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If you’re looking for Purim hats or costume ideas, you can’t go wrong with Pinterest. And if you’re planning a party, be sure to include Purim Song by the Maccabeats. Festivity, hats and costumes, gift baskets, the Megillah, and hamantaschen are what we think about when it’s time to celebrate Purim.

Haman and the Three-Cornered Hat

As if we needed an excuse to eat cookies? The story goes that Haman the Agagite wore a 3-cornered hat. So we celebrate his demise by eating his hat.

Research by renowned scholars into the tradition of hamantaschen for Purim, which goes back to the Middle Ages and for which the exact translation is “Haman’s pockets,” has never been explained. But the Swedes “have a suspiciously similar cookie, called Napoleon’s Hats or ‘Napoleonhattar,’ which are traditionally filled with almonds. That actually makes a certain degree of sense: Tri-cornered hats were popular in Napoleon’s time,” says Jewcy.

It’s a Mitzvah to Wear a Funny Hat

Author Lawrence Cohen says for his rabbi, wearing a funny hat to the reading of the Megillah is “…the supreme mitzvah. Visiting the sick, accompanying the dead, attending the bride, don’t even come close.” In fact, rabbis are so divided on the why-do-we-wear-the-hat topic that at one historical point they declared Teyku (“Let the decision be made by Moshiach when he comes.”).

Perhaps the ‘Hats’ are ‘Crowns’

Another theory reigns: The hats are supposed to represent the crown of King Ahasuerus, who decided to kill Haman rather than the Jews. His decision may have been self-serving: He wanted to keep his wife Esther around, but we remain happy he chose that option.

Celebrate Purim

If you have the real reason we wear funny hats to celebrate Purim, let us know! Meanwhile, we wish you and your family and friends Chag Purim Sameach! Wear a funny hat Thursday, March 1, 2018.  Another  Mitzvah for Purim is Matanot L’evyonim, which translates to  donations to the poor or charity.  You can donate to Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago by clicking here.

It’s a mitzvah.

“I’d like to – but I don’t have time!” Charitable organizations hear that phrase repeatedly, and it once meant, “You’re not one of my priorities.” In today’s technologically advanced, fast-paced world of today, it’s true: we really don’t have much time! Data indicates that we spend 30% of our lives getting dressed and preparing to leave the house (three percent of us take over an hour)! Or, you might have the time, but perhaps you have a physical disability that limits movement and travel. Maybe not leaving the house to help your charity is the solution.

Ways to Help from Home

You can “change the world in your pajamas,” says Help from Home.org! The website has ways to help your chosen charities, and you can even select the amount of time you have available – from under 1 minute to multiples of 30 minutes. Here are ways to help from home:

• Do you speak another language? You can help charitable organizations with your translation skills!
• People who are willing to answer surveys or contribute on a cellular level by donating tissue samples to research are needed. For example, you can volunteer for Jewish health clinical research.
• Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur may be “end of summer” to many, but for Maot Chitim, they’re the beginning of a very busy year. To ensure our Chicago-area neighbors can worship with dignity, we need volunteers for meal deliveries. Can you dedicate a few hours to registering food packers/drivers?
• Telephone counseling – Sometimes those in need want a friendly voice and a willing ear. You can call your charity’s recipients and ask how they are doing, family updates, etc. Be sure to provide what you learned to your charitable organization.
• Telephone solicitation – Create a “script” and get its approval before you begin. Ask your charity to provide names and businesses to solicit, or create your list and have it approved. You can become a “telephone solicitor” for your organization!

Monetary donations continue to be the best help without volunteering. Contact us to learn more about ways to help Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago!

It’s tempting – and let’s admit it – too often, it’s necessary – to eat meals on the run. One woman said she only saw her husband when they passed each other in cars as they chauffeured their children to and from practices and lessons. “He would wave his taco, and I would wave my burger, and that was supper!” she recalled.

When you’re finally all together at home, the kids want to play video games, talk to their friends on cellphones, and you’re so tired you just want to zone out in front of the television.

The “family dinner” is an infrequent, special event to most of us. But there are two important reasons you can and should strive to have family dinners every week.

1. Nutrition: Fast food = fried food. Obesity experts cite fast food as the leading cause of obesity in children.
2. Healthy Choices: Family dinners offer more variety, so kids are exposed to different types of food. The more often they are exposed to new foods – without the “Eat this or else,” warning – the more often they will try them. Plus, you control the portions. Americans have super-sized themselves into international obesity leadership roles.

When you are an active, dynamic household, family dinners are just one of the ways you can stay connected with each other. Volunteering together, as a family, gives your children lifelong skills and humanitarian values that will serve them and their children for eons. Volunteering helps your family unit learn about their individual personalities, too!

Maot Chitim of Greater Chicago is an organization that has served family dinners and kosher meals to needy people in the Chicagoland area for over 100 years. We understand that “time is money,” and appreciate the fact that it’s often easier to donate financially. But the lesson still applies when you include your family in a donation: Our legacy is one of charity; it is your mitzvah (commandment) to help others with a willing heart.

Call 847-674-3224 or contact us to learn more about ways your family can help our family!

Helping others is a part of our culture. It’s also one of the ways we reinforce the importance of our traditions. Holiday volunteering is especially useful to youngsters; it helps them understand the blessings they have and the blessings they can be.

Your Volunteer Goals

The first positive benefit that family volunteering offers is that it enables a dialogue among family members: How can we serve? What can we do? What are our unique talents? As you plan your volunteering-as-a-family activity, discuss these points:

• What do we care about and what is interesting to us?
• What special skills/talents do we have?
• What kind of volunteering is appropriate for every age in our family?
• Should this be a one-time project or an ongoing activity?
• What do we hope to accomplish?

Family Volunteering Benefits

The generationOn website says volunteering as a family helps your youngsters focus on things larger than themselves. Research confirms there are positive benefits for volunteers too, when they work with their family to help others.

• Values such as caring and empathy are cultivated as well as a commitment to serving our community
• Children – especially teens – feel appreciated and respected when they volunteer, plus they learn new skills that may serve them later.
• Parents are able to act as role models and can use the time to open more channels of communications with their children.
• Connections to the family unit and the community are reinforced while creating a more positive sense of self.
• The age and generation gap becomes smaller as we recognize that each of us can effect change for the better: From grandparents to preschool, we can help.

Maot Chitim: Charity Begins at Home

Call 847-674-3224 or contact Maot Chitim to learn more about how your family can help. We know that your time is truly more valuable than money! If volunteering is not possible, your financial support can be a family project, too. And don’t forget to support our sponsors! We depend on their support and services, as we continue to help those who need us most in the Greater Chicago area.