As COVID appears to wind down (hopefully!), Meir Panim’s branches are gearing up with renewed energy to welcome patrons back to the branches for an especially joyful Purim feast. “After two years of socially distanced Purim, we’re eagerly anticipating celebrating the holiday in person at all our branches—in Jerusalem, Tiberias, Dimona, Tzfat and Or Akiva,” said Mimi Rozmaryn, director of global development at Meir Panim.
In its two decades of operations, Meir Panim has consistently endeavored to bring holiday joy to people in need—poor families as well as the elderly and Holocaust survivors. During the pandemic, Meir Panim continued its activities although due to health restrictions, all meals were packaged for takeout or delivery. Today, as COVID numbers continue to drop, Meir Panim has reopened its restaurant-style soup kitchens, although takeout and delivery meals are still available for those who are homebound or prefer to eat at home.
Purim at Meir Panim starts long before the piles of treats appear in the stores. Racks and racks of colorful, shiny costumes are prepared for the week of Purim, when each branch sets up its own mini costume boutique.
Where do they get so many costumes? “Meir Panim has a partnership with the Lavender dry-cleaning chain,” Rozmaryn explained. “People who want to donate their used costumes bring them to Lavender, which dry-cleans and delivers them to Meir Panim, free of charge.” Just one more creative way that Meir Panim succeeds in recruiting the support of the community.
One of the hallmarks of the holiday is mishloach manot, the exchange of prettily wrapped packages of treats. Meir Panim has made it a tradition to present each patron with not one but two mishloach manot packages—one to enjoy and one to share. “This beautiful initiative was the brainchild of our CEO here in Israel, Binyomin Ibenboim,” said Rozmaryn. “It allows our patrons to be part of the mitzvah, enabling them, too, to be on the giving end.”
Adding to the festive atmosphere and the joy at Meir Panim, the Tel Aviv-based DLA Piper international law firm has sponsored trays and trays of delicious fresh hamantashen. On Chanukah, they sponsored fancy sufganiyot, and this time, part of their team will be coming down to personally take part in their distribution.
Meanwhile, all five branches have been working around the clock to cook and package the huge amounts of food that are distributed daily to needy individuals and families. Patrons come from across the spectrum of Israeli society, including the elderly, single-parent families, people on disability allowances and the working poor, whose numbers have skyrocketed since 2020. “While it feels like the pandemic is improving health-wise, the financial crisis continues,” Rozmaryn observed. “We’re still preparing at least double the pre-pandemic amount in all our branches.”
Can anyone believe that something good came out of the pandemic? “In the last two years, the kids and counselors couldn’t meet at our three Sderot youth centers for teens at risk, but they were allowed to do so for volunteering,” Rozmaryn said. “Since the start of COVID, the teens have committed to integrating a strong volunteering component into their regular activities.”
As a result, the Sderot teens have been in charge of packaging and distributing care packages for the isolated and elderly as well as for soldiers at the local military outpost. Recently, they’ve been working intensely to finish preparing all the mishloach manot packages that will be distributed all over town.
“We can only hope that the situation continues to improve and that the people who have suffered for two long years in isolation will finally feel safe and secure enough to once again gain from the social interaction at Meir Panim,” Rozmaryn said.
Donations can be made online at www.mpdonate.org, through our toll-free number at (1877) 736-6283, or by mail to American Friends of Meir Panim at 88 Walton Street, Suite B1, Brooklyn, NY 11206-4479. All donations made in the U.S. are tax-deductible under EIN# 20-1582478.
