Q&A: Black Friday: Supporting Paganism?

Translated by Hillel Fendel

Black Friday Sale

Q. Shalom! I read that the discounts offered on Black Friday are connected somehow with the pagan-rooted holiday of Christmas. Are we permitted to benefit from these discounts, despite their positive association with paganism and possibly even idol-worship? 

A. Yes, we are permitted – but if you have no great need to utilize these discounts, there is a value in refraining from purchasing in places in Israel that hold sales on this day, both as a form of protest and to distance ourselves from non-Jewish culture and its negative outgrowths. 

To elaborate:
The non-Jewish calendar itself, though its months are named after Roman gods, and though some of its dates were "adopted" by sun-worshipers, does not present a problem of idol-worship. As is known, the Jewish calendar takes the solar year into account, and adapts itself to it by adding a leap month every two or three years. 

The solar year, and the determination that the winter season marks the beginning of the year, is based on a natural phenomenon created by G-d: the revolutions made by Earth around the sun – one every 365 and 1/4 days. This season of late-December and early-January is when we have the longest night of the year (in the northern hemisphere); from then on, the days begin to get longer, i.e., the sun shines for more time each day.

The Gemara teaches in an Aggadah that Adam, the first man, fasted for eight days when he saw the days become shorter, and then celebrated and gave thanks to G-d for eight days when he saw the days become longer. The idol-worshipers, too, had eight-day holidays around this time of year – and the Gemara states: "Adam established these festivals for the sake of Heaven, but they, the gentiles of later generations, established them for the sake of idol worship."

But once these days became festivals for idol worship, the Mishna (Tr. Avodah Zarah) ruled that one must not do business with the Gentiles at these times. This is so that they not afterwards give thanks to their idols for the profits they made. However, the Shulchan Arukh (Yoreh De'ah 148,12) cites an opinion that "these laws applied only during the times [of the Sages], but today [the Middle Ages], there is no idol worship [or, no one truly believes in their idols], and it is therefore permitted to do business with them, and lend to them, etc., even on their holidays."

It is logical to assume that the dispensation here to "do business with them" includes also initiating transactions with them, and even at cheaper prices, for their holidays. (See Rosh, Av. Zar. 1,11, and Tur Yoreh De'ah 149, regarding cheaper prices on their holidays. The Mishna Berurah permits selling on Chol HaMoed even close to their holidays, because of the high volume of business carried out then; to wait until afterwards would cause a significant monetary loss, and the Sages did not forbid Chol HaMoed commerce in such cases.)

The Shulchan Arukh also ruled (ibid. 8) that these holidays are forbidden for business "only with those who believe in these holidays. But those who observe these days just to eat and drink, or because of the custom, or for the king's honor, but don't actually believe in them – we may have business dealings with them on these days."

We can also assume that these permitted dealings include benefiting from the various sales and discounts – and this is so much more true nowadays. Days such as Black Friday are merely dates on the solar, non-Jewish calendar – a type of folklore that means nothing regarding belief in Christianity. And this is all the more true regarding Jews in Israel, who are clearly not celebrating the holiday but are simply looking for a good excuse to increase sales. 

Similarly, the Chashukei Chemed wrote in the name of Rav Elyashiv that one may receive a gift on a Christian holiday if it is clear that the giver simply wants to give but does not care about the actual date. And the rabbis of the Mar'eh HaBazak responsa (3,110) permitted a Jewish toy-store owner in Spain to hold a sale in honor of the Gentile holiday, in order that he not miss out on the significant profits of that time of year – on condition that he not advertise in a manner that would cause desecration of G-d's Name. 

Here in Israel, it would be appropriate not to take advantage of these dates for large shopping sprees that give the message that we are no different than the Gentiles. But again, it is not a problem of idol-worship, to which we may not even come near. 

Answered by Rabbi Azariah Ariel, Rabbi of Mishkan Shmuel Synagogue, Har Chomah, Jerusalem, for Yeshiva.org.il