Beware, a Mezuzah can be dangerous.

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31 Jan, 2010
Aaron
Mezuzah Stories

Of course when you put Kosher Mezuzahs on your home it helps strengthen your Jewish identity and brings G-d’s blessing to your home.  I should probably warn you though that there can also be some unintended consequences.

Anyone who lives in a city with a large Jewish population and has a Mezuzah on their door will understand this joke:

Two hundred years ago in Russia there was a town where Jews and Russians lived.  The Jews were always in fear of pogroms that were incited by the priest at the local church.

One day 0pening his front door, the Rabbi found himself face to face with the local priest.

“Rabbi, may I have a few words with you?” asked the priest. “Of course,” replied the Rabbi, somewhat nervously. “Rabbi,” began the priest, “It must be evident to you, that in this town we are plagued by thieves. Scarcely a day passes, without one of my members coming to me, bemoaning the fact, that his house has been broken into.

On the other hand, I have noticed, that thieves do not bother you Jews, nearly as much.” The Rabbi answered: “You are correct.” Inquired the priest: “Yes, but why is that?”

The Rabbi then said: “Look at this little box, on the side of my door post, it’s called a Mezuzah.

We Jews believe, that when we put a Mezuzah on the entrances to our houses, the Holy One, may His Name be blessed, protects both us, and our property.” “In that case”, replied the priest, “I must have one!” Not wishing to be the cause of a pogrom, the Rabbi  handed over a mezuzah to the priest.

Two weeks later the Rabbi was awakened, by the sound of someone pounding violently on his door. Dressing himself hastily, he made his way down the stairs. “Who’s there?” the Rabbi asked. “Open the door, open the door!” screamed a voice on the other side. Leaving the door on the chain, the Rabbi cracked the door open wide enough, to see the priest standing in front of him, in great distraught. “What happened?” asked the terrified Rabbi. “Were you not protected from robbers?”

“I was! But these people were worse than robbers!” screamed the priest. “Who?” asked the Rabbi. “The Fundraisers!!”

Of course, even this inconvenience is a blessing in disguise.  The Mishnah in Ethics of our Fathers states, “A mitzvah brings a mitzvah and a transgression brings a transgression.”  This means that when we perform a mitzvah, G-d gives us opportunities to perform more mitzvahs.  When you put up a Mezuzah on your front door, you may find and increase in tzedakah collectors knocking at your door, but look on the bright side, this is an opportunity to do yet another mitzvah.



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You can wear your Tefillin on El Al!

2 Comments
28 Jan, 2010
Aaron
Mezuzahs in the News, Tefillin

El Al decided to take advantage of all of the publicity from the recent Tefillin scare. They have published this ad in some newspapers.

I was trying to think of a way to sell some pairs of Tefillin from this story, but it has alluded me.  I am glad to see that El Al is on the ball though.



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Tefillin Bring Down Airplane

1 Comment
21 Jan, 2010
Aaron
Tefillin

This is a very interesting news story about a young man who decided to put on his Tefillin to do his morning prayers on an airplane. Apparently the passengers and crew didn’t know what they are and got scared.

Before 9/11 I used to put on Tefillin regularly on airplanes. Since then I do everything I can do get my prayers done before boarding the plane or after landing. Once or twice I have had no choice but to put Tefillin on on the plane. What I did was start a conversation with the passengers next to me and explain to them what I was doing and also tell the flight attendant so they would see that I was a normal friendly person and not get scared. It worked fine for me. Apparently this young man just whipped out his Tefillin and strapped them on.

There is something very interesting in the Shulchan Aruch in the laws of Shabbat. Normally it is forbidden to even handle Tefillin on Shabbat since we have no use for them. The exception is if Gentiles come to attack a Jewish community. In such a case one is allowed to put on their Tefillin on Shabbat. The reasoning is that Gentiles are scared when they see a Jew wearing Tefillin and this will help the Jews defend themselves.

Perhaps this young man should have kept that Halacha in mind.



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How to dispose of a Mezuzah case

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4 Jan, 2010
Aaron
Learn about Mezuzahs

You probably already know that a Mezuzah scroll is holy and cannot just be discarded in the trash when it becomes unfit.  What is less known is that the Mezuzah case also takes on holiness since it was used for a Mitzvah.  Here is a question that I recently got by email:

Hi,
Recently we were trying to teach our young son to kiss the mezuzah, when he pulled it off and broke it.
The mezuzah case is now unable to be fixed. The parchment is fine and we can use this in a new case. Is there a custom in getting rid of the case? Are we allowed to just throw it away?
Thank you,
Stephanie

Here is what I answered:

Dear Stephanie,

Even though it is the scroll that is the mitzvah, the case also becomes holy because it is used for a Mitzvah. Therefore the case should be brought to a genizah – that is a place where holy items are brought to be buried in the Jewish cemetery. If you do not know where a genizah is, you should bring it to your local Orthodox synagogue where they will be able to help you.

