Room 508

A single moment of kindness can turn an entire experience around.

A little over a week ago, the mezuzah I proudly hung on my dorm room door was taken. There was no way for me to find out who took it or when; it was just gone. The mezuzah I bought in Jerusalem, that I specifically spent an entire night looking for the one that spoke to me, my beautiful, blue enamel mezuzah containing the Shema, was probably rotting in a dumpster somewhere.

You see, as an RA at WVU, I had moved in to my residence hall early for training. I hung my mezuzah when I moved in, and it made me smile every time I saw it because I thought of Israel and all the wonderful people I met and soul-moving experiences I had. It was there for no more than a week when it was taken. There were maybe 7 non-university staff people in the building at the time. And someone took my mezuzah.

I felt so alone.

I was hurt. I felt violated. Angry. Confused. Was it a mistaken facilities worker who just didn’t know what it was and took it down? That didn’t make sense because they knew an RA was living in that room. My name is on the freaking door. Plus, there were traces of the industrial strength sticky tack that can hold up to a pound (and I assume you this little thing was not a pound) left on the door. Facilities wouldn’t have left that there. Someone had to have taken it. Did they think it was worth a lot of money? Was it a show of antisemitism? I still don’t know for sure why it was taken, but I couldn’t help but feel like it was antisemitic. Even if the person didn’t recognize a mezuzah, it had a star of David on it. Everyone knows what that means.

Some of you don’t know what a mezuzah is, so let me explain: it’s a traditional Jewish door hanging that we are commanded to fix to the doorposts of our houses and gates. It contains a scroll inscribed with the Shema, the daily prayer. The mezuzah is holy. It’s a commandment, a mitzvah to hang a mezuzah.

That’s why I felt so alone: none of my fellow staff members had any idea what a mezuzah was. I of course told my boss when I realized it was gone and he let everyone know to keep an eye out for it. All 23 of them were clueless as to what it actually was. Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect them to. It just didn’t help that I was so violated and no one really could understand what the hell for.

Fast forward to tonight. One of my fellow RAs asked me to meet her at the front desk of our hall because she wanted to ask me something. I’m thinking, great. I screwed up already, and now I’m gonna get a talking to and it’s gonna suck.

Nope. I go to the desk to be presented with a new mezuzah that she and another one of our staff found online and ordered. Just for me. 

“I know it can’t replace the one that you got in Israel,” she said. But they wanted to give me a new one to hang.

To me this says we care about you. It says we may not understand all your traditions, but we understand your pain. It says we’re on your side.