Rabbi's Blog

One of the highlights of each year living and working here in San Diego is when our city becomes inundated with Jewish visitors from Israel, Mexico, Canada, Europe, the Northeast (including Borough Park), the Midwest, and from any place north of San Diego up the California coast. There are several times a year when we welcome vacationers, researchers, business people, and those who arrive to attend conferences, meetings, and a wide variety of situational needs. But there is nothing like “bein ha’zmanim’, the weeks from after Tisha B’Av until Rosh Chodesh Elul. For some, it is the arrival of the Labor Day weekend that marks the official end of summer, openly remarking that San Diego is the city of choice to enjoy our weather and scenic beauty. Regardless of the reason, these visitors cause our fair city to transform from the appearance of a major Jewish city to that of a small, out-of-town vacation spot.

Over the years I have been asked by many tourists/visitors about the existence of antisemitism in the area. The concern stems from the obvious Jewish garb, women’s head coverings, the wearing of kippot, tzitzis hanging out, longer beards and peiyos (sidelocks) adorning a face. I for one, in twenty-eight years, Baruch Hashem, have not directly experienced an antisemitic act that caused fear or concern for the welfare of our Jewish population. This week, one of our chassidishe couples asked me if they need to be concerned about any gentiles starting up with them, seeing that his dress displays their obvious Jewish identity. I immediately, flatly told them, “NO. There was no reason for concern due to how they appeared or dressed, no more than any other Jew living in San Diego had such concerns.  One concern expressed was regarding how, after eight-thirty each night, it grew so quiet around the area where the couple was renting their Airbnb, explaining that the quietude caused them to feel uneasy and nervous.  A second - and greater - concern was antisemitism. Their view, as well as the view of many others who have seen a spike in open acts of antisemitism in some of the major American Jewish communities, and reported by the media and news outlets, is, unfortunately, not uncommon. However, for the most part, the gentile population of San Diego does not view the city’s Jewish population as ‘different’ or abhorrent.  While they do express concern about the development of world events which affect the Jewish people, they do so with apparent respect.*  We must realize that it is not just here in San Diego that we feel safer, or out of sight to the larger groups of people picking on the Jews. Rather it is because of our outward dress code that we deserve extra protection from above. The Jewish people are blessed with many mitzvos that guard and protect us in different ways. We read about this protection in last week’s Pasha, and oddly enough we will read about it again this week.

The Torah, in this week’s Parshas Eikev, states in Devarim 11:20 " וכתבתם על מזוזות ביתך ובשעריך"   “[Also]… write them on [parchments affixed to] the doorposts of your houses and gates”. This identical passuk is in Devarim 6:9. This is addressed by the Ramban who asks, ”Has he not already mentioned ‘with all thy heart and with all thy soul’?” The Ramban sources Rashi, quoting the Sifre 41 in Eikev, that the first warning was addressed to the individual, and here, the second time, is a warning to the community (vis a vis the land getting rain or not). This teaches us that the individual lives and dies by his own merits while the tzibbur/community follows the majority of the people. It is only when the majority of Jews are following Hashem that we will be blessed; if only a minority follow Hashem, we will be cursed.  

The B’er Heitev specifically explains the connection or repetition of the mitzva of mezuza is that through this mitzva one will extend and have long life as promised. Reading the following passuk of וכתבתם על מזוזות ביתך ובשעריך  is the verse למען ירבו ימיכם  ‘in order to increase the days on this land’. Rav Moshe Shternbuch, Shlit”a explains the word וכתבתם  and you shall write them in singular, but the guaranteed blessing that follows is in plural. This comes to teach us that one who affixes a mezuzah to the entry of his home is actually ‘calling out’ - announcing his/her Judaism. The individual is not embarrassed, but rather proud. The act openly shows  not only a lack of nervousness or fear, as some Jews are to display their Judaism in the open. Through placing the mezuzah proudly on the doorpost, he is teaching and giving more merit and credit to other Jews to observe and to show our Judaism as the representatives of Hashem. The promise through which one attains long life is attributed to the symbiotic relationship that when an individual does something for the tzibbur/community, the tzibbur does something for the individual. Since the person is protecting the community by demonstrating the commitment to clearly display the mezuzah, the community offers protection to the individual for long life. This fundamental idea is based upon a Gemara Taanis 9a that Moshe Rabbeinu was not referred to as an individual. Because the public needed him, he is considered equivalent to an entire tzibbur/community. This principle applies to every generation since the time of Moshe until this very day.

In conclusion, I will share two stories to emphasize the importance and the greatness of this mitzva. The first is a story told over by Rav Yitzchok Yerucham Diskin about his famed father, Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin for whom the famous Diskin Orphanage in Israel is named. Rav Diskin would pay certain Sofrim/scribes to go house to house and check each mezuza to see if it had become passul – invalid.  This extra expense was paid through the funds of the orphanage itself. Rav Diskin explained” This expense is actually the collection.” Rav Diskin continued by explaining the ‘follow up guarantee’ from the Torah that this mitzva will protect the lives of the fathers so that there will be a decrease in the number of orphans, hence a decrease in the amount of money needed to support the orphanage. The second story is recorded in the Sh’iltos of Rav Achoi Gaon (Sh’ilta 145 Parshas Eikev) about a gentile who had only one daughter who became deathly ill. All the doctors and medical personnel came to treat her, but none were successful. They called the great sage Rebbi who, upon arriving at the home, wrote a new mezuzah and affixed it to the doorpost. The demon that had brought about the illness immediately departed from the girl, and she was completely healed.

Certain mitzvos are more challenging than others, but the protection - and the guarantee - is so acutely found in the mitzva of mezuzah. Like everything in life, there is inflation of costs which arise in mezuzos as well. Long gone are the days of the ‘cheap’ mezuzos.  As a reminder, there is a mitzva to check mezuzos twice every seven years, but there is a strong custom to check them annually during the month of Elul.  Perhaps, in the merit of collective dedication to this mitzva, this will bring an important and necessary Shmira to the entire Klal Yisrael that is so deeply needed today. 

* I do say this with caution and mention this should continue to be the status quo with the help of the Almighty.  

Ah Gutten Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky