LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor,

I am so impressed with the JCCMP’s Pesach food distribution. I came with my kids to help pack boxes, and it was amazing seeing how many people came out on that beautiful Sunday and gave of themselves so that others could have an enjoyable chag.  The food was not just the typical apples and potatoes. There were candies and cookies for the kids, ground nuts, cases of grape juice, and many more expensive items. I noticed how much discretion was used to make sure that those making the deliveries did not know the recipients to preserve anonymity. Kol Hakavod! Keep up the great work!  

Weiss Family

Dear Editor,

I enjoyed reading your new finance column from Mesila in last month’s issue. I was not aware that halachically my children’s money really belongs to me.  I am so glad you printed this question as it will save me hours of debate with my kids when we disagree about what to do with their earnings. I always try to instill in them good money management, but they won’t hear of it and insist that it’s their money (and they always need it “now!”).   I will show them this column.

D.G

Dear Editor,

I found Rabbi Student’s commentary on cyber-selling chametz a very good read. What’s next? URL upsherin? Kindle Kiddush? Modem Megillah? Technology is not the answer for everything.

Leiby Hirsh

Dear Editor,

I am sure a lot of time was taken to put together your expanded Pesach recipe section, but next year please devote some recipes for those of us on diets or with lactose intolerance, allergies, or other dietary restrictions.  I found many of the recipes unusable due to their high fat and sugar content.

Hungry Pesach  Reader

Dear Editor,

Our family has been to Orlando many times and until I  read “Torah and Tourists” I had no idea how much work goes into Rabbi Michoel Rennert’s job in running rabbiorlando.org. He is truly doing a chessed, and I hope Orlando Torah Academy continues to grow. If you’re going to Florida, I recommend that you reach out to him with any questions, and make sure to donate to his worthy cause.  

Malka G.

Dear Editor,

As much as “Cyber Davening” by Ita Yankovich was a compelling feature, all the apps in the world cannot compare to the feeling one gets when holding an actual siddur in their hands. Nothing makes me have more kavanah than seeing and feeling the worn out and delicate yellow stained pages of my childhood siddur. I can still see traces of my tears on some of the pages as well as fingerprints and faded lipstick markings. I remember the struggles I endured when I poured my heart out into that siddur and nothing cyber can ever match that.  

 Tova Y.

Dear Editor,

This is concerning the person who wrote in to the Ask The Therapist column, describing her dilemma about whether to accept her in-laws’ invitation for her family to spend Pesach at a hotel, at her in-laws’ expense. Her problem is that her in-laws were “only” paying for one hotel room for the couple and their four children, and the writer feels they should also be springing for an additional room for the kids. She asks the therapist if it’s reasonable to ask her in-laws to pay for it.

I was sadly disappointed, and even a bit shocked, at the response from the therapist, Alexander Rand, beginning with his first sentence, “I think you’re asking a very fair question….”

I do not believe it is a fair question at all! I believe the letter smacks of a lack of hakaras hatov for what her in-laws are doing for her and an entitlement attitude of “es kimt mir”  (it’s coming to me). I would say to the writer, “Are you even aware of what it costs to pay for a family of six to attend a Pesach program in a hotel?! At minimum, I’d say $8,000! And instead of appreciating it and extending profuse thanks to your very generous in-laws, you want to ask them to pay for an additional room? Where is your concern for their finances, whether they can well afford it or not?”

If the writer feels she can’t deal with her own kids being in the same room with her for eight whole days (!), then SHE should be paying for the additional room, not her in-laws! And if she can’t afford it, then yes, she should stay home and make her own Pesach! I can guarantee if she does that (which I highly doubt she will), she will be regretting it the entire time!

I think this generation is so spoiled that people can’t even see how high their expectations are, and I’d hope the therapist would present that angle as well.

Jonathon T.