The secret to avoiding Gaza rockets...

Last year, more than 1,000 crude Qassam rockets fired by Gaza militants hit southern Israel. Despite all the strikes, only two people were killed.

Some might chalk that up to the fact that the rockets have no guidance systems, little explosive power and a limited range.

But ultra-religious leaders in Israel suspect there may be other, or other-worldly, reasons why some homes are hit and others are not.

Maariv reported this week that religious leaders have discovered that many of the homes hit by Qassam rockets had "defective" mezuzahs. (Mezuzahs are parchments with Biblical passages placed in special cases and affixed to the doors of Jewish homes for protection.)

A defective mezuzah was even discovered in the office of the mayor of Sderot, the town hit most by the Gaza rockets.

Sderot officials say they are immediately embarking on a campaign to rectify the problem... 

Sderot: Special Unit Locates Defective Mezuzahs

Maariv

by Yaron Sasson

Despite the many tactics being used today, from targeted killings, developing anti-rocket weapons and fortifying homes—the inhabitants of Sderot are trying to find solutions from other directions in order to protect themselves from the Qassam rockets.

Now on the agenda: repairing mezuzahs.  

Religious officials in the city claim that examinations of mezuzahs there located many that were defective, and many of the defective ones were found in homes that had been hit.

They said that in places where the Qassam rockets fell in the street and did not enter the yards of houses, kosher mezuzahs were found.

Because of the security situation, ritual scribes from Lod have come to the city every Friday, checking the mezuzahs in homes and various public buildings in Sderot.

Until now, thirty percent of the mezuzahs that were checked were found to be defective or completely unfit. Seventy percent were found to be completely kosher.

In the city’s schools, many defective mezuzahs were found, and the scribes reported this to the school’s administration. Similar examinations were carried out in the Sderot municipality, where the scribes were appalled to discover an unfit mezuzah at the entrance to the office of Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal and at the entrance to the auditorium.

Although in other places the scribes had asked people to buy mezuzahs and put them up, the scribes replaced the mezuzahs in the mayor’s office on their own initiative.

“Moyal is responsible for the city and his office is the entrance to the city, so we did it,” said Rabbi Moshe Zeev Pizam, the director of Sderot’s Chabad House. “An unfit mezuzah does not do anything bad. It just doesn’t provide protection, and the inhabitants of Sderot need that very much.”

The deputy mayor of Sderot, Rabbi Oren Malka, said yesterday that the municipality intends to adopt the scribes’ recommendations and change the mezuzahs that were found to be unfit.

Comments

[john]

what makes a mezuzah unfit? I'm guessing when you buy a cheap knock-off rather than one certified by the local rabbi. i wonder if they make them in china also.

[Ardie]

I believe that if Israel made a giant mezuzah, maybe a 100 meters long, it might be effective by protecting all of Israel from all harm--sort of a Zionist force field.

[Dion Nissenbaum]

According to custom, mezuzahs must be affixed to the door frames at a certain height and angle. If the parchment inside becomes damaged or torn, it is considered defective. If the words are blurred by weather, the mezuzah is considered defective.

[James Hannah]

Good Grief! I'm sure that the missles were sent with prayers desirous of their striking their targets. Could those prayers have been defective as well?

[InSouthChicago]

Preliminaries ... I am a Jew. I have had friends who are members of the Lubavitch and thus I have some insight into their "magical thinking." Religious objects such as Mezuzuahs have (according to Lubavitchers) have magical properties that impart protective qualities. These objects must conform exactly to specifications defined in Jewish Law in order to provide these protective qualities.

This is not mainstream Judaism by any stretch of the imagination. I'm surprised that the mainstream Orthodox haven't denounced the Lubavitcher Rabbis for their pronouncement. (Maybe they have, but it hasn't been reported.)

The Mezuzuah holds some of the most sacred words in Judaism. Jews have been instructed to place this object on their door posts. Thus, the Mezuzuah on the door post is a sign of faith and devotion, and membership in the Jewish community. That's it. Nothing more.

The Lubavitchers are saying that a perfect mezuzuah is something more ... a talisman. That is, "a small object intended to bring good luck and/or protection to its owner." This is sympathetic magic, also known as witchcraft. Something specifically forbidden under Jewish Law. (Not under pain of death as has been many times misinterpreted, but that's for another time.)

Will the Orthodox denounce this pronouncement or not? Most Israelis care little, but small, noisy groups do. So, I'm interested to see how this will play out.

[bill]

This is the best satirical piece I've read outside The Onion. Really funny stuff. Keep it up.

[Georgann Marks]

How do we get one of these to protect us from Jewish Americans.

I'm sick of living in Sobibor West with a Jew in every watchtower.

[Georgann Marks]

How do we get one of these to protect us from Jewish Americans.

I'm sick of living in Sobibor West with a Jew in every watchtower.

[Deborah Hartman]

What are the words written on the Mezuzahs? In English