During a recent “mezuzah campaign”, Rabbi Aron Wolf received a request from a local Sefardic rabbi to check the mezuzot of a ninety-year old congregant. Due to the lateness of the hour, Rabbi Wolf called the elderly gentleman and suggested that he would drop by his house on the following day to dismount his mezuzot to be checked.
In a thick accent and heavy tone, the man slowly and dramatically replied, “You come tomorrow, I dead!”
Fearing an emergency situation, Rabbi Wolf rushed immediately to the man’s home and found him breathing heavily, shivering, and complaining of not feeling well. Yet instead of going to see a doctor, the man had concluded that his poor health required him to have his mezuzot checked to make sure that they were still kosher!
Promising the man that he would indeed come back to check his mezuzot, Rabbi Wolf drove him to the hospital and stayed with him until he was admitted under medical care. Thankfully, the elderly gentleman was discharged from the hospital a few days later, none the worse for wear after being treated for an infection. However, his concern for the kashrut of his mezuzot at home turned out to be substantiated. When Rabbi Wolf returned as promised to check the mezuzot, it was found that five replacement mezuzot were needed.
But the problem was that notwithstanding his worthy sense of concern for the kosher status of his mezuzot, the elderly gentleman was not in a financial position to purchase five replacements. Nevertheless, Rabbi Wolf assured him that with G-d’s help a solution to the dilemma would be found.
Indeed, the Divine assistance was not long in arriving. The very next morning, at the home of another “mezuzah campaign” client, the homeowner pointed to a package on his desk.
“Here”, he told Rabbi Wolf, “these Sefardic mezuzot have been sitting here for a long time and I have no use for them. I would like to donate them to the CMC mezuzah campaign.”
Amazed at the display of Divine Providence unfolding before his eyes, Rabbi Wolf gratefully picked up the package and counted the mezuzot—there were exactly five!