We have a mezuzah!

I've been thinking for a while now of getting a mezuzah. I'm not sure why - maybe it is all the Old Testament studies getting to my brain, or maybe it is my new freedom to be eclectic in action. I don't think it is anything to do with being pregnant.

Anyway, I went down the street with all the mezuzahs, and I've never seen so much "Judaica" in once place. I guess I've never had a reason to look before, and previously I didn't even know it is called "Judaica".

So I went through four or five shops in a row, before deciding that I have probably seen all the possible variations on a theme. There were:
- tiny mezuzahs for the car
- wooden mezuzahs
- silver mezuzahs
- mezuzahs with scenes painted on them from "Fiddler on the Roof"
- plasticene mezuzahs for children's bedrooms
- clear plastic mezuzahs so you can see the scroll inside
- giant mezuzahs for synagogues (I assume)

Anyway, I found a small house-sized one with the Ten Commandments on it! This seems to me appropriate, as the Decalogue is something I really can claim as part of my tradition. It would seem a little strange to have Hebrew written on my door when I don't even read it. It seems to be common enough not to read Hebrew - no-one in the shops even looked surprised when I asked for translations of what is written on the outside of the cases.

In one place I was labelled as a "non-serious" mezuzah buyer - the man in the shop said you get the case for free when you buy the scroll. I asked if he had any more decorative cases (he only had the clear plastic ones) and he kind of sniffed and acted like I was more concerned with appearances than with the scroll inside - which is true, in a way.

So in our family mezuzah (the word just means "door post") has inside it a scroll which I typed with four Bible verses on it. The two traditional ones from Deuteronomy:

Deut 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 11:18-21 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

I also wanted two other ones from the Psalms which seemed appropriate:

Psalm 139:1-3, 8-10 You have searched me, LORD,and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn,if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Psalm 121:8 The LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Amen! So there we have it - our family mezuzah. I must say that Dean has been very understanding about all of this. Not every atheist husband would help his non-Jewish wife put up the family mezuzah!