On March 9, Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona received a special donation from Carol Mintz Heuser and James Heuser.
The gift was a collection of 52 mezuzah cases and scrolls James had saved from demolition over decades of working at a retirement community in New Jersey.
“Many of these gave comfort and support to people who personally survived the WWII camps in Europe and/or had loved ones directly affected by the horrors of the Holocaust,” says a placard the couple provided with the collection.
Mintz Heuser explains that her husband began working as a maintenance supervisor at one of the country’s first retirement communities back in the 1970s. But it wasn’t until the early 1990s, when she and James met, that he came to understand the significance of the objects attached to some of the doorposts in the apartment complex.
“When we first connected, I said, ‘There are things that were kind of invisible to you in the past that were going to become visible to you now because of my being Jewish,’” Mintz Heuser recalls.
Heuser had grown up in a Catholic family with few Jewish families nearby, she explains.
Up to that point, when a resident of the retirement community where Heuser worked died and their apartment was refurbished, if there was a mezuzah on the door frame the painters would paint over it or remove it and throw it away. They didn’t realize that these small wood or metal cases are Jewish ritual objects, containing a handwritten scroll and signifying faith, God’s presence, and, some believe, protection for the home.
But once Heuser understood, he made a point of speaking to all the painting crews.
“I said, ‘Don’t throw them away. I would like to collect them.’ And so that’s how it got started,” he says.
“As we started collecting them,” Mintz Heuser says, “it started becoming clear to me that many of these were important to people who had themselves survived the Second World War in Europe, or had family who survived, or conversely, had family who did not survive.
“And so, to me, they seem to have a greater gravitas of a period in time that needs to be remembered,” she says.
Mintz Heuser says they were working with Jane Espinoza, vice president of fund services at the Foundation, when they mentioned the collection.
The collection will be on display at the Center for Jewish Philanthropy. As the collection is mobile, it may also be displayed at other locations for programmatic and educational purposes.
“Carol and James are two very special people who had the foresight to understand how important these adorning mezuzot were and how much meaning they have for the greater Jewish community. We are grateful to them,” says JPSA President and CEO Hava Leipzig Holzhauer. “Mezuzot connect us to our heritage and offer protection; this collection represents our past, our present, and speaks to our future.”
