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A house just isn't a home
without a mezuzah.
ow To Affix
A Mezuzah
1) In Israel, one is obligated to
hang a mezuzah immediately
after he moves into a home.
Elsewhere, he has 30 days.
2) Mezuzot should be
attached in the top third of
the doorpost.
3) Affix mezuzah on the
right-hand side as you look
into the house or room.
4) The mezuzah should
slant slightly inward.
5) After hanging the
mezuzah, recite the
blessing, recalling that
God commanded us
"to affix the
mezuzah."
Can you color
this mezuzah?
1 Elizabeth Applebaum
1 AppleTree Editor
doorways to all rooms.
mezuzah is neither a lucky charm nor
So what, exactly, is a
an amulet. However, there is a fair
•
mezuzah?
amount of wonder surrounding tales
everal years
The outside can be
of the mezuzah.
ago a leading
of almost any design,
Jews are obligated to have their
pizza chain ran a
and it bears the word
mezuzot checked twice every seven
commercial featuring a
"Almighty" in Hebrew
years to make certain they are in
young woman running to
on the front. Inside is a
proper condition. A number of Jews
the door to pick up —
parchment scroll with the
recount unusual tales of what has
you guessed
words from Deuterono-
happened when a mezuzah was
it — the
Velvet cover for a
my 6:4-9, and 11:13-
found in imperfect condition. One
pizza she
] 9th-century mezuzah
21. The parchment
man, for example, tells of suffering
just
from Morocco.
also has "Almighty"
chest pains that mysteriously cleared
ordered. Natu-
written on its outside,
up after he had his mezuzah
rally, the pizza
along with the first letters of the
repaired. It seems the word "heart"
is delicious beyond all
phrase, "Guardian of the doors of
on the parchment had faded away
words, the delivery boy is as I Israel."
and was no longer read-
nice as can be, and the name
Contrary to popular opinion, the
able. 0
of the chain is flashed several
times across the screen.
To most, that was pretty much
it. But a handful of Jewish viewers
* Though you'll see Jews who raise their
couldn't help but be struck by
fingers to kiss the mezuzah
something else.
when they enter or exit a room,
It turns out the commercial was
this is tradition, not Halachah.
Illustration o f
filmed at the Los Angeles home of a
* Among the finds at the
a wooden
ewish family. Clearly visible on the
caves of Qumran was a
mezuzah from 19th
front of the door, but noticeable only
mezuzah from the Second Tem-
century Eastern Europe.
if you knew to look for it, was a
ple period.
small, rectangular-shaped object: a
* Mezuzot are specifically for homes, or places where one lives.
mezuzah.
Though synagogues and many other Jewish buildings typically have
The Torah, in Deuteronomy 6:9 and
mezuzot, there is no basis in Halachah for this.
11:20, commands Jews to affix
* If you move and sell your home to another Jew, you are obligated
mezuzot on their homes — not just
to leave the mezuzot.
the front door, but with few excep-
tions (such as the bathroom) on the
2/27
1998
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