Trance Mishloach Manot

It’s early Wenesday morning, erev Purim, and my dining room table is not to be seen. That’s because of the piles and piles of Mishloach Manot that I’ve been preparing obsessively for the past few days, and, for lack of a better place, stacking in pyramids upon the dining room table. (You see- I’m such a ‘balebusta’ that I’m already getting ready for Pesach by building pyramids… if only…!)

The list is endless- my parents, my in-laws, my childhood friends, friends from high school and university, coworkers from all the places I’ve ever worked, me and my husbands’ brothers and sisters, his friends, the children’s teachers and friends, and last but not least, our neighbors.

This year I managed to reduce the list by a quarter to only cost us two paychecks 😉 We always have a theme- once it was “Beer-Osem Yachad Techeles Mordechai”, where we stuffed the baskets with beer and Osem goodies. That was fun! Then there was the “Mazel Adar Dagim” where the Mishloach Manot were filled with tins of tuna, tuna spread, fish-shaped crackers, etc. My favorite was when we did the “VeYivahel Es Tamrukeha ”.

There we prepared these gorgeous bags filled with lipstick, eye shadow and blush, as a ‘preparation kit’ for going to meet King Achashverosh. Everybody loved it!

Boom-boom-boom! Oh, that’s my neighbor who lives in the apartment next door.

She loves playing trance at full volume from about 8:15 AM to 2 PM. It’s awesome. Especially after sleepless nights desperately trying to calm my crying baby, when I’m just relishing for an extra hour of sleep in the morning to kind of ‘catch up’ on the four lost hours… We’ve spoken to her about this phenomenon many times, as have the rest of the neighbors in our building. She’s unstoppable. She once explained to me very matter-of-factly that she plays the music so loudly because she has to take revenge on this other neighbor who bothers her and this is apparently the most effective way of doing so! As you can guess, Hila (that’s her name), is NOT on my Mishloach Manot list.

As the morning progresses and I even unconsciously begin dancing to the beat of the trance music, I recall that my oldest, proposed the idea to me last night that perhaps I should give Hila a Mishloach Manot this year. And not just a simple one- but something really nice. After all, we’re taught that Mishloach Manot are here to increase feelings of goodwill and comradely among people who are not necessarily the best of friends, to say the least.

Ok fine, so I did it. Amidst the horrible, incessant, infuriating trance music, I have prepared the most exquisite Mishloach Manot for Hila which I shall deliver myself tomorrow morning right after the Megilla reading.

Perhaps we will be able to create a friendship, which, like Purim, will bring us much joy and put smiles upon our faces.