Mezuzah Reader
What is the mezuzah? What is this little box in various forms hanging over our doorposts and gates that every so often people reach out for and touch before entering? What is this mysterious powerful energy of blessings, known to manifest through the mezuzah in every aspect of our life, in our health, our mind and spirit? What is the true value of this observance brought down more than 3300 years ago through the Prophet Moses and faithfully observed ever since?
We can begin to understand when we know the content, when we know the meaning of the Hebrew words contained in the mezuzah. The scribe who undertakes the holy task of inscribing these sacred words on the parchment is obligated to lead a religious holy Jewish observant life and to immerse in the Mikvah (ritual bath) before beginning his task. With deep focus and prayerful intent, he has to be meticulously accurate with every Hebrew letter, checking the text and carefully rolling up the mezuzah inside its container.
Our Kabbalists and Sages have taught us that every letter of the alphabet is a gateway to the enormous healing powers of God. It is a key, a symbol. Each represents and embodies one unique aspect of God’s awesome, eternal creative energy. It is a messenger of His Infinite, power. The Hebrew alphabet is composed of 22 letters, each placed in the order of the alphabet. According to its order, each letter has its own numerical value.
When each letter is combined with other letters to create a word, their united power becomes synergistically amplified and multiplied. Hebrew words inscribed in our mezuzot, Torah, prayer book, and sacred writings have an immense healing effect when we connect with them in our heart and soul. They are channeling the creative energy from the Infinite Source of life and existence. They have been called the building blocks, the foundation of Creation, and the symbols through which the Universe came into being.
In truth, amazingly, the code words in the mezuzah happen to represent the core and essence of the purpose of every human being throughout eternity, whoever they are, wherever they are, in this world or any other one. These words are the secret of strength and well being. As we meditate on them, and absorb them, we can find many layers of meaning in them and an ever- renewed source of inspiration, connection, guidance and empowerment.
“And you shall Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your being. And these words which I instruct you today shall remain in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them when you are sitting at home and when you go on a journey, when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. You shall inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
What does this mean to us? How can we learn to love our God so completely?
We can begin when we are embracing, and expressing the Infinite One in His eternal qualities of wisdom, compassion, and inner strength. We can begin when we are using our self -initiative and free-will to tearn to express kindness, patience, discernment, creativity, with joy, faith, persistence, excellence, and more.
Loving God means rejoicing with His infinite, eternal, creative Love that created and sustains us and theUniverse at every moment.
We heard many inexplicable healing stories from friends demonstrating the power that lies in correcting the defects that can appear on these small mezuzah parchments. Health was restored. Difficulties in relationships were resolved. Peace in the home was re-established.
Victor Kurtzman, a friend of ours, a Chabad Rabbi in Los Angeles suffered a severe injury on one eye. The surgeons gave up on saving his eye. When urgently contacted, the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s response over the telephone from New York was clear cut: “Check your mezuzot and teffilin.” Our friend immediately brought his mezuzot and teffilin to the scribe. Indeed a defect was found on the word “Eineicha,” meaning “your eyes,” which was immediately corrected. Our friend’s eye recovered, without any surgery.
A few years later, he had severe persistent pains in his arm from a pinched sciatic nerve and the doctors felt this could only be helped through surgery. Our friend of course sent his mezuzot to the scribe to be checked. He didn’t realize that for some reason, the scribe had delayed taking care of it. The day before the operation, our friend called the scribe.
“Have you checked my mezuzot? “I am sorry, not yet.”
“Please do it NOW!”
On that day, our friend felt much better. One of his mezuzot had been finally corrected on the defect the scribe found on the word “yadecha,” meaning “your arm”. Two letters had been “pinched” together.
On the next day, the pain was gone and the doctors decided that the operation was no longer necessary.
So the Hebrew words inscribed in the mezuzah hold a mysterious power over our lives and well being, as we tune in to them. It is a very good idea to have your mezuzot checked by a scribe. And whether you have mezuzot or not on your doors, it is highly recommended to stay connected in your heart and soul with the essential words and instructions they hold, to love God with all our heart, with all your soul and inner most being.
