The Halacha Of The Jack O’Lantern: Is Yours Kosher?

Image by iStock

By Jenny Singer October 31, 2017

‘Tis the season for Jews all over the world to carefully select and purchase a ritual object, cut it in just the right places, and burn it as a public sacrifice. That is, many of the Jews in our midst will be carving jack O’lanterns out of pumpkins. British comedian Ashley Blaker has humbly put forth a daf on the appropriate Halacha for chag haHalloween.

Image by Courtesy of Ashley Baker

Blaker will be performing in New York on December 7th, in time for a Talmudic conversation about candy canes.

Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO