52 | SEPTEMBER 2 • 2021 

OUR COMMUNITY

A 

mezuzah on the 
doorpost identifies 
a Jewish home. The 
sight of a mezuzah in a strange 
town has brought relief to trav-
elers and refugees throughout 
our history. And even though 
the mezuzah would still identify 
a Jewish home if the letters on 
the scroll wore off; it would not 
fulfill the technical requirements 
of the commandment. 
The month before Rosh 
Hashanah many Jews check that 
their mezuzot remain 
valid. If we see Rosh 
Hashanah and Yom 
Kippur as days of 
judgment, it makes 
sense to see Elul, the 
month before the 
High Holidays, as 
time to make sure we 
are doing our good 
deeds properly. 
Rabbi Shlomo 
Ganzfried (1804-
1886), in his popu-
lar book of Jewish 
law, Kitzur Shulhan 
Arukh, praised people 
who have their mezuzot and 
tefillin checked in Elul. 
Rabbi Levi Kagan of Oak 
Park, a sofer — scribe who 
writes tefillin, mezuzot and 
Torah scrolls — notes that the 
late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi 
Menachem Mendel Schneerson 
(1902-1994), would remind his 
followers every year to check 
their mezuzot. 
Centuries ago, according to 
Rabbi Kagan, people had more 
reason to check a mezuzah. The 
scroll of an outside mezuzah 
could become damaged by 

rain and snow; the scroll of an 
indoor mezuzah still could suf-
fer from condensation on walls 
and leaky roofs. Nowadays, 
mezuzot survive longer. 
Nonetheless, some people scru-
pulously check their mezuzot 
every year. 
Rabbi Yosef Lange, who 
worked as a sofer in Oak Park 
for decades until his recent 
move to Israel, notes that “Elul 
does become hectic for sof-
rim worldwide. Of course, not 
everyone checks their 
mezuzot but there is an 
increased volume.
” 
Even so, Elul is 
not especially busy 
for Rabbi Kagan. He 
devotes most of his 
working hours to 
writing, rather than 
checking. For him, 
“every season is a busy 
season.
” 
Rabbi Kagan con-
nects getting your 
mezuzah checked with 
the tale of a city threat-
ened by impending 
disaster. When the community 
gathered to pray for deliverance, 
the rabbi placed an unlikely 
object at the front of the syna-
gogue as the most potent appeal: 
the local grocery scale. The 
grocer had recalibrated his scale 
every day, to make sure that he 
would not ever be guilty of theft 
from his suppliers or customers. 
In Rabbi Kagan’s words, 
“God likes it when we try to 
do everything right.
” Checking 
your mezuzah, for Rabbi Kagan, 
means making sure you do 
things right. 

Make sure your scroll is undamaged.

Time to Check 
Your Mezuzah? 

LOUIS FINKELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Lincoln Shopping Center

GREENFIELD and 10½ MILE

Advance America

ALDI

Bling Bling

Book Beat

Church’s Chicken/White Castle

Conservative Cuts

Dollar Castle

DTLR

Dr. Lazar

J Anthony

Kroger

Lee Beauty Supply

McDonalds

Metro PCS

Metropolitan Dry Cleaners

Mookey’s Beans & Greens

Original Bread Basket

Rainbow

Street Corner Music

Step In Style

Suit Depot

T Nails

Top That

The shops at
Lincoln Shopping Center

Happy
Happy

New Year!
New Year!

