SECRET SEVEN: Explore the Essential Symbols of Jewish Life
What are the most critical must-have Jewish symbolic objects?
For generations, across continents, Jews have adapted to shifting conditions and climates, civilizations and cultures. Over time, essential objects and symbols evolved to define the unique Judaic contribution to the celebration of time and space, the pursuit of justice and the sacred secrets of the soul. Join Rabbi Amichai for a seven session series, exploring the essential symbolic objects that offer functional purpose and mythic meaning, as portals for personal growth and communal connection.
From blood on the lintel to amulets safeguarding doorways, the Mezuzah is a keeper of mystery as it relates to Jewish notions of sacred space, public identity, the yearning for protection, and the cultivation of art. Explore the lesser known history and meaning of the oldest Jewish security system.
Opening: Meeting at the Threshold
I. Introductions: Sharing names and responding to the question: What’s one meaningful object that is placed at or near your doorstep - a mat, picture, sign, plant - or a mezuzah?
II. Short discussion based on sources 1-3: This Biblical text, Encyclopedia entry and contemporary opinion focus on different aspects of the Mezuzah. What do we learn about the purpose and role of the Mezuzah according to these sources?
1. A Jewish household is created by the people who live in it, by the way they act, the things they do and don't do, the beliefs they hold.
A mezuzah serves two functions: every time you enter or leave, the mezuzah reminds you that you have a covenant with God; second, the mezuzah serves as a symbol to everyone else that this particular dwelling is constituted as a Jewish household, operating by a special set of rules, rituals, and beliefs.
What do you think makes your home, or anyone's home, a "Jewish home?"
What rules, rituals, or beliefs do you hold most dear?
2. MEZUZAH מזוזה (; lit. "door-post"): Name given to a rectangular piece of parchment inscribed with the Scriptural passages Deut. vi. 4-9 and xi. 13-21, written in twenty-two lines according to the same rules as those for the Torah and tefillin. The parchment is rolled up and inserted in a wooden or metal case or tube. This is affixed, in a slanting position, to the upper part of the right-hand door-post, so that the upper part is inward and the lower part outward, and about a handbreadth from the outer edge of the door-post. On the outer side of the top of the parchment is inscribed the name of God, Shaddai שדי; The material on which the mezuzah may be written is as carefully prescribed as is that for a scroll of the Law.
(כא) וַיִּקְרָ֥א מֹשֶׁ֛ה לְכׇל־זִקְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֑ם מִֽשְׁכ֗וּ וּקְח֨וּ לָכֶ֥ם צֹ֛אן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתֵיכֶ֖ם וְשַׁחֲט֥וּ הַפָּֽסַח׃ (כב) וּלְקַחְתֶּ֞ם אֲגֻדַּ֣ת אֵז֗וֹב וּטְבַלְתֶּם֮ בַּדָּ֣ם אֲשֶׁר־בַּסַּף֒ וְהִגַּעְתֶּ֤ם אֶל־הַמַּשְׁקוֹף֙ וְאֶל־שְׁתֵּ֣י הַמְּזוּזֹ֔ת מִן־הַדָּ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֣ר בַּסָּ֑ף וְאַתֶּ֗ם לֹ֥א תֵצְא֛וּ אִ֥ישׁ מִפֶּֽתַח־בֵּית֖וֹ עַד־בֹּֽקֶר׃ (כג) וְעָבַ֣ר יְהֹוָה֮ לִנְגֹּ֣ף אֶת־מִצְרַ֒יִם֒ וְרָאָ֤ה אֶת־הַדָּם֙ עַל־הַמַּשְׁק֔וֹף וְעַ֖ל שְׁתֵּ֣י הַמְּזוּזֹ֑ת וּפָסַ֤ח יְהֹוָה֙ עַל־הַפֶּ֔תַח וְלֹ֤א יִתֵּן֙ הַמַּשְׁחִ֔ית לָבֹ֥א אֶל־בָּתֵּיכֶ֖ם לִנְגֹּֽף׃
(21) Moses then summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, pick out lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover offering. (22) Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and to the two doorposts. None of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. (23) For when the LORD goes through to smite the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, and the LORD will pass over the door and not let the Destroyer enter and smite your home.
