Purim brings the Megillah, gifts of food, and a festive meal. In 2021, COVID rules were still in place, and many people in our community could not have them.
JEEP started with the Megillah. People sat in their cars while a young rabbinical student read it from a safe distance, and everyone booed Haman.
We still could not visit many senior facilities. So we packed mishloach manot, Purim gifts of food: a couple of hamantashen, fruit, a juice, two coins for tzedakah, and a short illustrated brochure about Purim. Activity directors at each facility gave them to the Jewish residents.
Some people had no way to make a Purim feast, or did not know about it. A donor partnered with JEEP to pay for Purim dinners for them.
“I was surprised that you schlepped so far out to bring me the mishloach manot along with a Purim dinner,” one woman told us. Another woman had hardly left her small apartment for a year. “This year, the Purim dinner was a real special surprise for me.”
A senior with dementia shook our representative’s hand with a strong grip and lit up.
“…the Rabbi is a wonderful person, he never forgets about us!”
A senior who received a Purim dinner
As JEEP President David H. Gershuny wrote at the time: “JEEP is there for the ‘hidden’ Jews among us!”
Adapted from “JEEP Celebrates the Mitzvot of Purim with Our Community” by David H. Gershuny, 2021.