Safrus Programs, Lectures, and Events

Rabbi Michaels is available to speak about tefillin and mezuzos in a classroom setting or for adult education classes in your shul. He brings along an interesting assortment of displays that he has collected over the years. His goal is to make the mitzvos of tefillin and mezuza come alive for the group. He has spoken to both young children and adults across the religious spectrum. Rabbi Michaels can be contacted at 845-290-2546 or by email at offices@mezuzadepot.com.

Used Mezuzos For Sale 845-290-2546

Purchasing Used Mezuzos

Used Mezuzos are a great option when you need inexpensive mezuzos and you don’t need top of the line. For example, you are going to be living somewhere for a few months (and I don’t have enough mezuzos in my gemach to help you), and you don’t want to spend a fortune buying mezuzos which you won’t need after you move out. Or maybe you are moving out of your current home and you need to leave mezuzos but you don’t want to leave your good mezuzos. I sell used mezuzos in two price categories: $22.00 and $28.00. They are all checked by me and found to be free of problems. The $28.00 mezuzos are nicer and neater than the $22.00 mezuzos but I usually have less of them in stock. Call me up and tell me how many you need. 845-290-2546. I can almost always send them out right away!

Used Tefillin For Sale 845-290-2546

Purchasing Certified Used Tefillin

Purchasing  a used set tefillin can be  an excellent way to acquire a good set of tefillin at  substantial savings.   From time to time I come across a set of used tefillin which I feel is a good investment for somebody who would like to own a good set of tefillin but isn’t in a financial situation to buy new. Are there any drawbacks to used tefillin? Yes, there is one thing you need to understand: I can’t guarantee  that the sofer who wrote the parshios has s’michah, or if he understands the halachot of writing tefillin. In other words, when I check a set of tefillin I check what I see in front of me. I can’t know if the sofer did everything correctly while he was writing them. For example, tefillin must be written in order. You can’t add a letter that you forgot to put in after the tefillin are written.  When I sell new sets of tefillin I check out the soferim and I make sure they know the halachos thoroughly. You’ll notice that the title of this post is ‘Certified Used Tefillin’. I am certifying that everything that I can see is kosher and properly made. Most sets of used tefillin do not meet my standards and I will not offer them for sale! I reject any used tefillin and mezuzos that I am not completely comfortable with. That being said, you may decide that a used set is what you are looking for. I will lists sets that I have available and that I consider a good buy. Everything that I offer will be checked by me and I will provide as much information (including photos upon request) as you need in order to make the best decision possible.

5/26/09 Used Gassos Tefillin For Sale

I have a used set of Gassos Tefillin. This means that the battim are strong and thick. The parshios are good, and thoroughly checked by me as well as computer scanned. I just painted the retzuous (straps) with a nice new coat of shiny black paint. They are looking quite good. If you are interested in this set but you want brand new retzuous I can add them in for $30.00 (which is a $20 discount). This is a set that will last for decades and decades (provided you take care of them, of course (like no scuba diving with them on)). This is a great way to get Gassos, and save about $200. I have checked out the battim very carefully, and certify them to be kosher. $650.00 Contact me for more info.

6/1/09 Used Peshutos Tefillin Not For Sale

Today I was checking a set of used tefillin parshios that looked as if they had very good potential to be an inexpensive set for somebody. Unfortunately during my examination several problems turned up. Even though one of the problems was not that serious, when taken in the context of not just one problem, I concluded that this would not be an appropriate set of tefillin even as a last resort for those lacking funds. So the bottom line is these Used Peshutos Tefillin are Not For Sale. How much would they have been for sale for? About $180. If this sounds like what you are looking for, contact me and as soon as I have something available I will let you know.

Upside Down Mezuzos

Today I did a Mezuzah HouseCall and found seven upside down mezuzos! An upside down mezuzah doesn’t fulfill the mitzvah. I often see a single upside down mezuzah, but seven? How could this happen? The homeowner told me that he bought all of them in Eretz Yisroel from the same person. In addition to being only barely acceptable as far as kashrus goes, the person who sold them didn’t even know how to put them into the case! I hope the conclusion that you draw from this will be, “Just because it comes from Israel doesn’t mean it is kosher”. So many people have this idea in their head that if it comes from Israel it must be good. Not true. I will say that a large percentage of the tefillin and mezuzos that I sell do come Israel, but they are coming from people that I know and trust. I’ll tell you another thing this person told me. His son who is presently in Israel lost his tefillin. He instructed his son to go buy a new set. His son went to Meah Sh’arim and bought a new set. The total price was $300.00. I told him he should  definitely get them checked as soon as possible. Since he had just purchased a new set for another son and spent three times as much, he very much agreed with me that they need to be checked.

Let me know what you think: Do they need to be checked right away or not?

By the way, here is a good tip for making sure your mezuzos are right side up: When you are ready to put up your mezuzos, place all the cases on the table in front of you with the tops away from you. Next, place all the mezuzos on the table with the tops away from you. Now double check that all the tops of all the cases and all the mezuzos are away from you. If you place all the mezuzos into the cases when every thing is set up like this, it is almost impossible for you to make a mistake.