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Dear Miriam,
I received a handwritten card and a personalized two-page typed note sent via priority mail to my office with no return address, proclaiming “Jesus loves you.” The card included my name (so this wasn’t a mistake), and accompanying the card was a care package of snack food and a book about the rapture. Can I eat the snack food, or is it tainted by association with idolatry?
Signed,
Unrequited Rapture
Dear Unrequited,
If the food is kosher or otherwise meets your requirements for eating and is, obviously, sealed, I don’t think it’s tainted by association, and I think you can eat it if you want to. But do you want to? Is it to get something good out of the situation? Is it to make the whole thing disappear from view? Is it actually kind of a fun and subversive treat? Are you hungry?
Whether or not there’s actually a Jewish law forbidding you from eating these snacks seems largely beside the point, though. This is an extremely weird scenario, and if eating the food somehow negates the weirdness for you, enjoy. For me, as I pictured eating what, some potato chips? Cracker Jacks? I felt my own stomach revolt against the idea of accepting this gift physically into my body.
You may feel differently, which is fine, but I would suggest that your guiding principle here be “what will make me feel less weird?” Maybe, like I would, you’ll decide to get this all out of your sight. Maybe you’ll decide that serving the snacks with a side of “You’ll never believe where these came from” to a house full of Shabbat dinner guests will feel like an even more fitting response and will negate any hint of idolatry left behind.
But if, like me, it just seems too strange, put the snacks in the office break room, give them to an unhoused person you see on your way home, or just toss them. Even if you then stop at the store to buy the exact same snacks for yourself, the ones you purchased yourself will feel different – not because of idolatry, but because of the invasion of privacy, the inherent weirdness, the unsettling feeling I got when reading your letter that someone is paying too much attention.
So, snacks aside, and though you didn’t ask, please let HR know about this. Show (or give) them the letter. Take a picture so you have a record but otherwise, get it out of your office. Throw away the book. If it’s possible to ask the folks who staff the mail room to keep an eye out for similar-looking packages, ask them to do so and give you a heads up before delivering, or ask that anything like this in the future go directly to HR. Nothing about your letter indicates you’re in danger, so you don’t need to escalate if this suggestion feels wrong, but you’re also entitled to go to work without anonymous packages greeting you and forcing their religion on you.
Be well,
Miriam
