current secular status. Just as American Jews take part in other American traditions, like the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, or even New Year's Eve (which has some times to religious events with the Catholic Church), so too should Halloween be allowed.

In the end, while it might not be appropriate for the organized Jewish community to publicly celebrate Halloween, the decision to do so privately is ultimately up to each family. There are always ways to find connections in Jewish tradition (primarily with stories of the Golem, a creation of Jewish folklore in which an animated being is created entirely from inanimate matter - a great book for children is Golem by David Wisniewski. If you have not yet read the phenomenal The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, it does contain some of the Golem story.)

Since Halloween falls on a Saturday evening this year, include Havdalah as part of your pre-trick-or-treating preparation. The heart of Havdalah can be found in the phrase, "hamavdil bein kodesh l'chol," distinguishing between the sacred (Shabbat) and the secular (rest of the week). The Havdalah service can be found in any siddur (just look in the Table of Contents), and audio files of the prayers can be found here.

Navigating with Noah

Throughout the first stories of the Torah, people begin to learn about the responsibilities and boundaries of their relationship with God. In last week's parsha, Parshat B'reishit, we see Adam and Eve punished for disobeying God's rules and learn the lessons involving familial responsibilities taken from the experiences of Cain and Abel. In this week's parsha, Parshat Noach, we skip forward ten generations. The world has gotten so bad that God decides to start anew. Luckily, there was a man named Noah, a tzaddik, someone whom the Torah calls "righteous," which apparently goes a long way in a world filled with murder, meanness, and people generally not treating each other appropriately. It was such a good thing that God tasks Noah with building an ark and saving his family and a whole bunch of animals - seven pairs of "clean" (kosher) animals and one pair of "unclean" animals (b'reishit 7:2). Once the flood waters recede, it is up to Noah's family and passengers to repopulate the world.

Unfortunately, while Noah's righteousness saved his family from the devastation of the great flood, it did not seem to pass through the subsequent generations. By the time we get to the story of Babel, located towards the end of Parshat Noach, humans have grown proud and try to build a tower that will reach the sky. God disapproves, the tower comes crashing down, and humans are left with a number of different languages, unable to communicate effectively.

Some questions to ponder (perhaps at your Shabbat dinner table):

• How does the Torah describe Noah? What types of character traits do you think Noah had? How was he different from the other people around him?
• In several of the stories in the first part of B'reishit, people are punished for trying to be like God - give some examples of how it can be good to try to be like God. What are some things God can do that you are unable to do?
• How many of each animal does God instruct Noah to bring on the ark? Why are there different numbers? Are there animals you think should have been left off? Why?
• Noah's family was stuck on the ark together for a very long time - how do you think they felt at the end of their boat ride? Has your family ever taken a long trip together? What was that experience like?
• The last story in this parsha has a lot to say about communication - what are some ways your family can communicate better?

Just for fun, here is a quick animated look at Parshat Noach, courtesy of G-dcast.com.

Wishing you and your family a Shabbat Shalom.

Taking Time for Shabbat

We are only hours away from Shabbat, the day of rest. Even God rested after all of the work of Creation. There are many different ways in which families and individuals approach the commandment of observing and keeping Shabbat, however it remains that Shabbat can be an excellent reminder of the ways in which we attempt to bring balance into the various segments of our life - work, family, social life, school, and so much more. Try something new this week to bring a little rest into your lives - perhaps your television will stay off for 25 hours (there are no playoff games scheduled, so even fervent Yankee fans can manage this one) or maybe it is finding an activity to do as an entire family (my favorite is Apples to Apples - there is even a Jewish version!).

Embedded below is an amazing video I found last year on YouTube - if you've ever wanted to branch out into new challah horizons, try braiding it with six strands. The video below makes it easy as pie.

Braiding a Six-Strand Challah

Rosh Hodesh Cheshvan!

Every so often, when I happen to have the opportunity to chat with some of our students, we talk a little bit about what is going on in Jewish time - it's an easy topic that most students feel comfortable discussing. Holidays normally pose little problem, but when asking which was the current month in the Jewish calendar, it is not an uncommon occurrence to be met with blank stares and perhaps a shrug or two. This might not happen around some of the bigger holidays (most of the older students know that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur fall in the month of Tishrei), but 9 times out of 10, students are simply unconnected to Jewish time in its more formal, structured sense. This is not to say they are unaware of the Jewish calendar - if asked, it is relatively assured that most kids would know the next big Jewish holiday was either Shabbat or Hanukkah (depending on how literally they decide to interpret the question). While we may feel more comfortable reciting the little song that reminds us which of our secular months have 31, 30 and 28 days in them than remembering when Iyyar falls during the year, celebrating Rosh Hodesh and acknowledging the beginning of a new Jewish month can add something special to an otherwise ordinary Monday.

Today is Rosh Hodesh Cheshvan, the first day of the eighth month in the Jewish calendar. Not much happens in Heshvan, and its lack of holidays has led for it to be called "Mar Cheshvan," "mar" meaning bitter in Hebrew. No holidays, fast days, or anything else of any notable relevance occurs during this month, sandwiched between the festive holidays of Tishrei and the lights of Hanukkah and Kislev. Like most of the Hebrew months, Cheshvan most likely gets its name from a Babylonian word - when consulting Jewish sources, this eighth month of the year is often called "bul," a word closely related to the Hebrew word "mabul," meaning flood. According to tradition, it was on the 17th day of Cheshvan was the start of the great flood that destroyed the world in the time of Noah, his family, and his trusty ark. Just over a year later, on the 27th of Cheshvan, Noah's family safely lands and the waters recede. (Not to worry, but perhaps tuck this little tidbit away as the Washington DC area gets some much needed rain!)

