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Chabad. Org
Melanie Siddig, 28, is getting ready to help her community this Purim. On Tuesday afternoon, she’ll head off to Chabad University Student Center – El Lazo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to volunteer at a festive holiday meal for some 200 Jews in need.
It’s her second year taking part in the event, which brings community members in for a Megillah reading and a chance to take part in the holiday’s mitzvot. Like Jews around the world, they’ll be gathering to hear the story of the Jews’ deliverance from the wicked Haman in the days of Queen Esther of Persia, as well as to give to the needy (matanot l’evyonim); send food gifts to friends (mishloach manot); and enjoy a holiday feast (seudat Purim). These four mitzvot, along with a wealth of inspiration and information about the holiday, are detailed in Chabad.org’s special Purim section, which features the insights of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.
In addition to the multi-course meal in Buenos Aires, lunch guests will have the chance to don festive attire as they celebrate Purim, which takes place Monday night, March 6 and continues through Tuesday, March 7, and extends to the following day (Shushan Purim) in walled cities such as Jerusalem. “It’s very exciting and gratifying to help people have the possibility of fulfilling the mitzvah of having the Purim seudah,” says Siddig. “After so many years, we continue to remember our history.”
Rabbi Zalmi Levi of the Chabad University Student Center in Buenos Aires has been coordinating meals for the needy for the last decade with his father, who’s been organizing them since 1995. The program includes monthly get-togethers as well as holiday events, among other forms of outreach. “There is nothing more Jewish than giving,” says Levi. University students make up the bulk of the volunteers at the event. “It’s a way to feel more connected to your neshamah (soul),” he explains. “Everything starts when you start giving.”
Making It Possible to Celebrate Purim in Ukraine
There is probably no place in the world where the spirit of giving is in full force this Purim as in Ukraine.
In addition to providing life-saving support as it has throughout the year—the Jewish Relief Network Ukraine (JRNU), Chabad’s wartime unified effort for funding and providing humanitarian work in Ukraine—has provided Purim kits being distributed to tens of thousands of homes across the country. The packages contain wine, mini sweets, fresh hamentashen, an illustrated scroll of Esther (Megillat Esther), a colorful gragger (noisemaker) and a guide detailing the holiday customs and traditions. The boxes are being prepared and delivered by hundreds of volunteers at Chabad-Lubavitch centers around Ukraine.
(Read a related article on Purim in Ukraine here)
Giving Out Hundreds of Packages in New Jersey
Eight thousand miles away, everyone’s getting in on the giving at Chabad of NW Bergen County in Franklin Lakes, N.J., which will be giving out hundreds of mishloach manot packages. Assembled with the help of people in the community and distributed by volunteers as well, it’s a way for people to share the holiday with each other. People can also chip in financially to help sponsor the 300 or so packages, which go out to homes near and far. Tens of families participate in the packaging and delivery process.
Though these specific packages do not fulfill the personal obligation of mishloach manot, which must be done on the day of Purim with specific criterion, it does speak to the spirit of Purim, explains Rabbi Chanoch Kaplan, rabbi and executive director at the Chabad of NW Bergen County. “When people receive them it gives them a sense of connection and a sense of warmth. That’s meant to enhance and to strengthen the bonds of friendship among people, so it’s only natural that as a community if we can go beyond just the individual mishlaoch manot, giving it out on a communal level, it adds a dimension.”
The message of Purim is all about community, friendship, supporting one another, looking out for each other, and strengthening communal bonds and connections, says the rabbi. It’s a theme that he and Chabad emissaries around the world are emphasizing in this year of Hakhel. As such, he’ll also have a community party and Megillah readings, as well as a Purim meal at his home. The event usually draws more than 100 guests.
“I invite the entire community to my home. I feel that having something at your own home is different than a community program. It becomes personal,” he says.
Carol Kurtzer of Franklin Lakes has already started ringing doorbells to deliver some of the community’s Purim baskets. She’s been helping put together and deliver Purim baskets with the area Chabad for about a decade, she says. Sometimes, people are home and sometimes, they’re not, but she says she knows the gift will brighten their day.
“It’s a way to connect with people in a happy, joyful way,” she says. “It’s connecting with friends, people that become friends.”
Meanwhile, in Berkeley, Calif., volunteers are joining Chabad co-directors Rabbi Yehuda Ferris and Miriam Ferris of Chabad House Berkeley to deliver matzah-ball soup, challah and mishloach manot to homebound seniors. “It touches people; it cheers them up,” says Miriam Ferris. “Getting Purim packages is really meaningful to people. It spreads happiness and joy.”
They’ll host two parties, one after the Megillah reading on Monday night, and the other on Purim day. Participants will enjoy music from Rabbi Ferris’s band, the Ferris Wheels, and also leave with volunteer-assembled mishloach manot packages to pass along to friends and co-workers.
“We encourage anyone who comes to our events to take mishloach manot, and be our ambassadors and hand them out,” she says. “So every person takes a few, and they get spread far and wide.”
