Style & Living

This column is typically meant to be a warm and fuzzy feel-good article. But I’m not feeling warm nor am I feeling fuzzy right now. I generally like to stay away from politics and other controversial topics, but I’m about to explode. I’m hoping that writing this article will be some sort of catharsis for me.

I used to jokingly tell my husband over the years that one summer we should rent a house in Israel and give our family a genuine experience of living in Israel.  I mean it’s true that we made aliyah and we have our Israeli identity cards, which we were able to procure through our blood, sweat, and tears in the days before Nefesh B’Nefesh streamlined all the bureaucracy. But the Anglo ghetto of Ramat Beit Shemesh has such a comfortable and familiar American atmosphere, that sometimes it feels like we don’t actually live in Israel. 

Hashem runs the world.  He weaves the tapestry of our lives with perfect precision. We, as humans, don’t always perceive how each of the intricacies and connections of our existence fit together until much later, if at all.  Sometimes the recognition doesn’t even come in our lifetimes. But sometimes the interlocking pieces are wrapped up and packaged so beautifully that we clearly see how everything fits together perfectly.  The hand of Hashem in such events cannot be denied or overlooked.  My good friends recently had such an experience.

Megillas Esther, which we read on Purim, states: “Al kein haYehudim ha’prazim ha’yoshvim b’arei ha’prazos osim es yom arbaah asar l’chodesh Adar simchah u’mishteh v’yom tov u’mishloach manos ish l’rei’eihu. – Therefore, the rural Jews who live in the unwalled towns make the 14^th day of the month of Adar one of joy and feasting and celebration and sending portions to each other.” It is from this pasuk that we learn the mitzvah of Mishloach Manos. On the day of Purim, we are required to send at least two ready-to-eat food items to at least one friend.

Despite all of the challenges of this past year, there have definitely been many positive developments that evolved as a result.  Zoom is one of them. The need for social distancing necessary to combat the devastating effects of corona has resulted in feelings of loneliness and isolation for many.  But in His overflowing generosity, Hashem gave man the necessary components to create Zoom.  That is not to say that Zoom provides the same level of connection as face-to-face interactions, but in so many situations, Zoom saved the day and enabled the formation and maintenance of relationships as well as opportunities for unique and memorable experiences that would have been otherwise impossible.

 When my neighbors Baruch and Yocheved Goldberg made aliyah to Ramat Beit Shemesh sixteen years ago from a small out of town community in the Midwest, they had never in their lives met a meshulach (tzedakah collector). With middle class people holding fundraising dinners and scraping together whatever they could in order to support their shuls and yeshivas, no sensible meshulach would have wasted his precious time collecting there.  It just wouldn’t have been worth his time and effort.  When the Goldbergs moved to Israel, things changed. While they were a bit surprised the first time they opened their door to find a meshulach with an outstretched hand asking for money, they quickly got with the program. Over time they realized that meshulachim come in many shapes and sizes.  It could be a man with a letter of endorsement asking for support for a local kollel.  It could be someone with a medical condition or someone making a wedding who needs help covering expenses.  It could be a woman collecting for food for Shabbos for her family. It could be young and eager children with toothless smiles lugging heavy bags filled with pasta, canned vegetables, and an assortment of groceries earmarked for the poor and needy.  And all of these people could show up at the door within just a few minutes of each other. During the weeks leading up to Purim, one may as well just sit by the door in order to receive the steady stream of yeshiva students collecting for their yeshivas.