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Mar 23, 2008

Lemaan Achai Purim newsletter

Lemaan Achai printed a very funny Purim newsletter... in hard copy it was in limited release, so many people did not get to see it. So for the rest of you who did not get to see it, here it is in digital format....

Read this doc on Scribd: Publication1

9 comments:

  1. This is brilliant & hillarious!!
    Who's the gifted comedy team at Lema'an Achai??
    Yeshar koach!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent job! I enjoyed each and every part!

    Thank you Lema'an Achai for doing yet another deed in the true spirit of Purim!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very funny

    But I have one question. If the KST would have made fun of LA the way LA made fun of the KST's 100% tzeddakah campaign, I think the readers of this here blog would be foaming at the mouth at the illegitimate poking that the KST is doing to LA - as has been the case whenever the 3 little letters KST get mentioned on this blog. In fact, it is because of this that I even hesitate to mention this, so as not to wild up the crowd.

    But I thought it would be productive to show that this is purim and its funny, so if the KST (and they chevra)cant handle it -- they should GET A LIFE!! they same way I think that the LA who get all wiled up at the good things the kuppa does should also GET A LIFE!!

    ir atleast, have another beer and give some tzedakah.


    I heard a very bad oversight on behalf of the KST over shabbos. hopefully my source was wrong and the oversight was fixed before it was too late.

    Question for LA - why does only half of the matanos laevonim money go to evyonim on purim?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anon-

    You seem to be the same anon that has picked on LA over the last week on other blogs here.

    Maybe you should drink the beer and chill..after all it's Purim!

    From what I read on Lema'an Achai's poster a person has a choice to give either straight matanos le'evyonim or to split it 50/50.

    I believe that the idea is that if everyone gave all of his tzedaka for matanos le'evyonim (which is supposed to cover sedua costs) there would be no money in the coffers the next day for the daily needs.

    No where does LA state that they give only half of your money to matanos le'evyonim. It's your call.

    I do suggest you call either David Morris or Rav Leventhal from Lema'an Achai..I'm certain that they can give you a clearer answer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shlomo - you are correct in your brief answer/explanation.

    I emailed David Morris and Rabbi Leventhal and asked them to stop in and write up a fuller explanation of how this works....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Bloggers,

    I appreciate that Anonymous liked the Purim spoof newsletter - it's important to keep a sense of humour, even in the very serious business of helping the needy of our neighbourhood.

    And thanks anonymous for your question about Lema'an Achai's unique matanos le'evionim campaign.

    The story goes back some 15 years, when I first had the role of Gabai Tzedaka on Purim. To my wonder and amazement, my organization, Yad Leyedid in Pisgat Zeev, Jerusalem, was swamped by the generosity of local donors - way beyond our expectations, and the immediate Purim seuda needs of the families we helped. As the Purim afternoon moved on, and the money piled up, I took the tens of thousands of excess shekels to the gabbai in Neve Yaakov. "Can you still distribute this to evionim who need it?" I asked him. "Sure " he said, and I handed him all the excess Matanos Le'evionim money.
    "Phew!" I thought as I headed back to Pisgat Zeev.

    Afterwards, I analyzed what had happened, and came to the conclusion that the traditional approach to matyanos le'evionim involved some practical challenges.
    Although the donors are yotsei by giving two manot (say, two falafels - max 25 NIS) many donate far more than this; and although the purpose is to help evionim to have a Purim seuda, the recipients can receive many thousand of shekels - way beyond their Purim needs.

    One should also add to this the fact that this is one of three big giving times of the Jewish year (Pessach and Tishrei being the others) and yet the needs of the poor are 365 days/year. Therefore the huge influx and expenditure on the day of Purim of Matanos Le'evionim is a budgeting "chaval" for an organisation which gives year-round help to the poor. On Shushan Purim there's literally nothing left in the kupa. And the poor still have needs.

    In consultation with rabbonim, we have developed the 1 + 1 campaign, whereby donors are encouraged to allocate part (50%) of their generous Purim donation to Matanos Le'evionim (for distribution on the day of Purim) and 50% for afterwards (regular tzedaka).

    The 'default' is that a donor who doesn't specifically designate 50/50, we assume wants 100% to go out on the day as regular Matanos Le'evionim.

    So, in short, Lema'an Achai hands out 100% of matanot le'evionim on Purim day. In addition, donation which are specifically designated for general tzedaka, are used after Purim.

    This way, we have found that the evionim have all their needs met for Purim, and Lema'an Achai is also in a position to help them out AFTER Purim too.

    I hope this clarifies the issue - do feel free to call me(9997107) or Rav Leventhal (9991553) if you have anyfurther questions. We're always happy to answer!

    Best regs,
    David

    ReplyDelete
  7. No where does LA state that they give only half of your money to matanos le'evyonim. It's your call.


    OK. if thats true, that clears it up for me. I just saw that on one sign one time and i was a bit confused. So if its the donors call, anything goes, since its his money. Makes sense that way.

    And nope. I was not attacking LA on any other blog. I am not even attacking them here. As in the past, i am only against people who pick on the KST for no apparent reason, other than the fact that they are not LA. Like i have said a billion times, I am sure LA is a very good organization, and it is their "chevra" who spew the venom against the KST which give me the impression that they feel insecure about LA. I - OTOH - dont have any such "second thoughts" about LA

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mr Morris - thanks for clearing that up. It certainly seems like a unique approach to the "problem" of matanos laevyonim (if you can ever call too much tzedakah giving a problem).

    I would be interested to hear - from you or others - what different approaches are used when giving out all the "extra" money on purim day itself, and what happens in the other organizations on the "day after"

    I think that another option would be to capitalize on the extra money and use it to pay off some large debt and long term expenses such as medical expenses or the like.

    And on a side not, you mentioned 25 shekel max -- however, RYSE has said the minimum lechatchila amount is 50 shekel to each of the 2 evyonim, from each person (so a family of 2 would give a minimum of 200 shekel). This is to be yotze the shita of the Maharsha who says that one should give a matana chashuva, and not just a pruta. though a pruta is the shiur brought down by the MB, I believe in the name of the Ritva.

    Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dear Anonymous,

    Thank you for your feedback.

    Using Matanot Le'evionim for General Tzedaka Purposes:

    Regarding the suggestion you make - "use it to pay off some large debt and long term expenses such as medical expenses or the like" is essentially doing-a-Lema'an-Achai, the only difference being that I understand you would hand funds out for these non-Purim tzedaka needs on Purim day, whereas our shita retains the option of handing it out for such general tzedaka purposes AFTER Purim.

    And we are also being up-front to our donors, that this is what we're doing with money if the donor designates it so.

    In your case, donors might have reasonably assumed their matanot le'evionim is going for Purim seudas - which it's not.

    Essentially it's the same idea; but, with all respect, we think we package ours 'derech hayashar'.

    Shiur for Matanot Le'evionim:

    You mention an opinion that the shiur is 50 NIS for matanot le'evionim. The shiur I mentioned in my previous comment, was: "the donors are yotsei by giving two manot (say, two falafels - max 25 NIS)".

    Again, you and Lema'an Achai have the same principle for the shuir (matana chashuva), just that our Possek, Rav Chaim Soloveichik uses the value of a falafel (about 12 NIS each) for calculating the shekel value, whereas you quote 25 NIS (presumably based on shwarma or suchlike?).

    Again, we're both agreeing to the same idea!

    So, again thanks for your feedback, Anonymous. Do feel free to call me with any further questions (9997107) - you can even reveal your 'other' identity!

    Best regards,
    David.

    ReplyDelete

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