One of the more beautiful mitzvahs of Purim is Mishloach Manos, the mitzvah to send a gift of at least two food items to a friend. It should be noted that the food items sent should be the type that would and could be eaten at the Purim seudah. Such food should be sent to at least one friend or neighbor. But while engaging in this practice is indeed enjoyable and pleasant for most, the question may be raised as to why this mitzvah appears only in connection with Purim. It would make sense to legislate such a requirement in connection with other holidays as well. Why not provide Mishloach Manos before Pesach or Shavuos or Sukkos too? In truth, we do find reference to the sending of "Manos" in connection with Rosh Hashanah (see Nechemiah, Perek 8), and there is also a custom to collect "Maos Chittim" funds to enable poor Jews to provide for Pesach. But our practice is limited in the formal sense to Purim alone, and the question thus is why Purim is different than all other holidays in this regard.

Some suggest that the mitzvah to share food on Purim was legislated in order to "repair" a serious error in thought and deed committed by many Jews in the days of Mordechai and Esther. As Haman aptly described to Achashverosh, the Jews were a dispersed, scattered and disunified people. It seems that they didn't care for one another and had no interest in helping each other out. Indeed, Chazal imply that the Jews of Shushan, believing falsely that they were in no immediate danger from Haman's decrees, did not initially do anything to assist the other Jews whose well-being they knew was being threatened. There was not enough friendship and camaraderie among the Jews of that time. And so the Mitzvah of Mishloach Manos was enacted precisely in order to foster a spirit of closeness and warmth among the members of the Jewish community who lacked it at the time.

Remarkably enough, we are confronted with some of the same problems of disunity within the Jewish community today as well. There is much bickering between Jews both here and in Eretz Yisrael about various different subjects. Purim comes along to teach us, among other things, the message of Jewish unity. We must certainly concern ourselves with the plight of all Jews and take an interest in their lives and reach out to whomever we can, and this should not be limited to Purim alone. But it must be a unity based on Torah and Halacha, which is ultimately what should bind us. We need not offer others food items, but we should offer them our Torah and our way of life. Of course, they must be people who would be receptive to such an offer. We can not compromise our standards or our beliefs for the sake of unity. The "food" which we offer other Jews must be 100% "kosher". Only then is the offer meaningful. We therefore cannot push aside our laws and traditions in the misguided hope that doing so will bring about brotherhood and friendship. But to those who are willing to listen to the Torah which we can present, we must reach out and teach. Purim, perhaps more than any holiday, teaches us to share what we have with others. If we truly believe in our Torah, and our traditions, we ought to spread our belief and bring about the kind of unity which ultimately developed in the days of Mordechai and Esther.