Mezuzah Blog

I was looking over our order history since we started back in 2004.  I realized that we have literally covered the planet with Mezuzahs.  People all over the globe have bought Mezuzahs from us.  I started picturing this image of the Earth covered in Mezuzahs.  Then I came accross some websites that have used Google Maps to display stuff like their different store locations etc.

I realized that I could do the same thing with Mezuzahs.  Today, I put up a new section on the website called Mezuzah Planet.  It allows customers to send us in a picture of them with their Mezuzah along with a little story about what it means to them.

Also, since I realize that nobody wants to be the first with these kind of things…we decided to make a prize.  For now, we will be awarding a $108 gift certificate to the best of every 10 submissions. If the feature becomes popular, we may have to do one certificate a month or something like that, but for now, if you submitt, you have at least a 1 in 10 chance.

I can’t wait to see what you all send in!

Last week I had an experience that prompted me make this post after several weeks without a post.

A woman came into our store, Mezuzah Gallery. I was busy with something on the computer and she waited patiently smiling. I knew that I recognized her from somewhere, but I couldn’t remember where. When I was finished she said, “I just came in to thank you for being the messenger to save my baby’s life”. I wasn’t sure what she was talking about until she reminded me. “About a year ago, our baby was hospitalized because he was loosing weight at a dangerous rate. The doctors felt that the only way to save him was to do a drastic surgical procedure that is very risky. I right away remembered that it is appropriate to have your Mezuzahs checked when these kind of situations happen”.

“I brought my Mezuzahs to you that afternoon, the day before the operation was scheduled, and you brought them back to my house that evening. You found two Mezuzahs that were not kosher and I purchased new ones to replace them. I put all of the Mezuzahs including the new ones up that night before I went to sleep.”

“I went to the hospital early the next morning with my husband for the operation. When I met with the doctor, I couldn’t believe what he told me. He explained that they had just got back test results and had discovered that the problem was actually a rare bacterial infection and that all that our baby needed was antibiotics. There was no longer any need for the procedure. Our son started the antibiotics immediately and started to gain his weight back in a matter of days. He has been fine ever since.”

“Ever since, I have wanted to thank you for being a part of this miracle, and I keep putting it off. I was just in the area and I decided to stop by and see if you were in.”

That is the story as the woman told me. Now here is my side of the story. I had already made up with my wife that I would be coming home early that evening after a long stretch of working late. When this lady told me the story with her baby, I felt that I had no choice but to cancel my plans and stay late and check her Mezuzahs. By the time that I had finished checking them, and brought them to here house, it was almost midnight. Needless to say, I was a bit upset that I had to stay so late, but I was doing what I felt I had to. Only now do I know the importance of staying behind that night.

In 1998 I was a Rabinical student living in Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York. I had just completed my apprenticeship under Rabbi Elishevitz which allowed me to inspect Mezuzahs. It was between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and the neighborhood was full with guest from all over the world who had come to spend the High Holy Days in the synagogue of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

I got a phone call at about 11 pm from a man named Shlomo who I didn’t know at the time. He told me that there was a wealthy man in the neighborhood who had went to spend the holidays with his family in Israel. he knew that there were going to be a lot of guest visiting from all over the world. So he called up the Hachnosas Orchim society (Hachnosas Orchim is the Hebrew name for the Mitzvah of inviting guest into your home. Most religious Jewish communities have a Hachnosas Orchim society which arranges a place for guest to stay on Holidays or even throughout the year.) and told them that he would like to make his home available to them while he was away.

There were now several girls who were staying in his home. Three of these girls who were sharing a room had all injured their foot or legs since they came to stay. The third injury had just happened and they decided that they need to have the Mezuzahs on the home checked right away. The problem was, what sofer were they going to call in the middle of the night? Someone told them to call me because I was a student and they didn’t feel as bad waking me up.

I agreed to do the job and within 15 minutes Shlomo was at my dorm with the Mezuzahs. These were not the regular size Mezuzahs that you see on most people’s homes. This man was both very wealthy and very religious and he had made sure to purchase the best Mezuzahs available. They were very large and were written in a very beautiful script.

Shlomo had put a piece of tape with a number on each Mezuzah so that he would know where to put them back. Also he was interested to see if there was any connection between the Mezuzahs and the problem.

I got to work opening and checking each Mezuzah, looking for anything that might make the Mezuzah un-kosher. The Mezuzahs were perfect. I was amazed to find that the only problem in any of the Mezuzahs was a hairline crack in the letter “chof” of the word “Uvelectecha” which means “when you go”!

At about 2 in the morning when I had finished checking all of the Mezuzahs, I called Shlomo and told him the results. He ran back to the apartment to see which door the damaged Mezuzah had been on. It turned out that indeed it had been the door of the room that the three injured girls had been staying in!

There is an ancient tradition that the Mezuzah protects the home in which it is placed and the people who live in that home. It is believed that the Mezuzah even protects the inhabitants when they are outside of the home. This protection only holds true if the Mezuzah is a kosher one. If for some reason the Mezuzah becomes Pasul (not Kosher), the protection is no longer there.

At our store in Los Angeles, Mezuzah Gallery, we provide Mezuzah and Tefillin checking services. I am the one who checks all of the Mezuzahs and Tefillin. You are supposed to check your Mezuzahs at least every 3.5 years. Many Rabbis recommend having them checked every year. Often people will also have their Mezuzahs checked if someone gets ill or injured (H.Y.).

Occasionally when this happens, we see a very compelling connection between the problem that the person was having and the problem in the Mezuzah. For example, you may have someone who has an eye problem and when we examine their Mezuzah, we find that there is a crack in one of the letters of the word “Einecha” (your eyes) in the Mezuzah.

All of this being said, I must point out that having a non-Kosher Mezuzah doesn’t cause bad things to happen. It is just that without Kosher Mezuzahs on our door, we are lacking the special divine protection that G-d offers to those who fulfill the Mitzvah of Mezuzah properly. From time to time I will post some of the stories that happen in our store. I will of course leave out the name or change it to an alias to protect the privacy of our customers. Keep your eyes open for the first story in this series which should be coming soon.