When Mrs. Porter heard a knock at the door of her Baltimore home one evening at suppertime, she had no idea that she was about to be handed an opportunity for a monumental kiddush Hashem.
On her doorstep stood Mrs. Brown, an African American woman who had moved into the house next door along with the rest of her family several months earlier. The Porters had been apprehensive about the new family when they first met their new neighbors, but they had done their best to welcome the Browns to the neighborhood and to make them feel comfortable. Apparently, Mrs. Brown felt comfortable enough to approach her neighbor and ask for an urgent favor, with a note of desperation in her voice.
“I am hosting a very important person for dinner tonight,” she confided in Mrs. Porter. “Our guest is the football coach for Virginia Tech; my son Roger is going to be starting college soon and is trying out for the football team, and he invited the coach for dinner. I prepared a special meal of crab for our guest, but my oven broke down before I could finish it. I need to put some cheese on the crab and then use a broiler for about ten minutes, and then it will be ready. May I please use your oven? It’s very important to me,” she added.
Mrs. Porter looked at her non-Jewish neighbor, who couldn’t possibly have understood the complex halachic issues that were involved in her request. It took her little more than a split second to understand the woman’s desperation and to realize what her answer had to be. “Sure,” she said brightly. “Bring it right over!” She would need to kasher her oven after this treif cooking session, but Mrs. Porter knew that it was worth the hassle in order to maintain a good relationship with her neighbors.
Her quick thinking and the resultant kiddush Hashem yielded enormous dividends for the Porters and their community. The dinner with the football coach was apparently a massive success for the Browns, as Roger Brown, Jr., became a star football player in college and went on to play in the NFL for the Giants and the Patriots. His parents’ gratitude toward their Orthodox neighbors was profound. Mr. Brown – better known as Roger Brown, Sr. – was a prominent judge and an influential figure in the community, and he quickly developed sympathies for the Jewish community surrounding him. He was happy to serve as a Shabbos goy for the Porters and their other Jewish neighbors, and he pitched in when the Porters lost electricity in their own home, running thick wires across the space between their houses in order to let them share his own electrical supply.
Judge Brown put his connections to good use one year on Chol HaMoed Sukkos, when Rabbi Shlomo Porter was confronted by angry sanitation workers. The Porters had brought out several garbage cans for pickup, and the sanitation men were furious. Berating them for exceeding the permitted quantity of refuse, the garbagemen began shouting and cursing at the Porters, even using racial slurs. Rabbi Porter tried to be conciliatory and told them to collect only as much garbage as they were willing to accept, but his neighbor had overheard the exchange and decided to take matters into his own hands. The judge placed a call to the manager of the local sanitation department, who soon showed up at the Porters’ home to evaluate the situation himself. He apologized for his workers’ behavior and made sure that all of the garbage was collected, and the workers who had confronted the Jewish couple were duly disciplined.
On that fateful day many years ago, Mrs. Porter succeeded in creating a unique kiddush Hashem, with an act that would have been extremely difficult for most of us. It takes a good deal of mindfulness to overcome our gut reactions and respond in a way that is informed by thought and consideration. However, that is often what is necessary in order for us to live al kiddush Hashem. We must be aware and mindful of our role as m’kadshei Hashem, in spite of the many differences in lifestyle, culture, and sensitivities between us and the people around us.
Rabbi Shraga Freedman is the author of Living Kiddush Hashem, A Life Worth Living, and M’kadshei Sh’mecha. Rabbi Freedman has made spreading Kiddush Hashem awareness his life goal, and authored a biweekly column in Yated Ne’eman for several years. Rabbi Freedman has been in education and school administration for the last 20 years in both high school and elementary levels. More information can be found at LivingKiddushHashem.org.
