Home Security

House burglaries are a common form of theft and the installation of home security systems is a big business. There are many options. Some bar their windows, others install cameras and yet others alarms. Some bolt their doors and others reinforce their locks, but when all is said and done the most important piece of home security is the one guaranteed by G-d. Namely, the Mezuzah – the commandment to affix a scroll with select portions from the Torah onto the doorpost.

Just before their exodus from Egypt G-d instructed our ancestors to slaughter a lamb and paint it’s blood on the doorposts of their homes. This would mark the home as Jewish and G-d would Pass Over the home when He struck the Egyptian firstborn. The paint on the doorpost protected the Jew from the plague of the first born. (1)

There is a similarity between the commandment to affix a scroll to our doorposts and the blood on our doorposts in Egypt. Our sages taught that when a Jew affixes a Mezuzah to the doorpost G-d protects the home from all harm. (2) In fact on the reverse  of the scroll affixed to the door are three Hebrew letters, Shin Daled and Yud, which spell one of G-d’s ineffable names, but tradition teaches that they are also an acronym for Shomer Daltot Yisrael, guardian of the Jewish door. (3)

This guardianship is not merely a reward for fulfilling this commandment, it is part and parcel of the commandment meaning that this commandment is designed specifically to protect our homes. (4) For example, if the doorway is deep, the scroll is placed on the outer section of the doorpost to include the entire home in the Mezuzah’s blanket of protection. (5)

Yet, to fulfill this commandment purely for the sake of protection is foolish for the Mezuzah contains a much deeper message than mere protection of the home. (6)

The Domicile of I

The doorpost represents a gateway into the domicile of I. All day long I am preoccupied with others. On the street I am conscientious of others. In the store I am obliged to pay others, at work I am required to serve others and in the market I am considerate of others.

When I finally arrive home at the end of a long day I can’t wait to enter the domicile of I. Here I have no master, but me. I don’t worry about my boss, my neighbors, my friends or my clients. Here I am my own person, I do what I like and enjoy. My doorpost is the gateway to my inner world. The world where the I is capitalized and where my dominion is exclusive.

It is here that I must pause for a moment to consider what I am. Being alone is a relief, but it can also be lonely. When I peer into the depths of my soul I can’t help but ask why I keep it up? What is my purpose and main thrust? I work for money, I shop for food, I eat to live, but what do I live for? The crux of the question is not only why do I do this, but how. What gives me the strength to carry on? What keeps me going?

This and That

The mystics taught that the Mezuzah, by its very name, answers that question. The word Mezuzah contains the two Hebrew words, Zu and Ze. Both Zu and Ze mean “this,” but Zu is feminine whereas Ze is Masculine. (7)

In our relationship with G-d we are often described as the bride to the groom. Accordingly, when the Torah speaks of us, it employs the feminine term Zu as in” Am Zu Yotzarti Li,” I formed this nation for myself. When the Torah speaks of G-d it employs the masculine Ze as in” Ze [K]eli,” this is my G-d. (8)

When we pause at the doorway and take in the Mezuzah we reflect on the words inscribed upon it. The first verse in the Mezuzah reads “Hear O’ Israel, G-d is our Lord G-d is one.” (9)It is the mission statement of the Jew and on a broader scale, of humanity. G-d is our lord. He is not an abstract being parked in the heavens. He is here with us down below. He is beside me and with me. (10)

We stop and think of this and that, the Jew and G-d. All day long I have relished the moment of coming home and being myself. Now that I am about to be me, I stop and reflect that I am never truly alone; G-d is always with me. He created me, gives me the strength to carry on and is my reason for living.

I am alive so I can fulfill His commandments. I have time for myself so I can study the Torah. I have extra money so I can support the poor. I have a home so I can raise my children, the next generation of G-d’s servants. Of course I enjoy the fruits of my labor along the way. Along my path in life, I built a home, established a family, developed a circle of friends, enjoy family and social time, established a reputation, grew my career and do all kinds of things I that enjoy. But I never forget the reason behind it all. I never forget that the sum of all things is to stand with G-d. (11)

In fact the Mezuzah teaches me that I am not a separate entity from G-d, a person, who serves Him. G-d and I, this and that, merge completely in the formation of the word, Mezuzah. We are a single entity; G-d created and sustains me so that I would serve Him. We are a circle that closes on itself in perfect symmetry. A single unit. A Mezuzah. (12)

The Door

The Mezuzah is affixed to the door. The word for door in Hebrew is Delet. In Hebrew, an incredibly sophisticated language, every word is intimately linked with others. Delet is linked with the word Dal, which itself has two separate and even contrary meanings. It means impoverished and it means to uplift, which in some ways are symmetrical because the impoverished are the ones that require uplifting.  

