PSA- Parshat Zachor/Megilla

amother

Taupe

Fri, Mar 10 2017, 8:54 am

Please, please, please- if you have small children who cannot sit quietly in shul, make arrangements with your husband to swap places for different readings. If you are a single mother, or are otherwise alone this week because your husband is away on business/miluim or on duty as a medical resident, or whatever other reason, please ask someone to watch your kids for the five minutes Parshat Zachor takes or the 45 for megilla.

I would be happy to help another mother in such a situation! But I will resent you if I have to find a third reading because you ruined the second one I attended while my husband minded our kids.

allthingsblue

Fri, Mar 10 2017, 9:30 am

Why did anyone hug this poster? She's right.
(Although I won't resent YOU per se, but I will strongly resent the fact that you chose to bring your noisy child.)

gp2.0

Fri, Mar 10 2017, 9:51 am

And the neighbor will resent being asked to watch her kids for 45 minutes.

There are so many Megillah readings where I live. Some are known to be quieter and some are known to be child friendly. Ask around and attend one of the quiet ones!

pause

Fri, Mar 10 2017, 10:05 am

I don't get the big deal made about zachor. You can just as well read it aloud - from a siddur no less - yourself at home. No need to shlep to shul. It's not the same as tekiyas shofar or megilla.

groovy1224

Fri, Mar 10 2017, 10:07 am

I think this is pretty obvious, but the people that really need to hear this PSA will ignore it anway.

doctorima

Fri, Mar 10 2017, 10:07 am

I completely agree with OP and also wonder why she was hugged. And off topic, but I learned that if you're going to read Zachor at home, it's better to read it from a Chumash.

pause

Fri, Mar 10 2017, 10:09 am

doctorima wrote:

I completely agree with OP and also wonder why she was hugged. And off topic, but I learned that if you're going to read Zachor at home, it's better to read it from a Chumash.

Perhaps, but it doesn't need to be from a sefer torah, as most people believe. (megilla otoh does need to be read from a klaf to be yotze)

SplitPea

Fri, Mar 10 2017, 10:12 am

If you are in the far Rockaway five towns area and a single parent I will personally watch your young children so you can hear megilla without bringing them!

This is an honest offer.

I can also help arrange a private megilla for you as needed.

Young children who can't be quiet do NOT belong in megilla readings

seeker

Fri, Mar 10 2017, 11:12 am

gp2.0 wrote:

And the neighbor will resent being asked to watch her kids for 45 minutes.

Really? Not my neighbors. Not me either. Even if I can't do it, I wouldn't resent being asked.

gp2.0

Fri, Mar 10 2017, 11:19 am

seeker wrote:

Really? Not my neighbors. Not me either. Even if I can't do it, I wouldn't resent being asked.

And I don't resent either one - I don't resent loud kids at shul nor do I resent being asked to babysit. The one option we always have is to change our own actions instead of complaining about other people's actions. If I don't want to go to a noisy reading, I find a quieter one instead of complaining about it and making people feel bad. Who really believes that the mother schlepping all her kids to shul wouldn't have rather left them at home? It's just such a pointless PSA.

dr. pepper

Fri, Mar 10 2017, 11:19 am

amother wrote:

Oh boy. This is such a pet peeve of mine! Thanks for posting.