I would also like to point out that according to custom, when a Mezuzah falls off of the door for any reason, we take it to a certified scribe to have it checked. The reasoning is that if something happened to the Mezuzah, it may be a sign from above that the Mezuzah needs to be tended to. In this matter as well, your local Orthodox synagogue should be able to help you.

With blessings,

Aaron Shaffier



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Mezuzah on an Archway

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Jan, 2010
Aaron
Archways

People frequently ask, “How high up do I put the Mezuzah on an arch?” This is a bit of a complicated question. First let’s make sure we understand the question. A regular door is rectangular in shape. The Halacha requires that the Mezuzah be placed at the ‘bottom of the top third’ of the door.  This means that you measure the door, divide by three and place the Mezuzah just above the one-third-from-the-top line.  You can read more about this here.

A problem arises with making this calculation with an arch.  What do we consider to be the top of the arch?  The most obvious answer would be to say that the highest point of the arch is the top and measure from there.  The problem is that according to Halacha, a door has to be at least 4 Tefachim-hand-breadths wide in order for it to be obligated in a Mezuzah.  At the highest point of an arch, it has not width at all because it is a single point on a curve.

Because of this, we never measure the height of an arch from the highest point.  How then do we arrive at the proper calculation of where to put the Mezuzah?  There are two opinions.  The most widely accepted opinion is that we measure from the first place that you can square out 4 Tefachim.  (The most commonly accepted estimation of a tefach is 3.16 inches.)  This is the first place that the door is wide enough to be considered a door and therefore this is the top of the door.  We measure down from that point to the ground and divide by 3 to arrive at the height where the Mezuzah should be.  This is the most commonly accepted opinion.

According to some others, including Chabad, we use a different calculation based on the Rambam.  The Rambam rules in the case of an arch that we consider the the place where the arch begins to curve as the top of the door.  This is as long as the straight part of the arch is at least 10 Tefachim high.  10 Tefachim being the minimum hight that a door needs to be in order to be obligated in a Mezuzah.  According to this opinion, we measure from the floor to the place where the curve starts.  We divide this by three and put the Mezuzah at the ‘bottom of the top third’ of the straight area.  In theory you could have an arch where the straight part is 3 feet high and the round part is 5 feet high.   According to this opinion, you would put the Mezuzah a bit more that 2 feet from the ground.  This would mean that the Mezuzah would be about knee hight.



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Where to put a Mezuzah on an arch

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Jan, 2010
Aaron
Archways

Here’s a question I recently got by email:

Shalom.
There is a wall with an arch that runs from one end of my house across to the other end with living areas on both sides. When going through the arch toward the back of the house I’m entering the den, kitchen, and breakfast area. When going through the arch toward the front of the house I’m entering a living room and dining room. Should I have mezuzahs at the right of the arch on both sides?
Debra

Here is what I answered:

Dear Debra,
You only put the Mezuzah on one side. The main way to determine which side is by assessing the natural flow of traffic through the house when entering from the front door. It sounds from your email like it is more common to go from the living/dining room to the den/kitchen first. If that is the case then you would put the Mezuzah on the right side as you enter the kitchen/den.

Blessings,

Aaron Shaffier



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Can a non-Jew put up a Mezuzah?

3 Comments
3 Mar, 2009
Aaron
Learn about Mezuzahs, Putting up your Mezuzah

I frequently get asked if Gentiles can affix Mezuzahs to their doors.  Here is what I answered recently to one such inquiry. 

Dear Friend,

This is a question that I get very frequently.  It always makes me so happy to hear from people who are not Jewish and want to put up a Mezuzah to honor God.  

Generally Judaism recognizes two systems of law for mankind.  The basic ‘7 laws of Noah‘ apply to all of mankind.  The Torah, with its 613 laws, is a special system that God has instituted for the nation of Israel who he chose to be a ‘nation of priests and a holy people’.  

Just like one would not expect the average person to live up to the same spiritual standards as a priest, so to God does not demand from most people to live up to the extra high standard that he demands from His ‘nation of priests’.

The Mezuzah is one of the 613 laws that are were given to the Jewish people in the Torah to help them live up to this standard.  Therefore, non-Jews are not in any way obligated to put up a Mezuzah.  

If a non Jew wants to voluntarily keep any of the Torah laws in order to attain a closer relationship with God, they are permitted to do so.  

In the case of the Mezuzah, the only concern is that you respect the holiness of this article that contains the original name of God in Hebrew.  It cannot ever be taken into an unclean place (such as a bathroom for example).  And if it ever becomes damaged and needs to be disposed of, it must be taken to a synagogue where they have a box for holy items that need to be disposed of.  It will then be buried in a Jewish cemetery.

