Q. A meshulach from Israel, staying in my home went collecting last night (Halloween). He approached a house with a mezuza and a woman (possibly a babysitter) gave him a bag of candies (kosher). Can he eat them?
A. Quoting question 1485; "We have some Modern Orthodox neighbors that let their kids join the others in the block (many Jewish) and go around collecting candies on Halloween, is that permitted? Should we advise them not to do it? Can we give children that ring our bell candies?"
To what we answered: "Halloween is a shortening of All Hallows’ Evening, also known as Allhalloween, or All Saints’ Eve, is a festivity observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. It begins the three-day observance dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.
It is widely believed that many Halloween traditions originated from ancient pagan Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, and was Christianized as Halloween by the early Church. Today’s Halloween customs, are a combination of Celtic, Roman and Christian holidays. In essence, Halloween is not a secular holiday.
Halacha prohibits celebrating gentile holidays. (Remah Y.D. 178: 1). Even though some gentile holidays today may not considered idol worship, the law which commands us not to behave in the customs and manners of the gentiles, still applies.
Therefore, Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is to refrain from letting children join others on their Halloween traditions. However, if there is an issue of chilul Hashem, the Rov maintains that you may give candies to the children that visit you."
Nevertheless, the Rov opines that in our case the meshulach, may keep the bag of candies given to him, and it is not considered as a "matan betous" or a mistaken gift. The reason is that after all it is only a small token gift, that people really don't mind giving to all, especially in our case that the givers seem to be Orthodox Jews.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a.
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