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
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Church’s Chicken/White Castle
Conservative Cuts
Dollar Castle
DTLR
Dr. Lazar
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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!