Purim and Halloween

An ideological face-off

By Esther D. Kustanowitz in MyJewishLearning.com

Recently, someone asked me whether I liked Purim better than Halloween.

It seemed like such an odd question; the holidays had been so distinctly incomparable in my mind. But upon consideration, perhaps because my name is Esther, perhaps because of my Jewish background, I would have to say that Purim unequivocally kicks Halloween's rump. Of course, I am slightly biased: If Halloween featured a Queen Esther, I might be inclined to change my preference. But I doubt it.

When I was growing up, Halloween was only celebrated by public school kids. At my yeshiva (Jewish day school), a letter from the principal was sent to parents each October warning them that observance of Halloween was pagan and therefore destructive to the Jewish educational process. As a result, while my public school contemporaries demanded candy from strangers, I stayed home and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Again. And that was Halloween.

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