Our Love of God connects us to the Divine Presence. It gives us life. It is Life. It is waiting in the heart of our very being, waiting to manifest its magic and wonder in our consciousness. Divine Love reigns supreme over all the invisible realms of the higher worlds. Divine Love creates channels of communication when all else fails. True Love unites human hearts with its blissful healing force and is immune to jealousy or possessiveness. Love brings new sparkling energy to our body, mind and soul. Love reconciles opposites. It heals old hurts and disappointments and wounds and it turns us around. Love inspires us and lifts us to new heights of creativity. Love exhilarates and opens wide the gates of Paradise, even as we are rooted here in this physical world. Love comforts and strengthens us every moment.
Our heart is beating with the irresistible drum beat of our yearning; our yearning to express Life’s beauty in Love. Love empowers us. With Love we can overcome the impossible. With Love we can express the immensely precious qualities of kindness, appreciation, praise, delight, enthusiasm, and zest for life, celebration, release, forgiveness, freedom, true friendship, perseverance, courage, trust, joy, bliss, rapture and more than we can yet conceive of.
When we persistently, express true, compassionate, caring Love, the kind of Love connected to the Infinite One, we are bound to experience miracle after miracle with a sense of peace and harmony and well-being. We can experience miracles of perfect timing, of intuitive knowing and sensing, of true vision, and of soul wisdom. Then our decisions are right, our actions successful, our steps firm, and our accomplishments enduring.
Love of God reveals awesome truths. It allows us to tune in with the divine forces of Creation that support us always. This loving attunement fills our life with magic and joyful wonder. Eventually this Love allows us to accomplish things we never dreamed we could do. We suddenly are filled with courage and daring, with initiative and inspiration. Our mind expands and learns quickly.
Even just a little bit of love will put a new sparkle into our everyday humdrums.
Love opens our vision; it allows us to perceive how precious every human being is. Love reveals to us that unique, eternal spark of Divine Light resting in the soul of every one, even when it is covered over with many layers.
We are so privileged to be able to choose Life, to choose to grow in strength and awareness whenever we want to. Our knowing is our treasure house, our great gift, our sense of joy.
In our lives Joshua and I have been immensely blessed to encounter a few awesome Jewish masters. And we know there are many other great sages, and holy, saintly tzadikim with whom we haven’t been privileged to bond with. And perhaps in the future more unknown extraordinary spiritual teachers will emerge out of their secrecy, making themselves available to many. Each of them has a unique, very different personality. But the unifying trait that distinguishes them most of all is their intense, fiery, life long Love of God, as well as their love of their fellow human beings. They will go to great lengths to repair disharmony, misunderstandings and harsh judgments between people, bringing peace where there is scorn and arrogance, inspiring new approaches to brotherly love, encouraging faith and deeper commitment toward the Almighty.
One such great master was Rabbi Moshe Ben Tov, originally from Morocco, now in Jerusalem. What was unique about Rabbi Moshe was his ability to intuitively connect with whoever came to him, by gazing at the mezuzah they brought along with them. He is known as “The Mezuzah Reader”. As you will discover in the following, his unusual approach to counseling held more power then we can ever guess.
We were immensely privileged with the opportunity to host Rabbi Moshe Ben Tov twice for two weeks in our home in Los Angeles, in the late 80’s. Each time he came, our home suddenly became a center of intense, blessed energy. Each day many people would line up in our living room to ask for help, blessings, prayers and counsel. Many would walk in looking burdened, harried, nervous or depressed. Waiting for their turn was often difficult. But when they would emerge out of Rabbi Moshe’s study after meeting with him for a few moments, they were glowing, radiant and smiling. Unable to talk about what just happened to them, they would quietly leave in a state of awe. And we ourselves experienced the same awe and shift of consciousness during the privileged moments with him in private encounters.
While in Los Angeles, Rabbi Moshe was helped by his Gabbai (assistant), David LeHarar who was translating for him and staying in tune with the needs of the visitors. He shared with me some amazing accounts about Rabbi Moshe. This is one story that recounts the way his work with people first began.
One night Rabbi Moshe Ben Tov had awakened as usual at midnight to say his prayers of “Tikun Hatzot”, which means crying over the destruction of the Holy Temple. The Holy Temple represents the heart and soul of our being which has been damaged in this world’s negativity and that needs healing. “Tikun Hatzot” means invoking help and blessings, yearning for our freedom from ignorance, slavery and darkness. Great Masters cannot waste too much precious time on sleep. Therefore it has become a tradition among them to awaken at midnight to pray for us all until dawn.