While there are no holidays to celebrate during the month of Cheshvan, the new moon and Rosh Hodesh give us the opportunity to mark the start of a new month in a special way. Do something different or special as a family. Buy a bouquet of fall-hued flowers to grace your Shabbat dinner table this week, or perhaps include a special dish filled with fall produce to celebrate the season. Enjoy these last few days of fall before the colder winter weather arrives (again).

Happy (Mar) Cheshvan!)

It's the Beginning, All Over Again!

One of the most beautiful things about Torah is that every year, we get to rediscover each story, lesson, and law. After Simchat Torah, once we have gone through the arduous task of rolling and rolling the scrolls and parchment from the end of D'varim all the way back to the beginning of B'reishit, we start anew. After all of the experiences of the year that has ended, we begin to read the parshiyot, the weekly Torah portions, with eyes that have changed just a bit since the year before.

This Shabbat we start again with Parshat B'reishit, the first parsha in the first book of Torah. Like many of the parshiyot in the first two books of Torah, B'reishit contains a number of pretty seminal Biblical stories. We have the story of Creation, human beings are created and given the task of protecting the Garden of Eden, the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the story of Cain and Abel (are we our siblings' keepers?), and the birth of Adam & Eve's third son, Seth. Torah lists the ten generations between Adam and Noah, and the parsha concludes with God's sorrow over human wickedness.

Some discussion questions:

• Each time God creates something, Torah says that it was "good" - what do you think this means?
• Why do you think God names things? What is the importance of a name?
• In Jewish tradition, Shabbat and holidays begin at sundown - what clue in these first verses explains why this is?
• What does it mean to be your "brother's keeper"? What are your responsibilities to other people in your family?

For more commentaries on this parsha, consider the following resources:

• Torah Sparks - from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism - a brief summary of the parsha with some great discussion questions
• Here is a list of various commentaries from across the denominations, courtesy of My Jewish Learning.
• g-dcast.com is a wonderful website with animated shorts for each week's parsha - check it out!

I will leave you this week with something a little fun - Torah in Haiku. This comes from The Torah in Haiku and was written by Ed Nickow of Temple Chai in Long Grove, IL.

Cain's question to G-d:
"Am I my brother's keeper?"
The right answer? "Yes"

Tikkun Olam: Collecting Divine Sparks

One origin for the concept of Tikkun Olam can be found in the city of Tsfat, which is in the northern part of Israel. Located not very far from the Kinneret, the Sea of Galilee, Tsfat (or Safed) became haven for a number of Jewish mystics. Rabbi Isaac Luria, one of these Kabbalists who lived there during the sixteenth century, wondered why people suffered in our world and how God could allowed such terrible things as disease, hunger, and war to happen. He explains it through a story of creation a little different than that found in the beginning of Genesis.

In Luria’s rendering, the world started only with God, Who was all in time and in space. God’s divine light filled all there was. There was no room for creation, so God pulled back and made space where there was no God for all of creation, called in Hebrew tzimtzum. Once there was room for something other than God, the creation of the world as we know it occurred. All of God’s light needed a place to go, so special receptacles were prepared to hold the light of God. It was then that something horrible went wrong, and for some unknown reason, there was a cosmic explosion and the vessels shattered. The universe was filled with sparks of God’s light and the shattered pieces of the receptacles.

The world we live in today is filled with these sparks of God’s light, and it is according to Kabbalist teachings that it is the responsibility of each and every person to collect and gather God’s sparks of Divine light, thereby repairing and fixing the world – Tikkun Olam, literally the act of repairing the world. Jews are supposed to become fixers, partners in properly completing God’s creation.

Those of you with older children might have heard of the film, “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” The plot of the film is not important for our purpose here, however there is one scene that serves us well. At one point, Norah says “There's this part of Judaism that I like. Tikkun Olam. It’s said that the world is broken into pieces and everyone has to find them and put them back together.” Nick thinks for a moment and replies, “Maybe we don't have to find it. Maybe we are the pieces.”

We are created betzelem elohim, in God’s image, and there is much that is said about partnering with God to complete creation and perfect the world. We are the divine sparks in the world, and by taking an active part in repairing the broken pieces, it goes beyond simply volunteering and feeling good about it; we are partners in a divine act.

For ideas of social action projects your family can do together, visit the Tikkun Olam section of the Family Life Education page on the Beth El website. Whether your family is passionate about animals, helping the elderly, caring for our environment, or working to end hunger, there is a list of projects you can do together to help make a difference in the world around us.

Celebrating Sukkot at Home

Sukkot begins on the eve of the 15^th of Tishrei – just four days after the end of Yom Kippur. While it falls close to Yom Kippur in the Jewish calendar, it is remarkably different from it in both mood and content. Sukkot is the third in the cycle of three pilgrimage holidays (shalosh regalim), which includes Passover and Shavuot, and marks the end of the summer and ushers in the fall harvest.

Many people build Sukkot, Hebrew word meaning “booths” or “huts,” as Jewish tradition holds that the Israelites lived in similar temporary structures during their forty years of wandering through the wilderness of Sinai. It is also our link to nature and agriculture, as farmers in ancient Israel often lived in sukkot during the fall harvest period. Today, Jews invite guests into their sukkot to socialize and enjoy this joyous season.

Most of the more popular rituals of Sukkot are practiced at home. The following is a step-by-step guide for home observance of Sukkot. It includes information on traditional and symbolic foods to incorporate into your celebration of the holiday, prayers to add during meal times with your family, and some ideas for family activities during this festive time.