The doorway is the point of interface between our home and the world and between ourselves and G-d. Its name, Delet, is linked with dalut, poverty, which is our condition before we realize our ever present connection with G-d. But it is also linked with ascendance - the condition that results from our contact with G-d.

When I approach my home, the domicile of I, and think only of myself, I am deprived of the richness and infinite depth of meaning life bestows upon me. I become an impoverished soul. Fittingly, it is upon this Delet, that I affix a Mezuzah and allow G-d to lift me up. (13)

Footnotes

1. Exodus 12: 7, 13, 22 and 23.
2. A human king sits indoors and his servants guard him from outside. We sleep peacefully in our beds and G-d guards us from outside. Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 11a.
3. Siddur Hoari Zal: Kavanas Mezuzah.
4. See Tosafot on Menachos 34a. Bach on Yorah Deah, 285 and Likutei Sichos v. 19, pp. 121-128.
5. Babylonian Talmud, Menachos 33b.
6. Tur, Yorah Deah, end of ch. 285.
7. Sefer Haliukutim (Tzemach Tzedek) on Mezuzah: p.198.
8. Isaiah 43: 21 and Exodus 15: 2.
9. Deuteronomy 5:4.
10. My wife’s grandmother lost her husband at a relatively young age. She once wrote to the Lubavitcher Rebbe OBM that she is lonely. The Rebbe’s response resonated with her. A Jew is never lonely, the Rebbe told her, A Jew is always with G-d.
11. Torah Ohr, Miketz, 42c.
12. The Zohar teaches (Tikunei Zohar Tikun 22) that the Torah commands us to write Mezozot in the plural. The letters of the word Mezuzot can be rearranged to read Zaz Mavet, which means death is removed. G-d is the source of all life and connection with G-d is a bond with the flowing pulsing flow of life. Anything that separates me from G-d is the antithesis of life. My reflections at the Mezuzah ensure that my home life is suffused with Divinity and fully alive. Zaz Mavet, the spirit of life’s antithesis, the impure temptations that lure me from G-d, are removed.
13. This is the secret of the name David, which is spelled with two Daleds and the name Dodi, my beloved, ascribed to G-d by King Solomon in Song of Songs. The double Daled connotes the lifting up of the impoverished. This relationship entails a dual dynamic, the human must rise up and G-d must reach down. Hence both G-d and the human are given names with the secret of the two Daleds. In this dynamic G-d responds to the entreaty of the human, but on Passover we reached a point of complete transcendence whereby G-d passes over the door. The door (the dual Daled dynamic) represents the point of interface between G-d and the human. Passing over the door represents a gift that G-d bestows of His own volition. This sort of gift is not commensurate with our effort. It is completely beyond our reach, given us only as a gift from above. This is reflected in the letter Hei – the letter immediately after Daled. The letter Hei appears twice in the Tetragrammaton, the name of G-d’s essence, which corresponds to the two Daleds in the names David and Dodi. This is why Passover centers on the Hei as evidenced by the Hei in the word Matzah (unleavened bread), which is distinguished from the word Chametz (leavened bread) only by its Hei. Mezuzah also touches on this transcendence and though it is centered on the letter Daled it also has shades of Hei. This is evidenced by the word Hebrew Dirah, which means domicile, vis a vis the word Dir, which means a horse’ stall. A stall does not require a Mezuzah, only a human domicile necessitates one. The difference between living as a beast and living as a human is rooted in the letter Hei. When we live as recipients of G-d’s blessing and as His servants we underscore the essence of what it means to be human and are thus capable of connecting with G-d. Once capable we become required to affix a Mezuzah to our doorpost. This thought grows even richer when we consider the version of the Kolbo, who wrote that the three letters on the reverse of the Mezuzah scroll represent the words Shomer Dirot Yisrael.

