- Q. Dear Rabbi Shlit’a. There are many who go shopping on Black Friday as there are many saving offers. Since it is after all a day with a religious background is it permitted?
A. The true origin of the post-Thanksgiving Black Friday lies in the sense of black, meaning “marked by disaster or misfortune.” In the 1950s, factory managers first started referring to the Friday after Thanksgiving as Black Friday because so many of their workers decided to falsely call in sick, thus extending the holiday weekend.
About 10 years later, Black Friday was used by Philadelphia traffic cops to describe the day after Thanksgiving because they had to work 12-hour shifts in terrible traffic. Visitors flocked to the city to start their holiday shopping and, sometimes this popular shopping day coincided with the annual Army–Navy football game.
The term caught on among shoppers and merchants in Philadelphia, and from there it took off nationwide (from Dictionary.com)
See Next question.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Yaakov Hirschman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a.
Important Numbers
