The mezuzah is a prayer to protect the home that jewish people place on door frame.
Jewish box on door.
In mainstream rabbinic judaism a mezuzah is affixed to the doorpost of jewish homes to fulfill the mitzvah biblical commandment to write the words of god on the gates and doorposts of your house deuteronomy 6 9.
Doorpost represents the dividing line between the inside of a jewish home or business and the outside world.
Since the jewish people received the torah on mount sinai jews have been placing a mezuzah parchment surrounded by a case on their door posts.
It contains a parchment scroll with verses from the torah inscribed on it including the shema prayer deuteronomy 6 4 9 11 13 21.
1 the tradition in many jewish homes is to place one s hand on the mezuzah when passing by and there are those who then kiss the hand that touched it.
The mezuzah as it is known is actually a piece of parchment called a klaf with specific verses from the torah that is then placed inside a mezuzah case which is then affixed to the doorposts of a jewish home.
Hebrew a small box placed on the right doorpost of jewish homes.
The outer casing is simply a decoration to protect the prayer.
The prayer is usually hand written and is on the.
What is the source of this custom.
Below it is a wider base known as the titura תיתורא.
It is the handwritten parchment paper that is the mezuzah.
Muh zoo zuh oo as in book origin.
Each mezuzah contains a rolled kosher parchment with the shema prayer meant to protect the inhabitants.
Although it is common to refer to the decorative case that holds the parchment as the mezuzah it is actually called a mezuzah case.
The main box which holds the tefillin scrolls known as ketitzah קציצה is cubical.
The parchment is placed in a small encasement and affixed on the doorposts of the home.
At the back of the titura is a passageway ma avarta מעברתא through which the tefillin strap is threaded to tie the tefillin in place.
The box that holds the scroll can be decorated in a variety of ways and often has a hebrew letter shin on it which is the first letter of one of god s names shaddai.