The Argument

Shmuley Boteach’s book Kosher J has become the hottest topic of Jewish debate on the internet with many rabbis objecting to it and Shmuley defending it.

The heart of Shmuley’s defense rests on the lack of specificity in the rabbinical objections. The condemnations of the book and its author are largely based on the title and spirit of the book rather than it content. (The exception being Rabbi Dr. Immanuel J Shochet, a widely acclaimed authority on the subject, who issued his objection after  reading the book) Shmuley maintains that books cannot be critiqued unless they have been studied and under normal circumstances he is absolutely right.

But these circumstances are hardly normal. Shmuley’s book isn’t being condemned on its merits but on its consequences. Rabbis have no wish to engage in polemics for the very reason they seek to discourage readership of the book.

The Danger

They object for fear that public declarations about the Kashrut of Christianity’s founder may lead to a blurring of the line between the two faiths. Regardless of the book’s content there is a real danger that unlettered Jews will be made vulnerable to Christian proselytizers who might easily quote Shmuley out of context to demonstrate that America’s Rabbi doesn’t think J is all that dangerous.

Words are tricky and the wise heed the calling of the Mishnah to select them carefully. Allow me to use a quick example from Shmuley’s Facebook page. In making the argument that Judaism is behind most world religions (hardly a novel argument – it is the thesis of Rabbi Yehudah Halevi’s medieval book, the Kuzari) Shmuey states that Judaism “gave the world G-d, Now His name is JC.”

Of course I realize that Shmuley was merely trying to say that what Chistians call G-d is a knock off Jewish product, but think of what the enterprising missionary can do with this statement. They will claim that Shmuley Boteach, America’s Rabbi, declared the real G-d of the Jews is…. JC! There was once a Jewish G-d, but with the advent of Christianity the Jewish G-d became…. Can you imagine the fallout from this quote? What will the unsuspecting Jew, who has always known that notwithstanding his own religious lapses, JC remains beyond the pale, say when presented with this quote?  How will this Jew know that it was quoted out of context.

Will Shmuley be responsible for this fallout? Absolutely! He can argue till he is blue in the face that his quote was shameless misinterpreted, but his subtle nuance will be lost on the average Jew because measured arguments are poor responses to sensational sound bites.

Shmuley can argue all day that his intent was the very opposite and that anyone who reads his book will know that Christianity was the last thing on its founder’s mind. Shmuley can argue all day that embracing a Kosher J strengthens our Judaism and insulates it against missionary efforts, but even if this is true, it only helps those who read it. The vast majority of Jews will not likely read the book and won’t know this little fact. The vast majority of Jews won’t have an efficient response when confronted with America’s rabbi’s support for J. The vast majority of Jew has just been exposed to the powerful tool Shmuley has placed in the missionary’s hands.

Reading the book and debating its points doesn’t mitigate this simple fact. Shmuley’s argument that you can’t object to his book until you read it is false because these objections are directed at those who are not likely to read it, but who are likely to be influenced by it.

Raising the Book's Profile

That these very objections raise the book’s profile and will likely increase its readership is regrettable, but, just the same, the public nature of this debate will also achieve the aim of its detractors.

Bearing in mind that our primary concern is for the vast majority of Jews, who won’t read the book, this very public discussion will inform even them that the book doesn’t endorse the Christian faith. Further, it will inform them that even if America’s self proclaimed Rabbi claims J is Kosher, the preponderance of his colleagues disagree.

This very public controversy is welcomed by the book’s detractors because it empowers the unlettered Jew in the missionary’s sight.  Even if s/he hasn’t read the book, s/he can still know that it doesn’t endorse Christianity and that any quote from it that appears to do so is out of context. The response to such quotations would simply be, “I haven’t read the book but I know that most Jews disagree with it. Further, its author claims that if I read it I would know you just quoted him out of context.”

In this most ironic of ways we are grateful to Shmuley for using his star power to highlight the objections. Without Shmuley’s very public responses the objections would have hardly been heard on America’s streets. Now the world at large knows that all might not be kosher with Shmuley’s new book and that all is certainly not Kosher with the missionary who uses this book to bolster his faith.

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