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EYKEV 5785
Your Mezuzah is Better Than Ozempic
There’s a knock at the rabbi’s door. The rabbi opens the door and it’s his non-Jewish next-door neighbor. The rabbi asks, “Is everything ok?”
The neighbor responds, “No, I’ve been robbed 3 times in the last month, and I’ve notice that no one has robbed you.”
The rabbi smiled at his neighbor, and he points to the doorpost saying, “It’s the mezuzah. Inside the mezuzah case is a parchment with writing from the Torah. It will protect you and protect your house.”
The neighbor says, “Rabbi I gotta get one of those.”
The rabbi gives his neighbor a mezuzah case with the proper scroll inside and everything seems to be wonderful. About a month later there’s a knock on the rabbi’s door and the neighbor is holding the mezuzah. The rabbi asks, “What’s the matter? Were you robbed?”
“No rabbi, I wasn’t robbed. But from the day I put that mezuzah on my front door, every other day there was a knock on the door by someone asking for a donation. Please rabbi, take back your mezuzah!”
In today’s Torah portion we find the 2nd paragraph of the Shema which contains the mitzvah of mezuzah (Deut. 11:20): Uch-tavtam al m’zuzot beytecha uvish’arecha (And you shall write them [Gd’s commandments] upon the doorposts of your home and on your gates). The problem is, Moses already gave us this mitzvah in last week’s Torah portion with the passage containing the 1st paragraph of the Shema. Why the repetition?
The Shulchan Aruch/Code of Jewish Law (Yoreh Deah 285) indicates that it’s to emphasize the special power of this mitzvah … and that is seen by the next few words in our parsha: L’maan yirbu y’meychem ([Put a mezuzah on your doorposts] So that your days will be lengthened).
My friends, isn’t everyone looking for that elixir of life, that miracle drug that’ll give us long life? It turns out it’s not Lipitor, or Wegovy or Ozempic. It turns out the longevity pill is not swallowed, ingested nor even injected. It’s a mezuzah put on the doorpost of your home! A mezuzah can protect you.
A mezuzah should be affixed to every door of your home—except for bathrooms and storage rooms. I think all of us here have a mezuzah, at least on our front door and bedroom. We may pass it dozens of times a day. And I confess, sometimes I don’t think twice about it, but I should. Because if Gd thinks so much of this mitzvah to repeat it in His Torah, how can I not give it the attention it deserves?
What is a mezuzah? A mezuzah is a parchment scroll upon which are written the 1st 2 paragraphs of the Shema, both containing the mitzvah of mezuzah—very powerful verses that speak of the love and oneness of Gd and how we can be one with Him. The scroll is written on parchment by a scribe like a Torah. This scroll thus has a great degree of holiness and that holiness is brought into your home.
It’s placed in a small box and affixed to the upper 1/3 of the right side of the door as you enter the room. When you kiss the mezuzah upon entering and leaving your home or room, you’re constantly reminded of Gd and His unbounding love for us. It is this remembrance and the appreciation it brings that literally conveys the protective power of the Shechina /Gd’s Divine Presence into our homes.
Jewish literature is filled with stories of the mezuzah’s protective power. The most famous comes from the Jerusalem Talmud (Peyah 1:1, 15d):
The Parthian King Ardavan (2nd century) sent Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi a priceless gem, with the request: “Let me have in return an article as valuable as this.” So he sent the king a mezuzah.
The king was upset and replied: “I gave you a priceless object, and you return to me a scroll of parchment?”
Rabbi Yehuda responded: “You sent me something I must guard, while I sent you something which guards you!” The Talmud then tells us that the king personally experienced the power of the mezuzah when his daughter became ill. The mezuzuah was affixed to the doorpost of her room and she soon was healed.
Let me share a few modern stories from my book, Dancing With Gd—all of which actually happened:
The 1st is about a young boy who complained of severe headaches. His parents took him to several doctors to try to diagnose and cure the problem. An ophthalmologist told them he needed surgery immediately or he would risk losing sight in one eye. His rabbi cautioned him to 1st check the mezuzah from his son’s bedroom.
The scribe, who examined the mezuzah, found a serious defect that rendered it not kosher. The word eyneycha (your eye) was written incorrectly. The father immediately replaced the mezuzah. At doctor’s final check before surgery, he saw a small improvement and delayed the surgery. After a couple of weeks, the headaches were gone and the eye completely healed. Baruch Hashem!
There’s the story of a cute toddler who, at age 2, still did not talk. His parents had taken him to several specialists—to no avail. After his 3rd birthday his father poured out his heart to his rabbi about his son. The rabbi told him to check the mezuzah on his son’s door. The word v’dibarta (and you shall speak) was misspelled. 2 days after a new mezuzah was affixed to the door, the child began to speak!
The next story is about a man who had suffered 2 mild heart attacks. He had checked all his mezuzot after each attack, but no problem was found. After his cardiologist told him he was in danger of a 3rd heart attack, it was suggested that he send his mezuzot to be checked with the new computerized scanning program. He did and the word l’vavchem (your heart) was found to have a small, but significant defect.
My last story is about a young man who was taken in by a cult. The parents sought the advice of a famous Kabbalist who told them to check the mezuzah on the doorpost of his bedroom. A defect in the word echad, which speaks about the Oneness of Gd was found. The last letter, the dalet, had the upper right-hand corner chipped off so it looked like the letter reysh, changing it to read acheyr, which indicates another god. Not long after replacing the mezuzah with a kosher one, the young man returned to his family and Judaism.
You can see photos of these mezuzot on pages 68-70 in my book.
What’s the secret of the mezuzah and why does it have such power to save us from danger? Maimonides teaches: A person should be fastidious in the mitzvah of mezuzah. Every time you enter or exit a room, every time you touch and kiss the mezuzah, you can have an encounter with the oneness of Gd. It has the power to shake you awake from your slumber and all the petty foolishness in our lives.
It can even help bring Shalom Bayit, peace to the home it protects. How? Everyone wants a peaceful family without bickering and anger. We want to let things go and compromise. But as soon as we walk through the door of our homes we forget—we get caught up in all the nonsense. So how do we remember to compromise and to let things go before we walk through the door?
The answer is the mezuzah! Why is a mezuzah placed on a slant? It looks crooked—almost like a mistake. But it’s no mistake. You see, the great commentators on the Talmud Menachot 33a differed. Rashi said it should be vertical while his grandson—Rabbenu Tam—said it should be horizontal. And even though in Jewish law we don’t often compromise, right at the entrance of the Jewish home we do. We follow Rabbi Jacob ben Asher who proposed affixing the mezuzah on a slant—to reminds us every time we walk through that door to let things go, to give in and get what we really want—which is a happy home, to not sweat the small stuff with our family, to let things roll off our backs and have peace.
My friends, the next time you’re about to enter your home, look at the mezuzah and feel the power of Gd’s protection and remember to show only love inside your home. Amen!
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