Yesterday, I wrote with horror about my first hand experience of mishloach manos madness (click on the link to view the article if you haven't yet read it).
I ended with a call to action for community rabbis and the leading rabbis of the nation to show proactive leadership and do all within their power to put an end to this terrible practice. Today, I'd like to show you that there's a fine halakhic tradition that dates back to the Mishna, where the gedolei haposkim have even rolled back Torah laws to prevent Jews spending exorbitant sums in fulfilment of their obligations.
Let's start towards the end and work backwards. The Magen Avraham writes in relation to the mitzvah of honouring and enjoying Shabbes (O.C.242:1), that in the event of the fishmongers hitching up the price of fish, leading rabbis should issue a ruling that prohibits Jews from buying fish. This despite the fact that there's a mitzvah to eat fish on Shabbes! No, actually because there's such a mitzvah and the rabbis know that Jews will spend money they don't really have in order to do the mitzvah in the best possible way.
His proof for such a bold ruling is a Mishna in Krisos 8a. There the discussion revolves around offerings that a yoledes - a woman after birth - is obligated to bring to the Beis Hamikdash by Torah law. The Mishna teaches that once, when birds became very expensive, Rabbi Shimon Ben Gamliel swore upon the Temple itself that he would not sleep until the prices had gone back to a reasonable level. He then went to the Beis Din, the seat of halakhic authority, and issued a ruling that women were no longer obligated to bring those offerings!
Rabbi Shimon essentially rolled back a Torah law so that in the long term people would still be able to fulfil this law. The idea is that without this ruling, people would continue to spend whatever was needed to fulfil the mitzvah, which would eventually drive the prices up to a prohibitive level.
The later authorities saw good reason to apply this legal precedent to the mitzvah of oneg Shabbes, rolling back the mitzvah in order to prevent Jews from paying extortionate prices. The Mishna Berura endorses this ruling without reservation.
If that's the case for a real mitzvah, even a Torah obligation, then how much more proactive should the rabbis be to rule against the practice of spending a fortune on mishloach manos, where the driving force of much of the madness is just pressure not to do less than anyone else. This is a dream come true for the manufacturers and a nightmare for poor, well intentioned people.
In the cases I've brought, the rabbis were protecting the mitzvah in question as they feared that if prices would continue to rise, the mitzvah would soon be beyond the reach of the masses. Here the attack on the mitzvah is slightly less direct, but I think the obligation to act is no less. The fact is that the whole purpose of mishloach manos is to bring people closer to one another, while the modern practice that I've observed is pitting friends against one another in the endless competition for more frum, more original, more expensive.
I'm sure that if the leading rabbis put their heads together to formulate a plan, they could come up with a strong ruling that would prevent much heartache and actually restore the spirit of closeness and friendship that mishloach manos is supposed to bring.
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