My parents bought a beautiful home on the shores of Lake Champlain a few years ago. They have entertained there, renovated the kitchen, painted walls, rebuilt the basement, and spent summers enjoying the views of their cliff-top dwelling. In that time, they have surely walked in and out of their front door a "gazillion" times.
Either completely unnoticed or noticed but not pursued, a small curiosity has been quietly waiting to be discovered by these new homeowners. Today, the wait was over.
After spending the afternoon playing in and lounging by the lake, I was putting my wet shoes by the door when I noticed this small thing attached to the frame of the transom window. At about eight feet high, it was difficult to see, but I thought it might be a lever to open the window or a special key of some kind. I poked at it and wiggled it a bit to see if it would come down, and it turns out that two small finishing nails were all that held it to the window frame…so I removed it.
It did indeed seem to be a key of some sort, but it wasn't clear what it would be for. And to make it more curious, on the front of this "key" was a pictograph that was in some way familiar to me. It didn't take long to conclude that the pictograph was actually a Hebrew symbol, but we still didn't know for sure what this thing was. As we discussed the possibilities I remembered back to my days at Trinity babysitting for many orthodox Jewish families. They would often have a thing attached to the wall near their front door that was important to the practices of their faith. Could that be what this "key" is?
Enter Google. A little research revealed that, as a matter of fact, what we had discovered was a Mezuzah placed there by the previous owners.
A mezuzah is a piece of parchment inscribed with specified verses from the Torah. These verses comprise the Jewish prayer "Shema Yisrael". A mezuzah is affixed to the doorframe in Jewish homes to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to inscribe the words of the Shema "on the doorposts of your house" (Deuteronomy 6:9. The parchment is prepared by a qualified scribe who has undergone many years of meticulous training, and the verses are written in black indelible ink with a special quill pen. The parchment is then rolled up and placed inside the case.
Wait. A parchment scroll? So far all we had was this thing with the Hebrew symbol on it. Could there really be a scroll in this tiny thing? It took some surgical digging (tweezers, forceps, and a patient hand), but that's exactly we found. How fun!
I continued to research the mezuzah. The Hebrew symbol on the case turns out to be the Hebrew letter "Shin" which stands for the S in Shaddai – one of the names for God. The Shin also serves as a one-letter acronym for "Shomer Daltot Yesrael" which means "Guardian of Israel's doors".
The case is mounted on the door frame and is to serve as a constant reminder of God's presence and His commandments.
The scroll has the following passages printed in Hebrew:
Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 11:13-21. 13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord's anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
My last act was to reroll the parchment scroll, replace it in the case, and replace the case to its original position "on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates".
