Readers share their own memorable gifts, those that hit the spot and those that missed by a mile

Last Week’s Poll

To our rebbeim, teachers, morahs, you are the heroes of our nation, and you deserve to be recognized as such. Your sacrifice is not lost on us, and that explains our exuberance to present you with a spectacular end-of-year gift. Hey, why are you frowning? W-what’s wrong? Why do you look like you took a swig of what you thought was orange juice and turned out to be egg yolk? Are end-of-year gifts that bad?

Readers share their own memorable gifts, those that hit the spot and those that missed by a mile

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

As a teacher I’ve gotten so many gift cards. Some are more useful than others, though. Dunkin’ Donut ones don’t help since I eat chalav Yisrael. I usually save the mani/pedi ones and give them to my daughters-in-law when they come to visit. The Target ones go, well, to Target.

And, parents, hakaras hatov is amazing, but I’ll gladly take Visa cards or even (gasp) cash.

Spilling the Beans

Nothing tops a mug. It might be printed with the initial of your last name, some version of “Best Teacher Ever,” a saccharine line about being a teacher (think “Teachers open our minds, touch our hearts, and change our lives,”) or even customized with your name, misspelled.

You smile widely and return home at the end of the day, ready to place the mug in its new home. After several minutes of Tetris-master-worthy attempts to shift around the 3 million mugs already occupying the mug-designated space, you decide to regift it to one of your children’s teachers. Then you head off to make another cup of coffee — in a disposable cup.

Stop, Drop, and Think

As a single morah, I think I can speak on behalf of many who receive gifts that are just a tad out of touch. Think a lucite hadlakas neiros card, esrog case, ArtScroll Tanach, sheitel travel case, or a wine bottle stopper.

Noteworthy Gifts

I thought these options were hilarious. Truth is though, end-of-year gifts really are important, mainly because of the sentiment they communicate. I think this is a valuable point to make. Parents needn’t worry that much about finding the right gift.  Nothing warms the heart more than a letter from the parents, the student, or both, describing how much they appreciate all a mechanech’s hard work. It’s worth more than a free round-trip to Eretz Yisrael (but I’ll take that too).

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 915)