The Lubin–Davidson crew
The Lubin—Davidson crew
The Lubin—Davidson crew

By Phyllis J. Lubin

I love Purim. I love the excitement leading up to the holiday; the fun of planning our “theme”; the thrill of seeing happy faces walking up and down the candy-laden aisles in the supermarkets; and the costume planning that we discuss the weeks before Purim. But the aspect of Purim I love most is the actual delivery and exchange of mishloach manot. I guess I’m just a kid at heart.

This Purim was extra fun and challenging. The snow covered our roads and, of course, our cars. Getting in and out of the cars became quite difficult with the snow mounds all around. But, for the most part, the snow didn’t hold us back. This is my fun! This is my joy!

While traveling through the neighborhood, I recalled the times when my brother, my dad, and I would deliver in this same neighborhood (I grew up in the Five Towns and my folks still live in Woodmere). I remember our favorite houses to visit, and a Purim would certainly not go by without the trip to visit Rabbi and Rebbetzin Lebor of Young Israel of Woodmere. The joy in the home was palpable, and I can still visualize Rebbetzin Lebor’s beautiful Purim cupcakes.

Now, with my children, we still have our favorite homes to visit, and of course a Purim cannot go by without a visit to Rabbi and Rebbetzin Wolowik’s home. This year Rivka, Yosef, and Lea managed to plow through the mounds of snow to their house while I kept the car warm, and they were welcomed by “shaliach in training” Goldi Wolowik. Not only did they return to the car with the lovely mishloach manot in hand, Yussie was holding a plate of hot potato nik–his favorite.

Today things are more high-tech and advanced than in days of yore. In my day, the mishloach manot usually consisted of a paper plate of pretzels and potato chips and the requisite hamantashen. Today there are “themes” and coordinating bags or containers. The days of random homegrown baggies of chips are over; in their place are individual packaged items, and often no homemade baked goods are included anymore due to kashrut and allergy concerns. Of course there are still favorite houses that we visit just for their homemade treats, but those are not the norm anymore.

The world changes, but no matter what, Purim is a happy time of year. As my eldest daughter and I were bickering over something inconsequential in the car en route to our deliveries, Yuss proclaimed in a very clear voice: “No yelling–this is a happy day!”

And so a belated happy Purim to all my readers; we should enjoy only happy days every day of the year. v

Phyllis Joy Lubin is an attorney with Maidenbaum & Sternberg, LLP, who resides in Cedarhurst with her husband, Leonard. They have six children–Naftali, Shoshana, Rivka, Rochel, Yosef, and Lea–and a daughter-in-law, Nina. The author welcomes your questions and comments at MothersMusings@gmail.com.

 

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here