Reba Kaye’s sister was five months pregnant when she had to consult her doctor regarding a worrisome amount of bleeding. The doctor ordered her to stay home from work and to rest. A few days later, Reba’s husband, Richard, called to see how she was doing and got her on the phone. Something made him ask, “Have you had the mezuzahs in your apartment checked recently?”
“No,” she admitted.
She called her father-in-law, who was the executive director of a synagogue, and asked ifhe knew someone who could help her.
“Your timing is perfect,” he said. “The sofer who comes once a year to check the shul’s mezuzahs is here today. I’ll send him over to your apartment after he’s done.”
The sofer checked her mezuzahs. He found that the mezuzah on the front door of the apartment was not kosher. An entire word as missing in the scroll.
He attached a kosher mezuzah, and the bleeding stopped fairly soon after that. Later, the pregnancy went fine, and, thank G-d, he had a healthy baby girl. Three years later, she went on to have another.
Later, I remembered to ask the sofer, “Which word was missing in that mezuzah?”
“L’vanechah,” he replied, “your children.”
HALACHIC NOTE
If one letter is missing from the mezuzah or tefillin, they are posul (not kosher). Furthermore, one cannot add it after the fact since the words must be written kisidron (in the order it is written in the Torah scroll).