Builder brought home the Flatbush Jewish Journal so I would have something to read over Shabbos. Inside, in the Letters to the Editor section, I found, not one, not two, but three separate letters on the same topic--girls gone wild, Purim edition.
Apparently, while nice yeshiva bochurim go out collecting tzedaka for worthy causes (which involves putting on costumes, hanging out with friends, drinking, and smoking), they are accosted by young girls, who are putting on costumes, hanging out with friends, drinking, smoking, and worst of all, having the unmitigated chutzpah to engage these young men in conversation! Not that!
Apparently, these girls are too much of a distraction for these nice young men, and the pure-hearted, if slightly inebriated bochurim, may end up having their refined nature compromised by all the pritzus in their midst.
OK, now how's this for another perspective. After having complete dual-curriculum homework and helping their mothers costume younger siblings, prepare mishloach manot for everyone, and cook a seudah, and then sitting quietly through a Megillah leining, girls see their brothers going off to wear fun costumes, hang ut with friends, and drink and party. So, she has two choices: decide that what's good for the gander is good for the goose (after all, the costumes, drinking and partying are technically bittul Torah, so if my brother gets to have all this fun, why can't I?) or stay home and feel resentful. Guess what most teenagers will choose!
Purim used to be one of my favorite holidays. Then I moved to Brooklyn.
Why can't girls wear costumes and hang out? I mean, I can see where it might go wrong. Many of the non-religious girls in my shul see Purim as an opportunity to wear costumes that can only be described with the adjective "skanky" but that doesn't make costumes wrong, only that there needs to be a guideline on what's appropriate for both boys and girls.
ReplyDeleteWho says the costumes in question weren't modest? In many families, girls over Bas Mitzvah are not allowed to wear costumes at all.
ReplyDelete