The Kosher Refrigerator

On every floor of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) there is a family lounge that contains, among other things, a sofa, television set, and an assortment of refrigerators. The designated contents of each refrigerator are marked by a large sticker that reads "patient food," "parent food," "breast milk," and so on.

Of course, the refrigerator that I most wanted to get into--the one labeled "kosher food"--had a padlock. As I stared at the refrigerator, imagining what oddities it might contain, a woman about my age came into the room and opened it. I was surprised, and frankly a bit disappointed to discover that the locked refrigerator didn't contain anything weird at all. From what I could tell (and I got a good look), all it held was food.

Bypassing my normal sources of information and authority on world religions--the Internet and the hosts of The View--I decided to do something crazy and pose my questions about the refrigerator's contents to the expert right in front of me. Over the next half hour, I asked the woman a ton of questions about the kosher diet and Jewish beliefs and practices in general. As it turned out, the woman was very knowledgeable and genuinely happy to answer my questions. Go figure.

Through my conversation with the woman, I came to realize a lot of things, one of which is that each religion has its own refrigerator that people looking from the outside imagine to be filled with strange practices and bizarre and often bigoted beliefs.

I wish that people who have questions about the contents of my refrigerator would simply ask me, rather than believe others' theories about what might be in there. I can't speak for the woman at the hospital, but I feel pretty confident that she feels the same way.