On Your Doorposts And On Your Gates, Part 1***

Our mezuzah cases from Turtle Lane Acres, along with a free "shalom" magnet. It doesn't get better than that!

We moved into our old, cozy mid-19th century farmhouse almost exactly 3 years ago. At the time, I was 5 months pregnant with my surrogate twins, so the move was difficult. We also were combining two households, blending two families, and to make it even more complex (if that is possible!) both of our families had experienced the loss of a parent/spouse, so there was a bit of grief and trauma to contend with.

The house I lived in when it was just the girls and me was about 1/3 of the size of our current home; Jim's house where he and the boys lived was not much bigger. Affixing mezuzot to our main doors was definitely something that we did as soon as we moved into our current home, but we decided that we would find mezuzah cases over time, for the rooms throughout the interior, and purchase the mezuzot as we went along.

About a year ago, a friend of mine, Cat Zavis, shared with me and some other students in the ALEPH Ordination Program, a creative interpretation of the Vhaya Eem Shemoa Tishmeyu prayer she and her husband, Rabbi Michael Lerner, wrote together. When I heard it, I was moved to tears, and inspired to use it for at least one mezuzah inside my home. 

A kosher mezuzah is inscribed by a sofer stam (a scribe) in Hebrew, on a klat (piece of parchment). The verses on the parchment are Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21, which includes the prayer most central to Judaism: Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad (Hear, O Israel, The Lord Our God, The Lord Is One).

It is definitely important to our family that the mezuzahs on the main entrances to our home are kosher, but since hearing Cat and Rabbi Lerner's interperative Vhaya Eem Shemoa Tishmeyu, an idea began turning over in my mind: What if we were to make our own mezuzot for the doorways throughout the interior of our home? 

I absolutely wanted to include Rabbi Lerner and Cat's prayer, as well as some Tehillim (Psalms), specifically the interpretive versions written by my Rebbe, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z"l.

In anticipation of the project of scribing these mezuzot, I perused Etsy, as I tend to do when looking for cool (do kids still use that word?), homespun, artisan additions to our home, and found the most beautiful handmade mezuzot, made in Texas at Turtle Lane Acres. I highly recommend. And no, I am not being paid to say this.  😇

Here is the text for the first mezuzah I will scribe this week. To me, it demonstrates how timeless our Torah is, how it is always absolutely and unwaveringly applicable to the trials and tribulations we will face in our world. By changing some of the language, Rabbi Lerner and Cat have helped us to understand the ways in which we can apply this prayer to the exact time and place in which we live in this life journey we are all on. 

Thank you to Cat for allowing me to use this prayer! I look forward to affixing it on the doorpost of our living room! 

Eem Shemoa Tishmeyu (Deuteronomy 11:13-21)

And it will come to pass . . . If you love the Transformative Power of the Universe with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your passions and using that energy, build a world based on these mitzvoth:   

                A world of love of the stranger, the other, kindness, generosity and care, peace, compassion and nonviolence, social, economic and environmental justice, and ecological sensitivity;      

Then the world will work. 

The sun will shine, the rain will fall appropriate to its season, the earth will give forth her produce and you and your animals will eat and be satisfied.

But be careful  . . . watch out . . . because if you don’t build a world based on these mitzvoth and instead build a world based on selfishness and greed, consuming and producing without care for the well-being of the planet or its inhabitants, constantly chasing and hoarding after more money, power, fame, or land, building walls that separate, voting rights for some and not others, economic systems that benefit the few on the backs of the many [you can add more here if you like!] then the world will not work. Just as the social, economic, and political systems become unbalanced, so will the ecological and environmental systems and foundations of the earth and universe. The sun will not shine, the rain will not fall appropriate to its season, the earth will not give forth her produce, there will be a series of environmental catastrophes – cities and nations alike will be consumed from bursting waters, fires will spread throughout the lands, glaciers will melt – and eventually you and your animals too will be wiped off the face of the earth in one of these catastrophes.

So . . . teach this to your children; talk about it in public, even when your voice cracks and your knees shake, at services and events, even when people get upset hearing it; talk about it in your home with friends and family even if they are sick and tired of hearing about it; talk about it when you walk by the way so that strangers hear this message because this, this is the greatest spiritual need and calling of our time. Talk about it when you go to sleep at night and when you get up in the morning because you’ll forget. Bind it for a sign upon your arm so it seeps into your heart and guides your actions and a sign upon your third eye so it seeps deep into your unconscious permeating every cell and pore of your being. Write it for a sign upon your doorposts and upon your gates so that you remember and all those who come into your home know the values by which you live. If you do these things, and build a loving and just world, then you and your children, and all children will have a long life on this earth that God promised you.

God spoke to Moses saying, “Tell the children of Israel to wear tzitzit on the corners of their garments, to put a blue thread in the tzitzit as an indication of the beauty of the universe and to catch your attention when you are distracted, to look at these tzitzit as a reminder of these mitzvoth so they do not forget them and so you do them and live this way. I am the Transformative Power of the Universe who brought you out of the narrow consciousness of slavery, of constriction, to show you that systems and structures of oppression are not fixed but created by human beings and can be overthrown and transformed, and that the world can be fundamentally healed, repaired and transformed. I am that force in truth.”

Ani Ad-nai Elo-heichem asher hotzeiti etchem me’eretz Mitzrayim

L’hiyot la’chem l’El-him Ani Ad-nai Elo-heichem. Emet

***This blog post could have become way too long, so I plan to divide it into 3 Parts. Watch over the next couple of days for additions that will include the chanting of the interpretive Vhaya Eem Shemoa Tishmeyu, pictures of the various mezuzot we are making, as well as a recording of the traditional prayer for affixing a mezuzah.