On that particular night Rabbi Moshe sensed that something had happened that was worrisome and that he had to check out on a deep intuitive level. He focused on it for a second and suddenly he knew: Thieves were now busy burglarizing his jewelry store in town! Reb Moshe was a jeweler and had spent many years building up this jewelry store in a quiet little town called Netivot near Beer
However, instead of calling the police, Rabbi Moshe had something more important to do – to focus on his prayers, as was his commitment every night. At dawn he hurried to his store. Sure enough, every last piece of gold, precious jewels and diamonds had been stolen! Gone were all his devoted creations as a jeweler.
Rabbi Moshe was insured with what he always knew was the best insurance company: namely Divine protection. So why had it failed him? Why wasn’t he aware of the intent of the thieves? And why did they get the idea of robbing him in the first place?
Now Rabbi Moshe knew why this burglary happened and why he was ruined. He knew that he deserved it. He had refused to listen to the repeated pleas of his revered saintly mentor and tzaddik, Baba Sali, the great, beloved leader of the Sephardic people, the master of miracles. At that time he and Baba Sali lived in close proximity in the desert town of Netivot, close to the Negev desert.
What was Baba Sali’s request? For years Baba Sali had encouraged Rabbi Moshe to begin counseling people. The great Master was bonded in deep friendship with him, honoring Rabbi Moshe’s exceptional wisdom and unfailing intuitive insight, his great sense of humor, his humility and total unwavering devotion to God. Yet Rabbi Moshe had repeatedly dodged his request. He felt totally unworthy to take on such a responsibility.
But now Rabbi Moshe ran to Baba Sali.
“You win! I give up. I will do what you say!”
Baba Sali laughed and invited him to sit down together for some quiet talk and prayers. After a while he casually mentioned:
“Don’t worry; you will get all your jewels back!” Two hours later, they received a phone call from the police. Amazingly the thieves had been apprehended. They were at the police station with all their booty. When Rabbi Moshe arrived at the police station he was requested to file a form of complaint in order to send the two thieves to jail. Rabbi Moshe looked at the thieves and said:
“I won’t file a complaint against you as long as you promise to put on your phylacteries as well as say your prayers every day.”
The thieves promised and were set free. One of them was able to turn his life around and be a man of integrity. The other one is still unheard of.
Since that day many years ago, Rabbi Moshe has counseled and inspired many tens of thousands of people. His powerful connection with the Creator, his unfailing intuitive perception and total commitment to helping people through it, his devotion to them, and his ability to open their hearts and help them change and begin anew, have created miracles in countless lives. From the grateful donations of thousands, Rabbi Moshe now supports a large yeshiva, several schools for boys and girls, a few study groups (kollels), classes for women, and many private charity activities.
If you are interested in visiting Rabbi Moshe at his “David u Moshe Center” in Jerusalem, make sure to bring along your mezuzot (if you do not have one, you can buy one at his center). Gazing at your mezuzah is how he can best focus, seek guidance from Above and see what is happening in your life, your relationships, your direction, your yearnings, talents and more. He wants to see only what your needs are and how he can help you best. His blessings are powerful. He strongly encourages every home owner to keep mezuzot on their doorposts and check them to insure they are not damaged. Stories abound about how keeping this instruction from Above had brought miracles of protection for countless people.
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From David, Rabbi Ben Tov’s Gabbai, I was the beneficiary to hear a few interesting incidents:
“A young couple came to visit Rabbi Moshe and presented their mezuzah. Within a few seconds, Rabbi Moshe Ben Tov asked:
“Do you have a young child with a problem with his eyes?”
“Yes, he is crossed eyed and we scheduled him for an operation.”
“You won’t need to operate on him,” said Rabbi Moshe. “Oh??”
“I will make the operation.” Rabbi Moshe held up the scalpel he uses in his work.
“Mm… euh…euh…”
Mother and Father were a bit hesitant! Then Rabbi Moshe pointed at the word appearing on their mezuzah, “Eineicha,” meaning “your eyes”. “You see these 2 letters? They are stuck together. I will scratch a space between them with my scalpel. Then you can cancel the operation. Your child’s eyes won’t be crossed eyed. They will soon be straightened out.” And so it was. The operation was cancelled.
David the Gabbai was intrigued as he was watching Rabbi Moshe’s ability to see into people’s lives and souls by looking at their mezuzah. One day he inquired, “Rebbe, please tell me, even when the mezuzah is perfect, in this case, how can you see what needs correcting in this person’s life?” Rabbi Moshe pointed to a place on the mezuzah’s parchment: “You see this shade in the texture? It speaks to me.”
