Empty Mezuzah

Larry Gordon, a Temple Sinai member, just shared this one with me:

A man buys a fabulous home in Beverly Hills, California. He brings in a local workman to decorate the place. When the job is finished, the homeowner is delighted but realizes that he's forgotten to put mezuzahs on the doors. He goes out and buys 50 mezuzahs and instructs the decorator how to place them on the right hand side of each door except bathrooms and kitchens.

He's really worried that the decorator will chip the paint work or won't put them up correctly. However, when he comes back a few hours later, he sees that the job has been carried out to his entire satisfaction.

He's so pleased that he gives the decorator a bonus.

As the decorator is walking out of the door he says, "Glad you're happy with the job... by the way, I took out all the warranties in the little boxes and left them on the table for you!"

It’s a great joke. At the same time, this week the image of an empty mezuzah case makes me think of something less amusing. It makes me think of another wealthy Jew who has dazzlingly large homes in Beverly Hills and Malibu – as well as well as a really big gym known as, “The Staples Center”. If the scroll represents the soul of the Jew, Donald Sterling (formerly, Donald Tokowitz) is no doubt a mezuzah case without out a scroll.

Since Sterling’s remarks to his girlfriend about African Americans were brought to light by TMZ, the media has been filled with reports of all sorts of awful behavior by Sterling in the past: from the housing discrimination lawsuit he settled in 2009 (for keeping blacks and Hispanics out of his buildings), to adultery, abusive behavior towards his children and those around him. And while Sterling is not active in the Jewish community in any significant way, the fact remains that he is a Jew, which makes this whole sordid affair a shanda fur die Goyim (an embarrassment in front of the non-Jewish world). Heaven forbid anyone should associate his worldview with Judaism or the Jewish People.

But, rather than hang our heads in shame, it is worth noting that Adam Silver, the new commissioner of the National Basketball Association, is also Jewish. While one can certainly discount his strong stand against Sterling’s racist behavior as doing what was politically or economically necessary for the NBA, there is no doubt that he did what was right. I’m proud that Adam Silver is a member of the Jewish community.

The scroll inside the mezuzah contains the eternal words of the Sh’ma Yisrael. Those words, which speak of God’s Oneness and our love for God and God’s ways, represent the soul of Jew. May we all find ways in our own lives to keep that scroll inside our mezuzah cases.