The User Manual
Conversation after reading Sources 5-6: The ‘user manual’ that is included in the Mezuzah, is a core Jewish text from the Torah that is also found inside the Tefilin and recited daily at prayers. Based on this text - what is the purpose of the Mezuza and the central message delivered to our doorstep and daily lives - today?
4. (4) Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. (5) You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. (7) Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; (9) inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
(13) If, then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving the LORD your God and serving Him with all your heart and soul, (14) I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil— (15) I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill. (16) Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow to them. (17) For the LORD’s anger will flare up against you, and He will shut up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is assigning to you. (18) Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart:-e bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead,-f (19) and teach them to your children—reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up; (20) and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates— (21) to the end that you and your children may endure, in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to assign to them, as long as there is a heaven over the earth.
ארטבון שלח לר' הקדוש חד מרגלי טבא אטימיטון א"ל שלח לי מילה דטבא דכוותה שלח ליה חד מזוזה א"ל מה אנא שלחי לך מילה דלית לה טימי ואת שלחת לי מילה דטבא חד פולר א"ל חפציך וחפצי לא ישווה בה ולא עוד אלא דאת שלחית לי מילה דאנא מנטיר לה ואנא שלחי' לך מילה דאת דמך לך והיא מנטרא לך דכתיב (משלי ו׳:כ״ב) בהתהלכך תנחה אותך וגו'.
5. The Parthian King Artaban sent to Rabbi Judah a priceless pearl and he said to him: "Send to me something of a value like the value of this". Rabbi sent him a mezuzah.
He sent to him: "I sent to you an item of great value and you sent me an item whose value is one tenth of it!" The rabbi replied: "My goods and your goods cannot equal her". And further you sent me something that it is necessary for me to protect, but I sent you something which is full of knowledge and will protect you, as it is said: "When you walk it will lead you; When you lie down it will watch over you; And when you are awake it will talk with you (Proverbs 6:22)"
Is it an Amulet?
Conversation following a close reading of sources 6-8, including the image from the Cairo Genizah of an Mezuza fragment. We notice the evolution of meanings of the Mezuza over time, as our private and public sense of the sacred and the mysterious changed through our encounters with different civilizations. How does this history inform or transform your understanding or appreciation of this ritual object that is possibly also a type of protective amulet?
6. § Rava says: It is a mitzva to place the mezuza in the handbreadth adjacent to the public domain. The Gemara asks: What is the reason for this? The Rabbis say that it is in order that one encounter the mezuza immediately upon one’s entrance to the house. Rav Ḥanina from Sura says: It is in order that the mezuza protect the entire house, by placing it as far outside as one can. The Gemara adds: Rabbi Ḥanina says: Come and see that the attribute of flesh and blood is not like the attribute of the Holy One, Blessed be He. The attribute of flesh and blood is that a king sits inside his palace, and the people protect him from the outside, whereas with regard to the attribute of the Holy One, Blessed be He, it is not so. Rather, His servants, the Jewish people, sit inside their homes, and He protects them from the outside. As it is stated: “The Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your shade upon your right hand” (Psalms 121:5).
(ד) מִנְהָג פָּשׁוּט שֶׁכּוֹתְבִים עַל הַמְּזוּזָה מִבַּחוּץ כְּנֶגֶד הָרֶוַח שֶׁבֵּין פָּרָשָׁה לְפָרָשָׁה שַׁדַּי וְאֵין בָּזֶה הֶפְסֵד לְפִי שֶׁהוּא מִבַּחוּץ. אֲבָל אֵלּוּ שֶׁכּוֹתְבִין מִבִּפְנִים שְׁמוֹת הַמַּלְאָכִים אוֹ שֵׁמוֹת קְדוֹשִׁים אוֹ פָּסוּק אוֹ חוֹתָמוֹת הֲרֵי הֵן בִּכְלַל מִי שֶׁאֵין לָהֶם חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. שֶׁאֵלּוּ הַטִּפְּשִׁים לֹא דַּי לָהֶם שֶׁבִּטְּלוּ הַמִּצְוָה אֶלָּא שֶׁעָשׂוּ מִצְוָה גְּדוֹלָה שֶׁהִיא יִחוּד הַשֵּׁם שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְאַהֲבָתוֹ וַעֲבוֹדָתוֹ כְּאִלּוּ הוּא קָמֵעַ שֶׁל הֲנָיַת עַצְמָן כְּמוֹ שֶׁעָלָה עַל לִבָּם הַסָּכָל שֶׁזֶּהוּ דָּבָר הַמְהַנֶּה בְּהַבְלֵי הָעוֹלָם:
7.
