Purim is fast approaching.
How have you used Purim to increase your achdus to your fellow Jews?
1) Giving thoughtful gifts of Shaloch Manos to people.
2) Planning how to give my gifts to the poor.
3) Having a wonderful meal with friends and family.
4) Going to a Purim chagigah.
5) Appreciating the importance of unity as evidenced in the Megillah.
6) Something else.
Achdus unfortunately has a tendency to mean hashkafically “my way or the highway”, as opposed to respecting equally valid Halachic and hashhafic paths within the Mesorah of Torah, for example, in the following linked to article. http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/93971/tights-squeeze/?all=1
The Jews of France face danger from Muslims (who outnumber them 10 to 1), from radical leftists, and from neo-Nazi white supremacists.
In other words, it’s past time for the 500,000 Jews of France to leave. A thousand years after
Rashi taught Torah in Provence, they are no longer welcome.
For those interested in whatb happened in France today, and in remembering the victims and the survivors in the Tefilos and for purposes of giving concrete assistance vis a vis Tzedaka and Chesed, see the annexed link http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/world/europe/gunman-kills-3-at-a-jewish-school-in-france.xml, for evidence of why Amalek cannot be viewed as simply a theoretical Halacha.
In the afermath of Purim and its call for Achdus, and our preparation and anticipation for pesach, how many of us have even thought about a contemporary Jewish community that is under siege and today suffered a grievous loss ( see the annexed link)? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/jewish-school-shooting_n_1361433.html
For those interested in Purim and the Halachic issues re getting intoxicated, please see the annexed link. http://torahmusings.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/YU%20Roshei%20Yeshiva%20on%20Purim%20Drinking.pdf
#2
This year is the 4th year in a row that the rabbanim in Chicago have endorsed the Chicago Purim Fund. This fund distributes funds locally to families in need.
http://purimfund.chicagochesedfund.org/
>> My husband Ira reminded me that the mitzvah of drinking on Purim until “ad lo yada†is only fulfilled through wine, nothing else. Not whisky, beer, brandy or any other alcoholic beverage, except for wine.
For the record, some poskim, including my Rav, disagree and say the mitzvah can be fulfilled with other alcoholic beverages.
My husband Ira reminded me that the mitzvah of drinking on Purim until “ad lo yada” is only fulfilled through wine, nothing else. Not whisky, beer, brandy or any other alcoholic beverage, except for wine.
Individuals could find themselves risking both civil and criminal penalties for making any alcoholic beverages available to the following: minors; people who will be driving a vehicle; and people who have already imbibed enough. Tight control should be exercised on Purim over the availability of all alcoholic beverages: i.e., don’t just leave bottles of the stuff out on your table for anyone to pour himself/herself a drink. Keep all bottles locked up under only your personal oversight and control; have on hand those tiny cups and pour small amounts (one ounce is plenty); return all bottles to the locked cabinet after anyone is served.
“Ad lo yada” does not have to mean drunk; if one drinks enough wine to go to sleep, while asleep one is also unable to distinguish between “arur Haman” and “baruch Mordechai.”
Having an open container of an alcoholic beverage in public view is against the law in many localities, not to mention a chillul Hashem if drunken Jews are creating a nuisance. If the local police force and hospital emergency rooms resign themselves to getting drunken Jewish teenagers on Purim, just like they get drunken non-Jewish teenagers on St. Patrick’s Day, we are sadly saying that we are just as bad as anyone else.
I think an important question to ask is whether there’s a place for responsible drinking on Purim by adults or should we encourage our Rabbinic leadership to ban drinking on Purim altogether.
See also the observations of R T H Weinreb re Purim here http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/front-page/why-i-dread-purim/2012/02/29/. Anyone with this week’s Yated can see the annual Kol Koreh printed therein against excessive consumption of alcohol on Purim.
For those interested in teen age alcholism and its detection, see the following link.
http://www.torahweb.org/torah/special/2005/dtwe_substance.html
For those interested in Purim and intoxication, see the following link. http://www.ou.org/general_article/ou_purim_safety_alert_intoxication_is_not_a_mitzvah
How about quoting Divrei Torah from a wide spectrum of Talmidei Chachamim? As far as drinking on Purim is concerned, if one fulfilled the mitzvah properly, that would be wonderful. The fact that we always see ads in the Charedi media exhorting bachurim not to drink too much and then drive, IMO, means that some of us are taking that mitzvah too literally, when possibly, the adage of “discretion being a higher form of valor” might be well taken in refraining from a form of behavior that can easily become both addictive and anti social.
Two years ago, I sent 2 michloach manos packages (the Project Inspire type), 1 to an old friend with whom I had recently been reacquainted and 1 to a family member with whom I have an excellent relationship. Neither of them thanked me or even acknowledged receipt of the packages. I wasn’t looking to be acknowledged, I was just surprised not to hear from either of them. I sent them again last year and plan to do so again this year. Who knows what impression, I any, I’m making.
I used #1 to help repair a relationship.
There was a guy that I’d had some unpleasant dealings with several months before Purim. That Purim I made sure to personally deliver Shaloch Manot to him and his family.
Because I wasn’t sure how I would be received, I had another friend accompany me to the ouse. Everything went very well and we even chatted for a few minutes.
We never became close, but after that Purim our relationship was cordial.
Shlomo
I’m with you Ron. Done properly and responsibly, it’s very achdus enhancing.
“Something else”: It’s not politically correct to say it, but drinking alcohol in a communal setting — not a common occurrence among observant Jews — could and should have that effect, too. It’s not how “we” usually do that, but for others it is in fact a pretty standard approach.