This past weekend, Americans celebrated Halloween – a pagan holiday that commemorates dead and martyred Christian saints.
The day, generally observed on October 31 according to the Christian/Gregorian calendar, is typically observed through dressing up in costumes, visiting haunted houses, and going around getting candy from homes, known as “trick or treating.”
For these reasons, it should seem incredibly strange that Halloween was celebrated in parts of Israel, prominently in Tel Aviv, this past weekend. What is even more troubling is that Israeli youth were “trick or treating” on Friday night, Shabbat no-less.
Of all the terrible things the people of Israel must avoid, no prohibition is presented as more grave than idol worship.
Partaking in pagan rituals, however innocent they might appear on the surface, is a travesty to have occurred in Israel. We know from history that the temptations to evils such as these lead down a terrible path.
Much as Shabbat is the nationally recognized day of rest in Israel, so too should celebrations of blatant idol worship not occur in public spaces. This goes for many of the practices that some in Tel Aviv and elsewhere take upon themselves in an attempt to mimic the West, which only serves as a road to our destruction (as mentioned above).
I yearn to see an end to these perverse pagan celebrations in the near future.
