Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

This High Holidays I had a pulpit in Newton, New Jersey, about a three-hour drive from my home. Over Yom Kippur Middy and I stayed at a lovely Bed and Breakfast called the Ampersand Inn. The innkeeper, Irene, bought the inn three years ago after retiring from the NYU School of Law.

Shortly after opening the inn, she hosted a Rabbi who was visiting the area to perform a wedding. He noticed some Judaica in the inn and asked if she was Jewish. When she said she was, he asked her why there was no mezuzah on her doorpost. He then opened his luggage and pulled out a mezuzah, which he proceeded, with her permission, to affix to the front doorpost of the inn. The mezuzah was metal, white, and about 6 inches long.

Shortly thereafter she had a guest, a person who was local, who was curious about everything in and about the inn. How did she plan her breakfasts? Where did this picture come from? How did she decide to buy this lamp? As he was leaving, he asked her about the electronic lock she had on the front door. Then he glanced at the mezuzah. “Is that a high-tech security system?” he asked.

With a twinkle in her eye, she replied, “The highest!”

See also: Do I Need an Alarm System if I have a Mezuzah? – JewishAnthem.com