Challahween? How Jewish families navigate Halloween

Not in Heaven · Oct 30, 2025 · 38m

This week, many Jewish schools will be participating in a hallowed end of October tradition: sending out letters discouraging families from celebrating Halloween.

The prominence of Halloween in public has ballooned in recent decades, evolving into a full-blown seasonal phenomenon. But despite the celebratory spiders and inflatable pumpkins, Jews tend to have a mixed relationship to the festival. Many see it as a bit of harmless, secular fun—a time for neighbours of all faiths to welcome and be welcomed into each other’s homes, share sweets, and indulge in playful kitsch, costumes and parties…