I never realized the power of Judaica until my Bubbie passed away. We were in Silver Spring, Md., cleaning out my grandparents’ house, the home where my mother grew up, and where my siblings and I created too many memories to count. I remember entering the house after shiva, knowing this would be the last time I would walk the halls, and lamenting how there were too many memories to capture in a quick walk-through.
Then my kids started bringing me items off the shelves. Each piece of Judaica – a menorah I hadn’t seen since I was five, my Zeide’s silver esrog case – brought me a huge smile and a flurry of stories. My favorite item, which now sits in a case in my home, is my great-grandfather’s tefillin. While they go unused, they are anything but lifeless. Though I wasn’t lucky enough to meet him, looking at my namesake’s tefillin connects me to a world where my family’s traditions began and reminds me that each time I wrap my own, I’m continuing his legacy and pushing our traditions and history forward.
The Judaica items around us can either be inanimate relics that turn sections of our living rooms into mini-museums, or they can be used as intended – keepers of our heritage that remind us of a full and storied past while propelling our history forward.
