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Honorable Mensch-ion

The Kippah Drawer…Again


Two years ago, I wrote in this very column about the “Kippah Drawer,” which each one of us has- a collection of kippot collected from various baby namings, B’nai Mitzvah and weddings. When we open that drawer, memory floods our hearts and minds. We smile at past simchas, and tear up at loved ones no longer in our presence.
 
This week, Rabbi Guzik and I donated a piece of furniture which contained our kippah drawer. We emptied its contents, schlepped it out of our house, and carefully put it in a truck for pick-up. I remarked to Rabbi Guzik, “I’m not sad for the piece of furniture, but I’m sentimental about not having a kippah drawer.”
 
The next day, we received a phone call. “Sir, your credenza is in great shape, but the upper drawer was not working. I opened it up with my tools, and I found twenty yarmulkes in the back. I would like to return them to you!”
 
The next day, in a simple shopping bag, we still had no kippah drawer, but the important memories were back in our possession.
 
The Torah tells us that Jacob set up a monument of faith and devotion to God, the even shetiyah, foundation stone. One meaning of shetiya is beautiful tapestry. Rabbi Bernard Berzon teaches that our home is a mikdash me’at, a mini sanctuary. In it, we create a sacred life through faith and ritual. What piece of your home is sacred? How does that define the way in which you insert holiness into your life, both inside and out of your home? As my kippot were returned, that faith returned; grateful for the man who recognized the meaning of what I almost lost, and thankful for the faith in which those kippahs represent. 

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