Oct 31 2009
Give or Take: Purim vs. Halloween?
I had a thought this past Shabbat.
Jews will numerous times throughout their lives be asked to explain the holiday Purim.
Not wanting to (or not knowing enough to) explain the whole story of Mordechai, Esther, Haman, and Achashveirosh, many of us resort to the simplest explanation possible: “It’s the Jewish Halloween.”
It’s not an absolutely awful explanation. There are a few parallels here and there. Costumes, candies, and fun fun fun.
But I think there’s something fundamentally wrong with this comparison.
Something that’s wrong with the understanding of the essence of these two holidays.
You see, Halloween is all about taking. Purim is all about giving.
On Halloween people thoughtlessly buy a bag of candy, and kids line the streets in their costumes to go from house to house to receive said candy (and hopefully not fruit).
Going trick-or-treating is the essence of the holiday.
Purim, on the other hand, is about giving meshalach manot, gifts to friends. We spend hours trying to think of creative ways to make our meshalach manot great and unique. We load up our cars with these gifts, get a few kids in the car with us, and go from house to house giving gifts to our closest friends.
The honest truth is, what we receive is somewhat irrelevant. The giving is what matters.
Maybe we might want to add a few more sentences next time we refer to Purim as the Jewish Halloween.
Just a thought.