Who can figure this out? A holy Rebbe’s life is a constant mystery.
When people come over to him with problems, Rabbi Moshe has a very unusual way to help them. Aside from startling them when mentioning all what he knows about their life, uplifting them with his counseling, coaching and blessings, he writes on a piece of paper a special prescription called “Segulah”, and hands it over to them. These are one or two or three unique assignments to follow such as:
-Immerse in the Mikvah a few times.
-Light a candle every night in honor of a certain tzaddik. (And connect with him in your heart.)
-Recite certain passages of the psalms every day, with intent.
-Faithfully observe certain laws prescribed in the Torah.
-Give charity to a gentile.
-Feed meat to a hungry dog.
-Give $20 worth of tzedakah in a charity box, 10 cents at a time.
These unusual prescriptions were often received with confusion and disappointment: “What is the purpose of this? How could that help in my overwhelming situation? Is he kidding me?”
Personally, I had also been wondering about this. But I have seen how observing these formulas have changed situations and brought transformations to many people coming for a blessing, including myself. What is the secret? I finally realized that these prescriptions are meant to be a test of faith. Just like the many instructions in the Torah that are also given to us as a test of faith! The unrecognized fact is, the flow of heavenly blessings depends on our choice to accept this test of faith to simply go with it and pass through it. It means curbing our pride and our rational linear thinking, to make room for a deeper, humble, intuitive soul knowing – allowing this knowing to take precedent and being willing to act on it.
A test of faith like this is a free-will offering directly to God. It also means having faith in the power of a holy man to connect with the Almighty, to inspire us and thus to create a doorway for blessings to flow forth.
We all need help from each other. A saintly person’s every thought and deed is humbly consecrated in helping whoever comes to them for help. But we also need to contribute our part with faith. Another aspect of our gift of faith is expressed through giving charity in some way. This very exchange in faith is the key that will manifest the blessings.
In our lives in general, with all its difficulties, we often meet with tests of faith. Our challenge is to recognize them as such and accept them in good spirit knowing they are part of our learning process meant for our good. In this way we can receive the blessings they hold.
Many decades later, Rabbi Moshe, even though getting on in age, is still receiving long lines of people in his center in Jerusalem. Being himself a father of 13 children, he gives heartfelt attention especially to children’s education, to the needs of women and to family life.
Rabbi Moshe treats everyone with the greatest consideration, joyful welcome and deep respect. And that is fortunate, since one glance from him can be very intimidating and even scary. One can immediately sense great power with him and that he knows most everything about who we are. Rabbi Moshe is greatly respectful with animals as well. I remember one day accompanying him back to the car that had brought him to a celebration. The driver didn’t know what to do: there was a very large dog lying in the very seat that Rabbi Moshe had occupied three hours before! The dog looked sheepish, yet he wouldn’t budge. Rabbi Moshe waited a while and then asked someone younger to gently carry this heavy dog out of the car.
Every time Rabbi Moshe speaks to any audience he emphasizes the essential need for his Jewish brethren to give much love, support and acceptance to each other no matter what their behavior or background. He emphasizes this theme with many stories and keeps his audience laughing with his great sense of humor. He is light hearted and at the same time can convey awesome depths that stay in our hearts and give us strength to continue with faith and trust in the Almighty.
Stories of the miracles that happened to people after they connected with him and followed his advice could fill volumes.
A few DVD’s are available in Hebrew at his center. The extraordinary relationships of the numerical value of the Hebrew letters (Gematria) has fascinated Torah scholars and Kabbalists for centuries. Now with the help of the computers many more corresponding links and meanings are being revealed as they appear throughout the Torah writings. The shapes of the letters themselves are symbols of the unique spiritual energy contained in each one.
It becomes clear the Hebrew alphabet could only have been designed in its order and multiple ramifications through the gift of divine centuries. Now with the help of the computers many more corresponding links and meanings are being revealed as they appear throughout the Torah writings. The shapes of the letters themselves are symbols of the unique spiritual energy contained in each one.
It becomes clear the Hebrew alphabet could only have been designed in its order and multiple ramifications through the gift of divine inspiration. This gift is reaching out to us in mysterious ways that comfort the heart and bless the minds with higher inspiration and expansion.
To contact Rabbi Moshe Ben Tovs organisation:
Email: dorvador@bezeqint.net
