Last week, TLS published a letter given to the parent body of Bnos Devorah, announcing that instead of mishloach manos being given to teachers on Purim itself, students should bring their mishloach manos to school on a certain day.
The school cited Purim falling out on Friday, as well as ongoing health concerns, as their reasoning for making the decision. It’s a really great idea and one that should become the norm for everyone going forward.
Purim is supposed to be a joyous day, one on which we relax, spread joy, and appreciate the good in life. Instead, Purim ends up being one of the most stressful days of the year for many parents. Most teachers set up specific times for students to bring mishloach manos to their homes, and if you have 4+ kids, the day ends up being an absolute rollercoaster, with both parents running from one side of town to the other, trying to get to every teacher in time and also giving out their own mishloach manos. The roads become a complete zoo of honking and fender benders, with nothing but aggravation and frustration. Then parents have to run back home and try to get their Purim seuda set up. It’s pure insanity and there’s really no need for it.
What we should be doing is what Bnos Devorah took the wise and bold initiative to implement this year. Children should be given mishloach manos to give to their teachers in school. Now, it’s also important to a lot of kids that they can show their teachers their costumes. So maybe children can be allowed to bring their costumes to school one day and classes will have time set aside when all the students can dress up and have a little time socializing in their costumes.
Let’s make Purim a happy, stress-free day again. Implementing something like what Bnos Devorah is doing this year for their students for all schools and students every year is the easiest and possibly the only way to go about achieving that.
That’s a very good idea.
On Purim my children spend all day on the road in traffic delivering Mishaloach Manos to every child’s Rebbe, Teacher, Morah, Tudor and friend of my grandchildren, and when people & kids come to bring to them they’re not home.
Boro park has been doing it for years. For this very reason.
Quite frankly, I feel like I spend EVERY day all year in Traffic! So Purim is just one more day of gridlock?? I propose something else. No driving to deliver on Purim at all. Give your neighbors. And if you unfortunately have this all too common need to show off your fancy packages to someone on the other side of town, send it by UPS before Purim. Seriously though, the traffic on Taanis Esther has now become impossible too. Let’s build some more houses on James street, Cross Street and Route 9!!! ????
If the system bothers you so much why are you doing it? Why do you need a new system? Send your mishloach manos in with your kids the day before and all is well. Is anybody forcing you to do this? There are also many deliver companies in Lakewood as well. This is something YOU can deal with it’s not the schools problem.
My kids are forcing me to do it (and they are being forced by their teachers/rabbeim/classmates)
The teachers/rabbeim give out their list of times and often they tell them how excited they will be to see them in their costume, or what type of exciting candy they’ll get etc.
Purim is not the day that I want to disappoint my kids and have them kvetching that they missed their teachers time slot…
Meir couldn’t have stated it any better! My wife and i have been saying this for years… Purim lost all sense of being a yom tov, and became a day of running like a chicken without a head.
And if you say the Rabbeim & teachers “need” their tips, so slip it in the mail or send into school.
Parents, be parents!! Stop following the crowd, and stop taking directives from your kids!! For years we do rebbeim, parents & 1 rav delivery only. The rest of the day we stay home and give and receive from neighbors and anyone else who makes the trip. The girls always bring on Ta’anis Esther or shushan Purim to their teachers and Bh are survivors of this awful injustice. A freilechen Purim to all!!