2 December 2022
Question
I had a young rabbi in my store trying to convince me to put up a mezuzah. We were broken into last week and he said the mezuzah will protect me from bad things. I think that's ridiculous. How can a scroll on my doorway stop robbers coming in? And those people who always touch and kiss the mezuzah look like they are doing black magic or something. I believe in G-d, but I don’t believe in hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo rituals.
Answer
Before addressing your question, I need to alert you to some thievery that I myself witnessed in your store. I didn't say anything at the time, because your staff didn't seem to care. But if you are concerned about being robbed, I think you need to know what is going on right under your nose.
There was a well-dressed guy in line before me, who came to the cashier with an expensive item. He was told the price loud and clear. But instead of paying like a normal person would, he performed an elaborate and weird ritual that made no sense whatsoever.
He took out his phone from his pocket, as if he was about to make a call. But no. He proceeded to wave his phone over a small machine sitting on the counter. I think he waved it three times north to south. Or perhaps twice north-south and then once up and down.
He seemed to expect something to happen. Of course, nothing did. So he gave a puzzled look to the cashier.
I expected the cashier to yell at him, “Stop with the mumbo-jumbo and pay up!” But no. He seemed to play along with this farce.
The cashier told him to wave his phone on the upper surface of the little machine (as if that should make a difference). Well, he did and then the machine made a beeping noise. The cashier said, “That’s better!” (what’s better?), both gave a satisfied smile, and then the customer walked right out of the store with the merchandise.
I questioned the cashier how he could let the guy leave without paying. He responded “He did pay. He tapped.” He then proceeded to try to sell me some wacky story, that when the customer taps his phone, it charges his bank card. As long as he has the funds, the money is transferred directly into the store’s account.
Now, I saw with my own eyes, no money was exchanged. Just a bunch of hocus-pocus rituals. It is absurd to think that waving a phone will cause money to appear in your bank account.
Unless you believe that there are forces we can’t see, and that we don’t always understand, impacting us in ways we can’t explain.
Anyway, I thought you should know what happened. With stuff like that going on in your store, I strongly recommend you get a mezuzah.
Now that’s out of the way, what was your question?