For this reason, there are some Rabbis who discourage non-Jews from affixing a Mezuzah to their door.  But, if you wish to put up a Mezuzah, and you understand that you are taking responsibility to care for a holy object in the proper way, then there is no reason that you cannot purchase and put up a Mezuzah.

Whatever you decide, your desire to do something to come closer to God is certainly a sign that you are on the right track.  Keep up the good work.

God Bless,

Aaron Shaffier



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Can Mezuzahs end Israel’s water shortage?

1 Comment
28 Jan, 2009
Aaron
Mezuzahs in the News

Here is an interesting article from Ynet:

Can mezuzot thwart water crisis?
 Government ministers’ attempts to come up with ideas to deal with depleting levels of Lake Kinneret prompt agriculture minister to suggest replacing all of Water Authority’s parchment scrolls for good luck
Itamar Eichner

The escalating water crisis plaguing Israel has its ministers racking their brains in an attempt to come up with ways to deal with the predicament.

Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) is Israel’s main freshwater reservoir; and a recent succession of dry winters has left it nearly depleted.

The Knesset has heard suggestions the likes of partially shutting off the water supply to prisons or organizing mass prayer rallies, but Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon has come up with an original idea: Changing all the mezuzot in the Israel Water Authority offices.

Jewish tradition calls for a mezuzah, a piece of parchment inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah and places in a special case, to be affixed to every doorframe.

Simhon’s peers found the suggestion somewhat puzzling, prompting the agriculture minister to explain the logic behind his proposal: “I would like to remind everyone that Labor was at an all-time low in the polls, but after I had the mezuzot at the Labor House changed we doubled our strength.”

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert suggested, fondly, that the next government consider keeping Simhon in the Agriculture Ministry so he may continue handling the water crisis.

The government has held three sessions on the water crisis in the past few weeks, at National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer’s request.

Ben-Eliezer claims he want his fellow ministers to be fully updated on the situation, so that none of them claim they were unaware of its severity.

“This has been an extremely dry winter, with the lowest recorder rainfall since Israel started keeping track.”

Head of the Water Authority, Prof. Uri Shani, said that “the rainfall we’ve had so far is about 45% of what we were supposed to see at this time. Water consumption, however, has increased. The probability of us having a dry winter for the fifth year in a row was minute.

“We have prepared an emergency contingency plan meant to see the water system though this hard time. The government has already approved these steps and we have been implementing them uncompromisingly. The Water Authority is also working on several other emergency contingencies to cope with the drought.”



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Mezuzah in Space

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Jan, 2009
Aaron
Mezuzahs in the News

Here’s an interesting article from Haaretz.com:

Who puts up a mezuzah in space? A Jewish astronaut

By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent

If Dr. Garrett Reisman did not exist, then Mel Brooks or Woody Allen would have had to invent him. The veteran astronaut, who spent three straight months in space, looks like a character from a comedy about Jews in space: He is short, an engineer and full of self-deprecating humor that is often missing in astronauts.

Reisman, a native of New Jersey, is the first Jew to have lived in the International Space Station. 

“The mission went pretty well, I did not break anything that was too expensive,” he says. 
When he got to the space station, via the space shuttle Endeavor, he was quick to put up a mezuzah in the bunk where he slept. 

“I did not consult any rabbi, so I hope I did not get into any trouble,” he says. 

Reisman is in Israel for the fourth Ilan Ramon International Space Conference, which is organized by the Science Ministry and the Fisher Brothers Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies. 

The NASA delegation will make a presentation on progress in its most ambitious project: sending humans to Mars. Its schedule is for a manned mission to Mars by 2030. 

However, at this stage, there are still problems to be resolved. The round trip is expected to last at least three years and will require enormous amounts of food, water and fuel. 

No less troubling is how best to assure the health of the crew while millions of kilometers from earth. 

Dr. Johnston Smith, a medical officer at NASA, who is also visiting Israel, is one of those dealing with this challenge. “If someone experiences a standard medical problem, like appendicitis,” he says, “a decision will need to be made on what to do. Therefore, on the voyage to Mars one of the crew will be a doctor and will have the means to undertake simple surgery.” 

Those traveling to Mars will also be away from family and friends for years. According to Johnston, the missions to the International Space Station are meant to build up experience in dealing with psychological dilemmas. Thus, for example, a year ago, NASA had to inform astronaut Daniel Tani, who was at the space station, that his mother had died in an accident. 

“Every astronaut decides before a mission whether they want to know [such news] immediately or not. But on a voyage to Mars these questions will be more significant, and we need to think about how to deal with them,” Johnston says. 



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This guy sold a passul Mezuzah in NY state.

1 Comment
24 Dec, 2008
Aaron
Mezuzahs in the News

It seems that NY state has a whole section of business law that protects the consumer from being sold non-kosher Mezuzahs and Tefillin.  

Here is a link to the section  Just type Mezuzah in the search box and it will come up.

Pretty amazing huh?

Thanks to xerpentine for the tip.



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