A Mezuzah Torn Down, a Mezuzah Built From Missiles: Nate Leipciger's Story of Jewish Defiance

When antisemites tore the mezuzahs from the doorposts of a Toronto apartment building last December, they targeted some of the most vulnerable members of the Jewish community. Many residents were elderly, and several were Holocaust survivors. Among them was 98-year-old Nate Leipciger, who had survived Auschwitz, the death marches, and Dachau, only to find his mezuzah ripped from his door decades later in Canada.

The response was extraordinary. You can read the full story at Ynet News.

A 98-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor in Toronto Receives a Mezuzah Made From Iranian Missile Fragments

One month after the attack, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Leipciger stood on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He was there as part of an event marking the launch of an Israeli high-tech delegation preparing to march in this year's March of the Living at Auschwitz.

At that ceremony, he received a new mezuzah crafted especially for him from fragments of an Iranian missile. The piece was made by Yaron Bob, an artist from the Eshkol region near Gaza who creates Judaica from missile metals, including debris from Iranian projectiles and Iron Dome interceptors. Leipciger's mezuzah was shaped in the form of the American B-2 bomber, one of the aircraft used in strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

The mezuzah was presented by Revital Yachin Krakowsky, CEO of the March of the Living in Israel, and Micha Kaufman, CEO of Fiverr, who organised the event. Krakowsky described it as “a symbol of strong Jewish and Israeli protection, given to one of the strongest people I know. This mezuzah represents the connection between Holocaust memory, Jewish identity and today's reality.”

Leipciger has participated in 21 Marches of the Living and will take part in his 22nd this April. Each year he returns to the barracks at Birkenau where he was held as a child and speaks to hundreds of visitors about what he witnessed there.

His message to young Jews last year, delivered from inside those barracks, was direct. “Never hide your symbols. Stand up to whoever it is, because they want you to bow your head and hide your identity. But no more.”

What the Mezuzah Has Always Declared

A mezuzah on a doorpost is not merely a religious object. It is a visible declaration that the family inside lives openly as Jews and that the home is held to a higher purpose. The words of the Shema inscribed on the scroll inside are the same words recited at the most defining moments of Jewish life.

That is precisely why removing a mezuzah is an act of intimidation, not just vandalism. Replacing one, especially with something forged from the very weapons aimed at the Jewish people, carries a meaning that goes beyond symbolism.

Leipciger himself has spoken with sorrow about Jews in the diaspora who remove their mezuzahs out of fear. “Woe to us if we hide our Judaism,” he said. The mezuzah he received in New York is an answer to that sorrow.

Affixing a Mezuzah Is an Act of Courage — and It Requires a Kosher Scroll

Moments like this are a reminder that the mezuzah is worth doing properly. The mitzvah is fulfilled only when the scroll inside has been written by a certified sofer on proper klaf and carefully examined for errors. The case, however meaningful, is only the vessel. The parchment inside is the mitzvah itself.

Kosher Mezuzah offers scrolls written by certified soferim, double-checked by expert magihim, and backed by OU endorsement. Every scroll comes with a unique QR code providing full transparency on who wrote it, who checked it, and when it should be re-examined.

Never Hide Your Mezuzah

Nate Leipciger survived history’s darkest chapter and has spent the decades since telling that story to thousands of young people so they would understand what is at stake when Jewish identity is hidden or erased. The mezuzah on his doorpost was meant to silence him. The one he received at the New York Stock Exchange, built from the wreckage of a missile, says something entirely different.

Put up a mezuzah. Keep it there. Do it right.

Nate Leipciger’s message is clear: put up a mezuzah and keep it there. Kosher Mezuzah is here to make sure that when you do, the scroll inside is everything it needs to be, written by a certified sofer, double-checked by expert magihim, and carrying full OU endorsement. Don’t wait for the right moment. Place your kosher mezuzah scroll on the doorpost today.