Every Purim morning, after hearing the Megillah, we walk to our neighbor’s home where they set up their annual Mishloach Manos street café. Below the sign bearing the name of their “café,” while wearing their personalized aprons, they serve us (and all who pass by) a piece of cake and a hot cup of coffee made to order. Café “customers” can relax on the comfortable chairs the neighbors have placed on the street, as they socialize with their friends. This is how we start our Purim every year. We begin early, when things are quiet and serene, working our way up to the Mishloach Manos frenzy until it’s time to eat the s’udah.
But what will Purim look like this year, when we are in the middle of fighting a war? We can already see some unusual trends in the days leading up to Purim. Stores selling costumes report an unprecedented request for costumes of security personnel (soldiers, police, firemen). At the same time, many large toy stores are not selling firecrackers this year to minimize unnecessary anxiety. The Education Ministry has announced that students are not permitted to come to school dressed in costumes that will cause fear or stress. For example, nobody is permitted to dress up as Yahya Sinwar ym”sh at school. I find this an interesting directive. Is there anybody out there who would want to dress up as that monster? It’s hard to imagine.
Many hi-tech companies that typically have big Purim parties are scaling down this year. Some are using Purim as an opportunity to volunteer and contribute. Elementor will host Yaki Sagi, a pastry chef from Be’eri, who will prepare with them 100 mishloach manos packages for reservists. The ingredients were bought in a small market whose owner is a soldier in the reserves. The company AppsFlyer opened a “store” of secondhand costumes. Whatever is left will be donated. They will also package mishloach manos packages for chayalim and others affected by the war.
What will happen on Purim Day? Will we get into the spirit of Purim? Should we? Will we blast music in the streets when there are chayalim fighting on the streets of Gaza? Will we eat a lavish s’udah with friends and family when hostages survive on a piece of pita? Will we dress up in costumes and have funny Purim shpiels while bereaved families mourn their relatives who made the ultimate sacrifice?
Some have put some thought into how to balance the mitzvah of celebrating Purim with the need to remember those who have fallen, those who have been injured, and those who have been kidnapped.
Yael Hallamish, a graphic artist from Ma’aleh Adumim, initiated a new project in preparation for Purim, mishloach manos shel giborim – “mishloach manos packages of heroes.” Yael wanted to connect the mitzvah of Mishloach Manos to the times we are living in, and to the soldiers we have lost. Yael contacted bereaved families and asked them for photos of their relatives who fell in the war. She also asked them for a sentence that characterizes their loved ones. Yael drew pictures of the soldiers, added the sentences, and created postcards. She left space to write a few personal lines.
Yael posted her cards on Facebook and offered the file for free to anyone who requested it. She expected a few people to express interest, but much to her surprise, within minutes of her posting, there were thousands of requests to print the file. More bereaved families approached Yael and asked that she also create postcards for their relatives who fell in the war. Yael believes that relatives want to memorialize the chayalim as they lived, and not only in terms of the fact that they were killed in battle.
The “Tastes Like Home” initiative focuses our attention on the hostages and reminds us that they are still in captivity. Those who participate are encouraged to bake the favorite cookie of a hostage and include it in their mishloach manos along with the hostage’s personal story and a prayer.
The point is not to just remember the hostages in terms of what happened to them on October 7, but rather to get to know them as people: what they like to eat, what their hobbies are, what their personalities are like. This is a way to spread their light in the world.
Tzofit Liebman, sister of Elyakim, who has been held hostage in Gaza for more than five months, wrote to Sivan Rahav-Meir asking that people not forget the hostages. She requested that everybody be happy on Purim. She believes that simchah has the power to change reality, as the Baal Shem Tov stated: “Sadness locks Shamayim, t’filah opens locked gates, and simchah can break down walls.”
Let us hope that our simcha this Purim will help us reach our national and personal goals, and that when we recite “Al HaNisim,” we will witness the many miracles unfolding around us, saving us from our difficult predicament.
Please continue to daven for the recovery of the wounded, the release of the rest of the hostages, and the safe return of all the chayalim and security forces.
Suzie Steinberg, (nee Schapiro), CSW, is a native of Kew Gardens Hills and resident of Ramat Beit Shemesh who publishes articles regularly in various newspapers and magazines about life in general, and about life in Israel in particular. Her recently published children’s book titled Hashem is Always With Me can be purchased in local Judaica stores as well as online. Suzie can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and would love to hear from you.
