It Says Kosher On The Bag… What Do You Say?

Take a look at how the last two words have no space in between them. Now look at the bag (below) which says, “checked by a tefillin and mezuzah checker”. Wow, thats some job he did!

I know we’ve been through this before, but I want you to understand how widespread this is. Can’t these people go find some other way to make money besides selling completly posel mezuzos to unsuspecting customers?

Many People Have Told Me You Don’t Need To Check Indoor Mezuzos These Days

I have heard many times that since the temperture is consistent in the modern houses that we live in, that it is not necessary to check mezuzos twice every seven years. I asked Reb Avraham Tzvi Wosner if there is any truth to this and he told me it is not true. He explained that there were plenty of places that the Jewish people lived in the past that had mild climates and we don’t find rabbinic sources that say that they didn’t need to check their mezuzos because of the mild climate. It also is not true that houses had only a front door and no inside rooms. There are many indications that people had houses with multiple rooms throughout history.

Where do I put the mezuzah on a tall doorway?

The halacha is to place the mezuzah at the begining of the top third of the doorway. As long as it is at least one tefach (handbreadth, about four and one half inches) from the top of the doorway it is kosher. If the doorway is very high, the mezuzah is placed at shoulder height. What is considered very high? If the mezuzah would be above the face of a normal person, the doorway is considered ‘very tall’ and the mezuzah should be placed at shoulder height. The reason for this is that mezuzos are meant to be seen, so that we remember Hashem and his torah.

Non-Jews and Mezuzos

Can a Non-Jew buy mezuzos? This is a question that must me answered on a case by case basis. If you need an answer to this question you may call me at 845-290-2546 or email me and I will try to help you.

Mezuzos Packaged in a Plastic Bag With Blue Hebrew Writing are not Kosher!

The mezuza that you see in the picture below was sealed in the plastic bag just as it appears. The mezuzah itself is a poor attempt at scribble. It has literally dozens of posul letters. It is not possible that even a semi-knowledgeable sefer could mistakenly think that it is acceptable even on a b’dieved (after the fact) level. Yet, the blue stamp on the bag says, “Checked by the Vaad for the kushrus (kosher certification) of STaM (sefer torah, tefillin, and mezuza). I myself have seen hundreds of mezuzos in these bags, many of them as poor as this. There must be hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of these mezuzos out there preventing people from performing the mitzvah. This is pure genaiva (theft)! No, its worse than theft because it is causing other people to not fulfill the mitzvah of mezuza. Its like putting up a kosher certificate in a Red Lobster restaurant. As a rule, very small mezuzos are very often not kosher. If you have the real small ones you really need to check into this. By ‘small’ I mean anything less than three inches. This doesn’t mean that there  aren’t some good very small mezuzos out there, just that you really need to check it out. It also doesn’t mean that all mezuzos that are bigger than three inches are kosher. I would say that this particular style (blue stamp on bag with menorah symbol) are all less than three inches.

Come Visit My Fully Stocked Office

I keep a full selection of mezuza cases, tefillin boxes, battim, mezuzos, and megillos on hand at all times. I also have ketores, new and used sefrei torah, and embroidered tefillin bags.

Rabbi Michaels Working in his Monsey, NY Office

Here’s the nerve center of my operation. This is where it all happens: Tefillin checking, mezuza checking, putting new eitzai chaim on sefrei torah, fixing, repairing, selling, teaching… It’s a cool place. Stop by and check it out. 4 Darby Rd. Monsey, NY 10952 (try to call before you come 845-290-2546).