I read a question posed to Avi Shulman. It was posed by a 6th grade rebbi who said that on Purim three of his students, ages 11-12, brought mishloach manos. They were dressed as rebellious kids/hippies/bums complete with T shirts with inappropriate messages, gold chains, and earrings and they had a boom box which blared disgusting music.
The rebbi was taken aback by their appearance. His questions were: 1) what should he have said to them when they came to his house 2) what if anything should be said to the boys now, after Purim, either privately or to the class, 3) what could be said next year before Purim as guidelines for appropriate costumes, 4) is there any line that should not be crossed when it comes to Purim and if yes, what is it
Avi Shulman did not write his answer, he invited responses.
I saw a picture of two people who dressed up together as the Twin Towers with a plane crashed into them and fire. It was cleverly made but I thought it lacked sensitivity. I don't think most Jews would find dressing up as a concentration inmate with a fake number on their arm in good taste. Dressing up as Hitler wouldn't go over well either.
Yet lots of frum kids dress up as Arabs, even though they kill us. Kids dress up as pirates even though they rob and kill.
It's interesting to think about what crosses the line of good taste.
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He can speak to the class, now, after the fact, about appropriate fun vs inappropriate costumes, without mentioning specfic names or what happened. Then every year he should speak about this issue before Purim.
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