Shaimos Box

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The Shaimos box!

A more convenient method to dispose of your Genizah, or Shaimos in the proper way!

• Drop into the Eichlers Judaica store on 13th Avenue, and ask to buy a made to order Shaimos box. Or, buy on-line here.
• Guidelines for what belongs in Shaimos and what doesn’t are printed right on the box.
• When your Shaimos box is full, just visit the post office and send it off: A return address is printed right on the box.
• The box arrives at the Shaimos burial site where it will be properly handled and buried under OU supervision.
• Return to your Judaica Store or visit us again on line for a new box to place in your shaimos corner.
• Don’t throw out your Shaimos or let it pile up. Taking proper care of our shaimos will bring bracha and hatzlacha to all.

Artist's invention aims to solve longstanding problem of Jewish "trash."

By: TED S. STRATTON Staff Reporter

Benny Goldstein, a sofer stam (scribe) by profession, had a problem. He had two semi-trailers of tattered holy writings and objects sitting in Chicago and no place to bury them.

According to tradition, these items cannot be disposed of as trash, but must be accorded a dignified burial. "The cemeteries wanted a fortune of money" for the burial of the sacred objects, he says. It got so bad, Goldstein admits, that he was praying for God to send him a location to dispose of them.

Enter Yehuda Rothner, director of Camp Stone, the Young Israel/B'nei Akiva summer camp for Cleveland youth. Rothner had been burying shaimos - a catchall term for anything that contains the Holy Name and items used for ritual purposes - annually at a site on the Sugar Grove, Pa., camp. So could he take on a few extra tons of shabby siddurim (prayer books), frayed tallitot (prayer shawls) and busted tefillin? No problem, said Rothner.

His problem solved, Goldstein began thinking of ways to avoid being in such a situation again. Thus was born the idea for the "Shaimos Box." The "box" is a receptacle that ensures that all shaimos (SHAY-mes) will be buried in the right place under strict rabbinical supervision.

"Originally, I came up with a bag," says Goldstein. The only problem with that was people kept mistaking it for a garbage bag, and threw it out with their weekly trash. Not a very good fate for holy writ.

The Shaimos Box is a utilitarian, 12 by 7 by 15-inch cardboard box painted green, "to represent the Earth," says Goldstein. "I wanted it to mark a designated corner in everyone's house."

To make the box more user-friendly, a brief description of what constitutes shaimos is clearly outlined on the outside of the box. It specifies four categories of shaimos: sacred writings, such as Torah and mezuza scrolls; sacred objects, like Torah mantles and tefillin covers; words of Torah, printed or photocopied materials with biblical quotes or verse; and mitzvah objects, which are any items that were used in completing a mitzvah, like a lulav, etrog, or shofar.

Once filled, the box weighs about 20 pounds. It can be mailed to the burial site at Camp Stone, where it is put in storage until the yearly burial ceremony, which usually takes place during Tisha b'Av.

The Camp Stone program is unusual because most shaimos burials occur in a cemetery, not children's camps. That's because "when you bury a sefer Torah (Torah scroll), oftentimes you bury it with the body of a righteous person, like a rabbi, to elevate the soul," Goldstein explains.

Now living in Israel, Goldstein is optimistic that people will embrace use of the box. "We have a distributor, Israel Bookshop, and are selling up to 15 a week," he says. The box retails for $9.99. The Orthodox Union has even lent its approval, bestowing the coveted "OU" symbol that signifies a kosher product.

"The OU is concerned with all aspects of Jewish life," explains Rabbi Moshe Elfant, Executive Rabbinic Coordinator of the OU Kashrut Department. "We see the Shaimos Box as an opportunity for us to extend our expertise to assist the community in all its needs."