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One may download this article that appeared in Tradition at
<a href="http://www.mesora.org/mezuza-gordon.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.mesora.org/mezuza-gordon.pdf</a><br><br>
Towards the end of this article the author writes <br><br>
<font size=3>To claim, then, that the Divine inscription, which directs
the attention of<br>
the Jew to God, is possessed of its own potency, generating
protective<br>
benefits, perverts a spiritual instrumentality into a cultic charm.<br>
It is precisely this type of conception which R. Samson<br>
Rafael Hirsch attacks in his Nineteen Letters, when he criticizes<br>
the kabbalistic position for its perception of mitsvot as a
"magical<br>
mechanism," a means of "influencing theosophical <br>
worlds and anti-worlds." A belief in the potency of<br>
the shem fits into neither of the two classic categories of mitsvah<br>
initiative we have referred to. It fosters neither the
resourceful<br>
practical effort toward physical security, nor the profoundly<br>
spiritual bond with God.<br><br>
The point is that the only legitimate criterion by which the<br>
efficacy of mitsvat mezuzah should be measured is the depth<br>
relationship with God that it has inspired.<br><br>
YL</font></body>
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