On November 13, 2013, CNN.com ran the following story out of my hometown of New Haven, CT: “A
Connecticut rabbi returned $98,000 in cash he found in a plastic bag hidden behind drawers of an
ordinary office desk he bought on Craigslist in September. Rabbi Noah Muroff, a high school teacher at a private Jewish school in New Haven, discovered the money while dismantling the $150 desk to move it through a narrow doorway. “The desk did not fit … by just a fraction of an inch,” Muroff said.He said he unhooked file cabinet drawers and removed the top of the desk. Then came the unexpected surprise.
“Without detaching the desk, Muroff said, “this money, which was behind the drawers, was totally
inaccessible.” The rabbi and his wife, Esther, were in total shock. “We were looking at each other and
laughing,” he said. “This kind of thing only happens in the movies.” On the evening of September 2, just days before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, Muroff and a friend picked up the desk from a
woman, Patty, who lives just outside of New Haven. Muroff declined to identify the owner further. “I
knew this was her money,” he said. “She told me she bought the desk from Staples and put it together
herself.” Within 20 minutes of finding the money, around 11:30 p.m. that same evening, Muroff called
Patty. “She was speechless, without words,” he said. Muroff said the former owner told him she put her
inheritance in the desk and after a while forgot it was there. “I do not think there are too many people
in this world that would have done what you did by calling me,” Patty wrote in a thank you note to
Muroff that CNN obtained. The couple took their four children with them to return the money the next
day, hoping their good deed will send “the message of honesty and integrity,” he said.
It has been reported that people refer to these types of a kiddush Hashem opportunities as a “Muroff
Moment,” whether it’s returning extra change to a cashier who made a mistake, or this story Rabbi
Muroff heard from a boy at the Clifton Cheder in New Jersey: “He bought a sefer from Z. Berman as a
gift for his rebbe. And he found something like $2,000 cash inside the book. He called them back to
return it — and made sure to tell me that he was inspired by my story.” At first Rabbi Muroff and his
wife kept their good deed quiet and to themselves. A few months later, though, he spoke with Rav
Shmuel Kamenetsky, who encouraged him to share the story. So he shared it with a local television
station. The story blew up all over newspaper and television channels in the U.S., Canada, Israel, and
elsewhere. One TV station went out and asked people on the street what they would have done. Their
reactions were mixed. One woman said, “I would have returned the money.” But others weren’t so sure.
Another woman said, “I would wait and see if they asked for it back.” And one man chimed in,“Finders,
keepers.” Within the Jewish community this story continues to inspire. A picture book, The Surprise in
the Desk, written by Carol Ungar, was published by Hachai in 2020. And in 2022 Yaakov Schwekey
recorded the song, “It Could be You,” featuring Rabbi Muroff. Publicizing the story allowed millions of
people to be inspired by it, thereby creating a powerful force of good that continues to positively impact
the world to this day. This is what Kiddush Hashem is all about: highlighting a person in order to bring
attention to the deed or cause thereby creating more good in the world. While the source for Kiddush
Hashem in the Torah is Parshat Emor (22:32) it can also be derived from a pasuk in Parshat Matot. The
tribes of Gad and Reuven wanted to remain on the east bank of the Jordan. Moshe told them that if
they would join the other tribes in conquering the land, they will have fulfilled their obligation and “be
clear before Hashem and before Yisroel.” “Before Yisroel” indicates that a person must be concerned
about human perception. Rabbi Soloveitchik put it this way: “One might think that one’s reputation is
his own concern; that he not care about others’ opinions. Halacha however maintains that one has no
right to sully his own reputation. His character is sacred and he is not permitted to forfeit his standing.
The human personality must be protected and not degraded.”