Toras Avigdor Junior
Parshas Behaaloscha
Reminded by The Mezuzah
“Totty, where are we going?” asked Yitzy, as the Greenbaum children followed their father to the car.
“You’ll see soon enough,” Totty responded with a mysterious smile.
Wondering what on earth Totty could possibly have in mind, the curious children piled into the car and Totty drove off.
“Wow, look at that huge cloud!” said Shimmy, looking out the window as the car sped down the highway.
“It looks like a water cloud,” said Basya craning her neck to get a good look at it.
“Actually,” said Yitzy, looking up from his book. “That’s a cumulonimbus cloud. It’s a multi-level cloud that can produce thunderstorms and hail, because the strong winds inside lift the water droplets to very high altitudes, where they freeze.”
“I bet that’s what the ananei hakavod looked like,” said Shimmy. “It’s so thick it looks like it could stop an arrow. I bet it would be fun to jump on top of it!”
“Shimmy,” said Yitzy. “If you chas veshalom jumped on that cloud, you would fall right through all the way to the ground! It’s nothing but a bunch of water droplets suspended in the air.”
“Then I won’t try it – thanks for the warning,” Shimmy said with a grin. “But I still like to imagine that’s what the ananei hakavod looked like. Could you imagine being in the Midbar with Moshe Rabbeinu, Aharon HaKohein, and the seventy Zekeinim, surrounded by the clouds of Hashem’s Glory? You would never stop thinking about Hashem!”
“Is Moshe Rabbeinu inside that cloud?” asked little Yaeli, sounding worried. “Is he going to fall down like Yitzy said?”
“No, Yaeli,” Basya answered reassuringly. “Moshe Rabbeinu isn’t inside the cloud. He’s in Shomayim with Hashem!”
“But the cloud is in Shomayim,” said Yaeli, still confused.
“Yaeli,” said Shimmy. “Moshe Rabbeinu is learning Torah in the Yeshiva Shel Maalah. That’s much higher than the clouds.”
Just then Totty pulled the car into a parking lot.
“Hey, this is the Shearim Mezuzah Store!” said Yitzy as everyone got out of the car. “Why do we need to buy Mezuzos, Totty? Our house already has one in every room.”
“I’ll explain inside,” said Totty with a smile.
Inside the store, the Greenbaum children looked in shock at the vast selection of Mezuzah cases. They had never seen so many types of Mezuzos before! Simple white Mezuzos, brown ones with silver lettering, and even one that was two feet long and looked like it was made out of solid gold and studded with diamonds!
“Kinderlach,” said Totty. “I’ve decided to buy new Mezuzah cases for our house and I want you each to pick one out that you like for your rooms.”
“We want the gold one with diamonds,” Shimmy and Yitzy promptly responded at the same time.
“No, no,” laughed Totty. “I think that was custom made for the Horki Beis Midrash. Why don’t you choose something from this side of the store where the prices are within our budget?”
Fifteen minutes later, the children had picked out the Mezuzos that they liked and they went to pay. While waiting in line, Totty turned to the children.
“Yitzy, you asked why I decided to buy new Mezuzos,” Totty began. “And Shimmy, back in the car you said how amazing it must have been to live surrounded by the ananei hakavod and to be constantly reminded of Hashem.
“But you see, we can still be constantly reminded of Hashem. We don’t have the ananei hakavod, but we do have the Mitzvah of Mezuzah, which reminds us of Hashem. Any time you walk into a Jewish home, a shul, or your school, you pass through doorways that have Mezuzos. It’s not enough just to kiss it and walk by. Every time you see a Mezuzah, you should think ‘this is a reminder that Hashem is always with me and watching me’!
“And that’s why I wanted you kinderlach to pick out Mezuzos that you like for your rooms. So that your Mezuzah should be extra special to you and any time you see it you should think about it and remember that just like in the Midbar, Hashem is constantly with us and watching to see whether we do His Mitzvos.”
Have A Wonderful Shabbos!
Takeaway: A Mezuzah is Hashem’s reminder for us. Whenever we see one we can imagine it saying “Look at me! Remember to love Hashem who gave you a house, and remember to do His Mitzvos always”.