Mezuzot

Affixing the Mezuza

According to Halakha, the mezuzah should be placed on the right side of the door (from the point of view of one entering the building or room), on the lower part of the upper third of the doorpost (or, for high doorways, around shoulder height), within approximately 3 inches of the doorway opening. In either case, Halakha requires that mezuzot be affixed within 30 days of the Jewish resident or residents moving into the home if its rented and in the Diaspora (i.e. outside Israel). If the home, however, is purchased in the Diaspora or is located in Israel (regardless of it is owned or rented) the mezuzah must be affixed immediately upon moving in. The case should be permanently affixed with nails, screws, glue, or strong double-sided tape. Great caution should be exerted not to puncture, rip, or crack the parchment or the wording on it, since this would invalidate the mezuzah entirely.

Where the doorway is wide enough, Ashkenazi Jews and Spanish and Portuguese Jews tilt the case so that the top slants toward the room the door opens into. This is done to accommodate the variant opinions of Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam as to whether it should be placed horizontally or vertically and also to imply that God and the Torah (which the mezuzah is a symbol for) are coming into the room. Ottoman Sephardim and some other non-Ashkenazi Jewish groups have traditionally affixed the case vertically.

The procedure is to hold the mezuzah against the spot upon which it will be affixed, then recite a blessing:

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

Any Jew is permitted to perform this blessing, regardless of whether or not he or she is of the age of majority so long as he or she is old enough to understand the significance of this mitzvah. After the blessing is made, the mezuzah is attached.

When affixing many mezuzot, the blessing is made only before affixing the first mezuzah, while having in mind that that first blessing applies to the affixing of all the other mezuzot.

Mezuzot should be affixed on all the doors of their homes, with the exception of bathrooms, very small rooms (e.g., closets) and temporary structures (e.g. sukkot). The garage door is not exempt from having a mezuzah. Gates for outdoor fences also require a mezuzah if there is an overhead lintel. If there is no overhead lintel, a mezuzah is not required. A synagogue does not require a mezuzah unless it is also used for general gatherings or as a place of study.

Preparing and writing the scroll

The rendering of the Hebrew text on the scroll is a matter requiring great care. Each letter must be written precisely, preferably by a certified sofer ("scribe"), as one letter written incorrectly would render the scroll invalid (pasul). The text of the mezuza should be written in one sitting, without any interruptions or distractions (except for the practically necessary dipping of the quill or looking up of the next word) to comply with the command of ukhtavtam (you shall inscribe them) wherein tam also indicates a complete, one-iteration writing.

The text is written in a single column on 22 scored lines, corresponding to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and is divided into two paragraphs; the second paragraph is indented somewhat, to correspond to the way it would be written in a Torah scroll.

In general, the letters are written on Klafl as they would be in a Torah scroll, including the fact that in the first verse of the text, two letters are written larger than usual.

On the reverse of the scroll, opposite the space used for this indentation, is written Shaddai, one of the names of God in Judaism. This is also an acronym for the words Shomer Daltot Yisrael ("Guardian of the Doorways of Israel"). Most klafim also have, on the reverse, three Kabbalistic names of God, which are produced from the names in the first verse of the Shema.

The parchment is then rolled into a scroll from left to right (evoking the image of a Torah scroll), such that the first words, "Shema Yisrael" ("Hear O Israel..."), will be read first upon unrolling.

In all, the Mezuzah scroll must contain 22 lines of calligraphic script writing, comprising 713 letters. There are a total of 4,649 separate instructions that govern the preparation and inscription of a truly kosher mezuzah scroll. When prepared correctly, it is believed that the truly kosher mezuzah serves to "guard your going out and your coming in" (Psalms 121:8).