Hanging The Mezuzah On The Doorpost

The Mezuzah

The beautiful Mezuzah, an authentic case I brought back from Israel, is filled with a hand written scroll done by an official scribe of the verses of Deuteronomy 6;4-9 and 11:13-21.  This is the Jewish prayer called the Shema. It is the first thing we say each morning and the last each night. It is the first prayer we teach our children and the last one we say as we pass out of this world. We said in the morning it gives us something to gage our life by and at night it gives it something to reflect on. 

All Jews affix a Mezuzah on the outside of the door on the door posts, and some place it on both sides of the door and on each inside room as well. When it is orginally placed, the following blessing is then said:

 בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשַׁנוּ בְּמִצְו‌ֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לִקְבּוֹעַ מְזוּזָה

‬Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha‘olam, asher qideshanu bemitzvotav vetzivanu liqboa‘ mezuzah

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us with His mitzvot, and commanded us to affix a Mezuzah.

The scroll should be a Kosher scroll and have the following verses:

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. 

13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;17 And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. 

The scrolls are checked yearly to make sure that the scroll is in good shape.