(4) It is a universal custom to write the word Shaddai (Almighty) on the other side of the Mezuzah, opposite the blank space between the two sections. As this word is written on the outside, the practice is unobjectionable. They, however, who write names of angels, holy names, a Biblical text or inscriptions usual on seals, within the Mezuzah, are among those who have no portion in the world to come. For these fools not only fail to fulfill the commandment but they treat an important precept that expresses the Unity of God, the love of Him, and His worship, as if it were an amulet to promote their own personal interests; for, according to their foolish minds, the Mezuzah is something that will secure for them advantage in the vanities of the world.
This image is a Mezuzah, complete with Angelic names, found in the Cairo Geniza.
8. The Mezuza’s placement is in the outer part of the door frame
Rama: There are those who say that when a person leaves one’s house, one puts one’s hand on the Mezuzah there and says “God will guard my going, etc.” And so too when one enters a house, one puts one’s hand on the Mezuzah.
Reclaiming the Mezuzah for our Modern Realities
Read Sources 9-10: What are some meaningful new ways with which we can reclaim, honor, dedicate, sanctify and celebrate our threshold as we have a deeper sense of the role of the Mezuzah?
9. Traditionally, a Jewish home is not complete without a mezuzah on its doorpost.
You may have noticed that a mezuzah is often hanging neither vertically or horizontally, but rather is tilted at an angle. The origin of this custom can teach us about an important Jewish value: Shalom bayit, peace in the home.
The custom to hang the mezuzah at an angle began as the result of an almost one thousand year old disagreement. The great Torah scholar Rashi (1040-1105) ruled that the mezuzah should be hung vertically. He did this because in a Sephardic community, such as the one in which he lived, the Torah is held in a vertical position when it is read. On the other hand, Rashi’s grandsons lived in an Ashkenazic milieu.
Because the Torah is laid in a horizontal position for reading in Ashkenazic communities, these grandsons ruled that the mezuzah should be hung horizontally. In the spirit of compromise, the custom became to hang the mezuzah at an angle.
Put another way, at the very moment when we enter our homes, we are reminded of the importance of finding a way to live in peace with one another.
The point isn’t that we’ll always see eye to eye with the folks we live with; rather, it’s that we commit to working through our disagreements with one another.
The very first word on the mezuzah scroll is “Shema,” or listen. We make a commitment to listen to each other and to find a way to live in peace with each other.
Shalom bayit, like so many of our values, is not to be attained all at once. Rather, we make a commitment to work with our loved ones towards this goal each day, with its blessings, each day, with its challenges.
Each day, when we return to our homes, we see our mezuzah, our reminder of peace and compromise, our reminder of the type of home we would like to create, before ever we cross our threshold.
Rabbi Leah Doberne-Schor, The Mezuzah, Our Reminder to to Bring Peace to Our Homes
10. A former student, a Jewish soldier in the US marines...always wears a silver mezuzah on a chain around his neck; it is for him a symbol of his commitment to Judaism, one that comes before all his other commitments. The mezuzah he describes as "very holy" is not even a mezuzah according to Jewish law, as it lacks the necessary parchment with God's name written on it. Even if it did have the proper parchment inside, according to Jewish law, it would be meaningless, curious, or even offensive when hung around someone's neck as jewelry, and not placed on a doorpost, where Jewish law says it belongs. For this soldier, however, the "mezuzah" he wears is holy, even if it is but a silver miniature of an empty mezuzah case. He has vowed that he will never take it off, so strong is his belief, and so strong is its pull on him. He says, "I live with it on, and I will die with it on."
Vanessa L. Ochs, Inventing Jewish Ritual