Community Magazine December 2019

46 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Sage Advice from Rabbi Avigdor Miller, zt”l STRAIGHT TALK Should parents buy gifts for their children for Hanukah?  Question and Answer supplied by TorasAvigdor.org. (TAPE #170 & #788). Answer is taken directly from the words of Rabbi Avigdor Miller, zt”l. However, it has been slightly edited to allow for easier reading. Should religious girls have their ears pierced for earrings?  There’s no harm in buying Hanukah gifts, but you need to be careful to avoid the season’s “holiday spirit.” It shouldn’t be done because of the general atmosphere of the street, because they’re doing something like that. You need to beware of that attitude. Therefore, giving cash is a much better idea. Hanukah gelt is a well-known minhag (custom), so give cash if you can. I wouldn’t say it’s wrong to give gifts, but make sure, at least in your own mind, that you’re divorced from any thoughts of the season. Hanukah is not the season to give gifts. It’s not the gift season. You can give gifts anytime. You can give gifts on Shavuot, too, and on Purim and Pesach. And if you want to give gifts on Hanukah, as well, I’m not going to tell you no. But if you’re going to make a big fuss about it, and make it into an ideal, that Hanukah is the  time to give gifts, then you might as well sing carols and put up a Hanukah tree, because that’s what it really is. Why not? If the earrings are kosher to wear, then why not? Jewish women have the right to wear earrings like anybody else. When our matriarch Rivkah was given  nezamim  (nose rings) by her  hatan (groom), it was because Hashem wants to make the bride more attractive to the  hatan . Why not? He wants people to get married, and even after they marry, He wants women to be attractive for their husbands. It’s a mitzvah for a woman to be attractive for her husband. And therefore, nothing can be considered wrong if it is a matter of maintaining her appearance for one’s husband. Not for the street, though – a woman should not dress up for other men. But to dress up for your own husband – absolutely!