I guess it started early this year.

Last night at 2:00 am my radio went off for an unresponsive child. As with every call my mind started searching what can cause a child to become unresponsive? Was it croup? Was it a high fever? Was it seizures?

No it wasn’t. It had not even occurred to me that a local yeshiva already had its Purim Chagiga.

There we were standing, several Hatzolah members in the middle of the night in someone’s bedroom with terrified parents and an unresponsive 16 year old. בּ”ה he did survive his ride in the ambulance and a very unpleasant night in the ER, with his parents. I’m fairly confident he learnt his lesson, but the big question is when will we?

Even if we choose to ignore the fact that serving alcohol to a minor is illegal and puts you in jeopardy of financial penalties and even jail time, please don’t forget the fact that alcohol is dangerou s.

Alcohol poisoning kills EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

If you think it is cute to watch a young man drink as a rite of passage into adulthood, think about the Hatzolah members that have to leave their families and seudas to deal with all these sick children and the terrified parents. Think of the terrible חִלוּל ה’ and horrific headlines your bottle can create.

How about this year lets be makpid onוְנִשְׁמַרְתֶּם מְאֹד לְנַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם and וקִדַשְתֶּם and חֲנֹךְ לַנַּעַר עַל־פִּי דַרְכּוֹ and not be so makpid on עַד דְּלָא יֵדַע , and maybe with the money you save by not buying all that alcohol you can increase the מַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיֹנִים you give to our brothers that were so devastated by Sandy this year.

Best wishes for a safe and freilichen Purim.