Shabbat Sermon: Our Ark and Our Arc with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

On the morning of Kol Nidrei—Friday, October 11 to be exact—my colleagues and I were doing a Kabbalat Shabbat service with our youngest learners, our preschool children who range in age from 15 months to 5 years old. Yom Kippur was in the air. Kol Nidrei with all its solemnity, was in 9 hours. How to convey Kol Nidrei intensity to our youngest learners?

So I asked them: what is your favorite Jewish holiday? One hand after another shot up. The first young child answered: Halloween! The second learner spoke up: Halloween! And so it would go. Surprisingly, not a single child said Yom Kippur was their favorite Jewish holiday. No three-year-old said I just love Unetaneh Tokef. The clear choice for favorite Jewish holiday of our youngest learners is Halloween.

I have been thinking about their response, and while of course Halloween is not a Jewish holiday, in a deep way, they are right. Holidays are supposed to be joyful. What is more joyful than Halloween the way we practice it today? It’s about parents and children planning out costumes, walking the streets together in search of candy bars, and dividing the spoils at the end of the night. It’s about neighborhood and community. It’s about creativity. So many families really do up Halloween with intricate gothic scenes. It’s about fun. And of course it is about Heath Bars, Butterfingers, Snickers Bars, Kit Kats. All good stuff. Maybe our youngest learners are on to something.

There is only one problem. The Halloween so many of us observe, sweet neighbors giving sweet children sweets, works great for children. But in the real world adults face complexity. Joy does not come so easily for us.