This is the Forward’s coverage of mezuzahs, small narrow cases containing a parchment (called a klaf) inscribed with the Shema prayer. The case is traditionally attached to the doorpost of a Jewish house.
Mezuzah
The Latest
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Culture Excavating Poland’s Last Remaining Mezuzas From Before the Holocaust
Helena Czernek and Aleksander Prugar have been trekking around Poland both as artists and as archaeologists: They’re searching for traces of mezuzas on Jewish homes that were abandoned or destroyed during the Holocaust. For the artists’ project, “Mezuzah From This Home,” the duo first identifies what Prugar calls “marks of existence” on doorframes across the…
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Fast Forward Boxer Manny Pacquiao ‘Loves the Jews,’ Has ‘Mezuzah on Every Door’
Boxer Manny Pacquiao may be looking to get the Tribe behind him as he heads into his fight of the century against Floyd Mayweather Jr. The Filipino fighter has visited Israel several times and speaks warmly of his relationship with Jews, promoter Bob Arum says in a new interview on the eve of the bout…
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Fast Forward Paris Shop With Mezuzah Hit by Gunfire
For the third time in a week, bullet holes were discovered at a Jewish establishment in the Paris area. The latest incident was discovered on Friday by the owner of a printing shop in the French capital’s 19th arrondissement, the BNVCA watchdog on anti-Semitism reported on its website. “After the attacks opon Jewish schools and…
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The Schmooze Introducing the ‘Christooza’ — Yes, It’s a Cross Mezuzah.
Apparently, Christians have mezuzah-envy. Or so it would seem to one Henry Zabarsky, inventor of the “Christooza.” If you couldn’t guess from the name, it’s a portmanteau of Christian and Mezuzah, or Christooza. “I was visiting a client in Rockaway,” Zabarsky, a Jewish financial advisor from Queens, told the New York Post. “She’s very religious…
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Fast Forward Landlord’s ‘No Mezuzah’ Rule Sparks Lawsuit
An Orthodox Jewish man from suburban New York City sued his landlord for demanding that he remove the mezuzah from his apartment’s doorpost. Arye Sachs of North Babylon on Long Island filed a lawsuit this week in Brooklyn federal court, the New York Post reported. In the lawsuit, Sachs said his landlord ordered him to…
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Fast Forward Brooklyn Mezuzah-Burning Suspect Takes to Facebook: ‘I Don’t Hate Jews’
A man arrested for allegedly setting mezuzahs on fire in a Brooklyn apartment building addressed the accusations on his Facebook page. Rubin Ubiles, 35, was taken in for questioning on Wednesday and later arrested. Eleven mezuzahs were set afire on Monday afternoon – the day Israel observed Holocaust Remembrance Day – in public housing located…
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The Schmooze Rick Perry’s Mezuzah
First there was the Sarah Palin sheitel. Now there’s the Rick Perry mezuzah. Los Angeles-based MezuzahStore.com has created a large stone mezuzah in honor of the Texas governor, a tribute that follows Perry’s June signing of a law that explicitly protects the right of state residents to post religious objects outside their doors. The law…
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Life Senators Hatch and Reid: Mormons With Mezuzahs
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch isn’t the only Mormon legislator with a soft spot for Jewish traditions. Senate majority leader Harry Reid’s wife, Landra (née Gould), was raised Jewish, and the Reid family has a mezuzah on the doorpost of their Searchlight, Nev. home in honor of that heritage, a spokeswoman for Senator Reid confirmed. (Senator…
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