The Guardian

“And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house.” (Devarim 6:9)

The word “your house,” is written in the singular, masculine form. Does this exempt woman from mezuzah? Says Rabi Meir (Yoma 11:6), “The Torah would never exempt women from putting up a mezuzah. Why not? Because following the parshah of mezuzah, the Torah writes, ‘In order that you and your children live long…’ ” Mezuzah is therefore a source of life, and women surely require long life no less than men. So the obligation to fix a mezuzah on one’s doorpost must apply to everyone equally. (Rav Eliezer Chrysler, adapted from Torah Temimah)

“Sara’s in the hospital,” my husband said, hanging up the phone.

I looked up from the meatballs I was making. “In the hospital? From the flu?”

Sara was a close relative of ours, and I knew she’d been under the weather for the last week or so, but this was pre-Covid days — people just didn’t end up in the hospital when they were sick from the flu.

“It’s more than the flu… well, actually, it’s not the flu.” My husband’s voice was tense. “Her doctor just got the results of her blood work and told her to go straight to the hospital. She has acute liver failure.”