The Voice of Lakewood: The Coffee Room

Dear Readers,

We would like you to inform the public of our weekly distribution of 180 small bottles of grape juice. If anyone has extra bottles from Purim, it would be of great assistance if they can be dropped off at 93 Prospect or 1354 Shafto. Thank You!

Bikur Cholim of Lakewood

Dear Voice:

I just want everyone to be aware of a problem that most people don’t know about. I heard from a rav (and forgot his name, sorry!) that there is a problem of bugs in the dill juice of dill pickles. It doesn’t go inside the pickle, so you’re supposed to rinse them very well before eating! Please ask your poseik.

Thank you,

A Lakewood Admirer

P.S. Thank you for your great paper.

Dear Coffee Room,

Thank you for being the forum to air our issues. We recently received a beautiful thank-you note for a wedding gift, signed with the chosson and kallah’s married name. Unfortunately, it was a fairly common name, and we couldn’t place it. We wanted to bring to newlyweds’ attention that they should make the additional effort to include the wife’s maiden name on the thank-you note, especially for thank-you notes going to the wife’s side of the family or friends.

Thank You,

Still Wondering who Moshe and Rivky Cohen Are

Dear Editor,

B”H, Purim was beautiful this year. I was proud to be a “Lakewooder.” It was leibedik, exciting, but within limits. The streets were well manned by crossing guards, and mishloach manos delivering was hectic, but very manageable. I really found that people cut down on nosh and unhealthy goodies this year, and I can’t tell you how much it was appreciated. I found that people didn’t put in loads of snacks, but rather a few packaged mezonos, ready-made foods, or wine, not the usual loads of snacks that bring to mind dentists’ bills, cavities and stomachaches.

Thank you to those of you made the extra effort!

N.S.

Dear Coffee Room,

Thank you for being the forum to air our issues. We recently received a beautiful thank-you note for a wedding gift, signed with the chosson and kallah’s married name. Unfortunately, it was a fairly common name, and we couldn’t place it. We wanted to bring to newlyweds’ attention that they should make the additional effort to include the wife’s maiden name on the thank-you note, especially for thank-you notes going to the wife’s side of the family or friends.

Thank You,

Still Wondering who Moshe and Rivky Cohen Are

Dear Voice,

As always, we received many beautiful and creative shalach manos, which reflected much thought and effort. At someone’s home I saw a shalach manos with a doctor’s theme that included a real medicine bottle filled with winky-type candies. While the idea was cute, this is probably dangerous, as small children cannot differentiate between real medicine (which often does look like candy) and actual candy.

Thank you for listening,

A Safety-Conscious Parent

Dear Voice,

It was interesting to note that many people seem to have cut back on shalach manos, sending less items, less junk, spending less in general. We received many beautiful and delicious home-baked goods this year, including soups, salads, kugels, cakes, even some hamantashen! (It’s funny how few of those people actually send.) I would like to thank all those who went to the effort to make sure their items were yoshon and labeled them so, so that all could enjoy them. Also, thanks to the Bak family who sent a container of cut-up fruit; that was the hit of the day! As soon as my kids caught sight of it, they all begged to partake, even my two year old, who had been eating every piece of nosh that came into his hands that day. It was easy to eat, refreshing, a wonderful break from all the artificial colors and flavors!

Name Withheld

Dear Coffee Room,

In this time of economic difficulty, how is it that we are still wasting money on frivolities? The money that is spent on personalizing chocolates, cookies, even candy boxes to fit with one’s “shalach manos theme” could surely be spent in so many other, more useful ways; even spending the same amount of money on a chashuve bottle of wine or nice cake seems to be less wasteful than this kind of showy wastefulness. It is interesting to note that some people manage to use their creativity and talents to beautify their mitzvah of shalach manos without going over the top. And the truth is, if you have a talent or good idea, use it for the mitzvah. Enjoy doing the mitzvah. Be misameach those who receive your package. But once we cross the line into ba’al tashchis and showiness, something has gone wrong!

Name Withheld

Dear Voice,

It is well known that the most outstanding trait of Esther Hamalkah, like her ancestors Shaul and Rachel Imeinu, was tznius, the ability to keep quiet and not to be noticed. We all learn this, our daughters learn this, and yet, come Purim, something goes awry. If Esther, who through her actions and mesiras nefesh, was the person through whom Hashem brought about nes Purim, shouldn’t this be a very special yom tov for women, a yom tov when we strive to emulate this most extraordinary role model? Doesn’t it then seem odd, even inappropriate, for grown girls and women to don costumes – or even just silly hats that certainly call attention to them? Perhaps a good guideline for the future would be to think if we were to meet up with Esther and Mordechai, would we be embarrassed of our behavior and dress?

Thank you for considering my thoughts,

Name Withheld

Dear Voice,

As I was busy preparing for Purim, I started noticing ads for day-camp registration in various publications. My head began to whirl with the thought of figuring out the various day-camp schedules for my kids this summer, while simultaneously making Purim lists, making sure my kids had costumes, preparing mishloach manos, and thinking about Pesach cleaning….. I made a conscious decision to forget about day camp until after Purim. (Which was a bad idea, since one of the backyard camps I called on Shushan Purim was already full.)

After speaking with many other mothers who felt the same way, I would like to make a suggestion: Just as Lakewood has instituted a set date for playgroup registration, perhaps we can institute a similar system for day camps. No advertising or taking registration until after Pesach! I believe that most busy mothers don’t have the head to think about the summer before then.
RSK

Dear Voice and Coffee Room Writers,

I am a thirteen year old who every week looks forward to reading The Voice because of all the great articles The Voice has, such as the robberies of the week, the pictures and the small news articles that you provide every week that most other local papers do not have. And for the readers and writers who are complaining about their babysitters and whatever it is possible to complain about, this is the one thing in The Voice I do not look forward to. I’m wondering if any other readers are interested in all that either.

Name Withheld

Dear Coffee Room,

I just want to take my time to thank the Lakewood community and the TVOL for making the Coffee Room what it is. My husband I wait every week for this column. The Coffee Room has in the past and will I”YH continue to help us grow in Yiddishkeit. For example, I have stopped wearing robes on Shabbos out of the house – Thanks to TVOL – and I now try very hard not to let my daughter sit and relax on the front yard.

P.M.S

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