What is the point of Mishloach Manot?
The goal of Mishloach Manot is to bring the Jewish people closer to one another because when someone sends someone else a package of food, he feels closer to him and more connected to him. Likewise, the person receiving the package also feels more love toward him, and the connection between them is made stronger.
All this aims to reverse that which Haman said, “There is one people, scattered and separated.”
Haman saw the Jewish people as not united and did everything in his power to destroy us.
Mordechai, who found out about Haman’s plan, united the Jewish people and succeeded in thwarting Haman’s plot.
When we are divided and scattered, our enemies feel our weakness and use it to their advantage, but when we are united, no force can separate us.
Mishloach Manot-style Games
There are all kinds of gift exchange games, for example:
The Giant and the Dwarf (known outside of Israel as Secret Santa): All the names of the members of the group are distributed randomly and secretly.
Each person gets the name of a person in the group (that person is his ‘Giant’)and has to give him a gift secretly, without it being revealed that he is his ‘Dwarf’.
Each dwarf is also a giant, because he will also be receiving a gift from someone else.
Unlike such games, in which everyone gives and receives a gift, in the case of Mishloach Manot, the goal is to give, not to receive.
The real joy is in the giving itself- the feeling that you have given someone something that will bring them joy.