Jewish Musings, Tuesday, August 27

[louise]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:
Frieda (hopefully)?
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[louise]

One of the things that came up in last week’s torah reading is the Shema which in turn has led me to the topic of mezuzahs. I have to admit that while I have one on every doorway in my apartment I don’t actually “see” them often, let alone kiss them. If you have one or more is it because it is a mitzvah or do you actually feel protected? When my family moved into our first house my brother’s room was the attic. He was maybe 8 or 9 then and It scared him to be all alone up there. My parents gave him a mezuzah and he felt protected. I used to have a little gold safety pin with Jewish charms on it – they make them I think to protect babies. When I was traveling I used to wear it even if just on my bra strap as protection (that no one else had to see). I guess there is the danger of imbuing an object with special powers – a hair away from idolatry. I see it more as symbolic I think than magical.

Moses Maimonides said:
Every time a person enters or exits his or her home, the person will come in contact with the unity of the name of the Holy Blessed One and will remember God’s love for us, and will awaken from his slumber and preoccupation with temporal and irrelevant things, and will realize that there is nothing that is permanent in the world besides God.... (there’s more but you get the idea).

Here’s a nice little story my rabbi shared with us:
Artiban (a king) once sent a priceless jewel to ‘our holy Rabbi Judah the prince, compiler of the Mishna and one of the wealthiest Jews at that time. The King said to him “Send me something that is equally nice’”. The Rabbi sent him a mezuzah. The King complained about the paltry gift. The Rabbi answered “Your gift and mine cannot be compared. You sent me something that I must hire a guard to watch over and I sent you something that will watch over you.”

How do you use or think of mezuzahs?

[hollygail]

I'm really annoyed. I just spent a good chunk of time answering today's thread only to find out I wasn't "signed in." So it's gone. Itshay!

If I have time later, I'll come back and try to recreate it or else start over...

[gazelle18]

I generally stray away from public declarations of my inner beliefs. For example, I never put up yard signs for a political candidate. I don’t wear t-shirts that declare my innermost preferences. I don’t wear an obvious mogen david. Perhaps this comes from having grown up in places where I was always in the minority. The exception to this rule has been that I’m always proud to affix a mezzuzah to our public facing doorways.
I love the quotes from Moses Maimonides!

[peachymom1]

When I transferred to the university as a junior (after going to community college for my general ed for two years), I applied to live in the dorms, so I wouldn't have to commute. It was a few weeks before my conversion, and I felt strongly about putting up a mezuzah. I was nervous about meeting my roommate and having to convince her to let me do it, but they'd matched me up with someone Jewish, and she agreed with no problem. (She turned out to be a wonderful roommate in all respects - the housing committee did a great job pairing us up.) My roommate and I never talked about why it was important; to her, it was just the normal thing you did when you moved somewhere new, even though she wasn't very religious in general.

I don't think of a mezuzah as protection, though I know that's a commonly-held belief. I think of it as a reminder for how we are commanded to live our lives. Why would we put up the Shema on pieces of parchment in every room of our homes, if not to affirm the oneness of God and live by God's guidance? I knew someone (my monster boss) whose Orthodox sister had told him his mezuzahs needed to be checked out by a rabbi, because they might not be kosher and he might be subjecting his family to disaster. He took them all down, brought them to me, and asked me to take them to this particular rabbi his sister had referred him to, who was some distance away. Heck, it got me out of the office and I got to drive his very nice car, so I did it.

When I picked them up a few days later, the rabbi joyfully told me they were all kosher, and he thanked me for being vigilant about it. My boss was very happy to hear this when I told him about it. "What if the house had burned down while we were all asleep, and it was my fault for not making sure the mezuzahs were kosher?!" All I could think of was, (a) If it was so important to him, why didn't he have them checked when he bought them; and (b) why didn't he take the mezuzahs to the rabbi himself if he was so worried about his family's safety? But more importantly, why was he so freaked out about the correctness of a ritual item, but felt no guilt about sleeping around on his wife?

On a lighter note, we always bought fun cases for the mezuzahs for the kids' rooms. DD35 had one that was made of wood, with balloons on it, and she called it a "balloza" for years!

[hollygail]

I don't remember when I started putting a mezzuzah up at the front door. I rented apartments (and houses) for many years and don't think I put them up in my earlier days. But when I started? No recollection at all. I can tell you this though. When DH and I were looking to buy this house, a condo in a complex of 100 units, I told the agent (whom I'd met years earlier at shul; I had taught both of her sons) I didn't want to be the only Jewish family in the 100 units. I looked at the front doors of all 6 of the units in the row of the unit we were looking at and couldn't see inside anyone's heavy-duty screen door to the wood doorpost. So she asked someone working in the complex (perhaps someone taking care of landscaping? I don't remember; it was 2004 when we were looking). He said there was a man who wore something on his head (he didn't know what it was called) and he pointed to where the man lived. I went down that row of units; the heavy-duty screen doors where there too and I couldn't see any doorposts. But we bought here regardless. We put a mezzuzah on the front doorpost. The back entrance has a sliding door situation so there's no wood outside, only aluminum. We bought a flat back aluminum mezzuzah case (I don't remember whether it had the scroll already inside or if we added it) and we used Velcro tape to attach it to the aluminum which was attached to the house. That Velcro tape held up for many years, but not forever. We tried re-attaching it, but it stuck for maybe a day. So there's no mezzuzah at the entrance we both use almost exclusively. We also affixed a mezzuzah at all the inside doors (other than the bathrooms, of course). Only one fell down after many years (and hasn't been re-attached).

How do I "view" what the mezzuzah stands for? There's a commandment shortly after the the sh'ma. The sh'ma is Deut 6:4; then come these verses:
5

וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכׇל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ

You shall love your God יהוה with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6

וְהָי֞וּ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַוְּךָ֛ הַיּ֖וֹם עַל־לְבָבֶֽךָ׃

Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day.
7

וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם לְבָנֶ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ֖ בָּ֑ם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֤ בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ֙ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשׇׁכְבְּךָ֖ וּבְקוּמֶֽךָ׃

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

וּקְשַׁרְתָּ֥ם לְא֖וֹת עַל־יָדֶ֑ךָ וְהָי֥וּ לְטֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֶֽיךָ׃

Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead;
9

וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם עַל־מְזֻז֥וֹת בֵּיתֶ֖ךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃ {ס}

inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

And that's why I affix mezzuzot to my doorposts. I don't believe they have any magic powers like protection or anything else.