A Jewish Home
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ShareWhat Makes a Jewish Home Jewish? By Dr. Vanessa Ochs
1. Articulate Objects: First, certain standard markers serve as unambiguous “signs” or “indications” that a Jewish home has been intentionally constructed, and is being continually constructed–by the objects themselves and by a range of interactions people have with these objects. Call this first category of objects: articulate, revelatory, self-evident, and unambiguous. One could call objects in this category: signs which say “a Jew lives here”; props which say, “I am needed in Jewish life”; or catalysts which say, “my very presence creates Jewish ways of being and doing.” Often they are all three: signs, props, and catalysts.
Such things in this category facilitate, instigate, or suggest Jewish ways of being, create and enforce Jewish identities, and serve as reminders that one’s home is Jewish. One informant has described such objects as the boundary-keepers she sets up in order to distinguish and protect the Jewish identity of her home from the largely non-Jewish world in which her family lives.
2. Jewish-Signifying Objects: In a second category are objects that are not in and of themselves considered explicitly or uniquely Jewish-signifying objects that create the Jewishness of a home and point to it (for oneself and for others who enter the space). Nonetheless, they also function, in many Jewish homes, to embody, create, and express kedushah [holiness] by their actual presence, by a hidden presence of which one is consciously or subliminally aware, and also by the whole range of interactions to which such objects are subject or suggest and provoke.
3. Ordinary Objects Transformed: In a third category, I place a whole range of material objects that could be found in any home, but whose meanings and functions shift within the context of a Jewish home. A dish is a dish, but in a Jewish home where kashrut (the dietary laws) is observed, the dishes of a certain color or pattern placed in a particular and separate cabinet become and remain milchig (milk, or dairy) dishes, and the dishes in another cabinet become and remain fleishig (meat).
1. Articulate Objects: First, certain standard markers serve as unambiguous “signs” or “indications” that a Jewish home has been intentionally constructed, and is being continually constructed–by the objects themselves and by a range of interactions people have with these objects. Call this first category of objects: articulate, revelatory, self-evident, and unambiguous. One could call objects in this category: signs which say “a Jew lives here”; props which say, “I am needed in Jewish life”; or catalysts which say, “my very presence creates Jewish ways of being and doing.” Often they are all three: signs, props, and catalysts.
Such things in this category facilitate, instigate, or suggest Jewish ways of being, create and enforce Jewish identities, and serve as reminders that one’s home is Jewish. One informant has described such objects as the boundary-keepers she sets up in order to distinguish and protect the Jewish identity of her home from the largely non-Jewish world in which her family lives.
2. Jewish-Signifying Objects: In a second category are objects that are not in and of themselves considered explicitly or uniquely Jewish-signifying objects that create the Jewishness of a home and point to it (for oneself and for others who enter the space). Nonetheless, they also function, in many Jewish homes, to embody, create, and express kedushah [holiness] by their actual presence, by a hidden presence of which one is consciously or subliminally aware, and also by the whole range of interactions to which such objects are subject or suggest and provoke.
3. Ordinary Objects Transformed: In a third category, I place a whole range of material objects that could be found in any home, but whose meanings and functions shift within the context of a Jewish home. A dish is a dish, but in a Jewish home where kashrut (the dietary laws) is observed, the dishes of a certain color or pattern placed in a particular and separate cabinet become and remain milchig (milk, or dairy) dishes, and the dishes in another cabinet become and remain fleishig (meat).
Jewish Time: Shabbat and Holidays
The Sabbath Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel p.8, 10
Unlike the space-minded man to whom time is unvaried, iterative, homogeneous, to whom all hours are alike, quality-less, empty shells, the Bible senses the diversified character of time. There are no two hours alike. Every hour is unique and the only one given at the moment, exclusive and endlessly precious.
Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year. The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals; and our Holy of Holies is a shrine that neither the Romans nor the Germans were able to burn; a shrine that even apostasy cannot easily obliterate: the Day of Atonement...
Jewish ritual may be characterized as the art of significant forms in time, as architecture of time. Most of its observances--the Sabbath, the New Moon, the festivals, the Sabbatical and the Jubilee year--depend on a certain hour of the day or season of the year. It is, for example, the evening, morning, or afternoon that brings with it the call to prayer. The main themes of faith lie in the realm of time. We remember the day of the exodus from Egypt, the day when Israel stood at Sinai; and our Messianic hope is the expectation of a day, of the end of days...(p 8)
The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation to the creation of the world...(p.10)
The Sabbath Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel p.8, 10
Unlike the space-minded man to whom time is unvaried, iterative, homogeneous, to whom all hours are alike, quality-less, empty shells, the Bible senses the diversified character of time. There are no two hours alike. Every hour is unique and the only one given at the moment, exclusive and endlessly precious.
Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year. The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals; and our Holy of Holies is a shrine that neither the Romans nor the Germans were able to burn; a shrine that even apostasy cannot easily obliterate: the Day of Atonement...
Jewish ritual may be characterized as the art of significant forms in time, as architecture of time. Most of its observances--the Sabbath, the New Moon, the festivals, the Sabbatical and the Jubilee year--depend on a certain hour of the day or season of the year. It is, for example, the evening, morning, or afternoon that brings with it the call to prayer. The main themes of faith lie in the realm of time. We remember the day of the exodus from Egypt, the day when Israel stood at Sinai; and our Messianic hope is the expectation of a day, of the end of days...(p 8)
The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation to the creation of the world...(p.10)
Jewish Space: Identity, Relationships, Sacred Boundaries-- Mezuzah
Origins of the Mezuzah
by Blu Greenberg http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/mezuzah/
A Jewish household is created by the people who live in it–by the way they act, the things they do and don’t do, the beliefs they hold. To a great extent, a Jewish way of life is a portable faith: you can take it with you anywhere you go. This is true for Shabbat, kashrut, Taharat Hamishpachah [family purity laws], daily prayer, and study of Torah.
It is generally accepted that Judaism as a religion is more oriented to holiness of time than holiness of place. There are many occasions we sanctify, but very few places we call holy. Is that the whole truth? Not at all, for the very place in which we live, our permanent residence, is sanctified. This is achieved through a very concrete ritual, through the mitzvah of mezuzah.
Mezuzah is of biblical origin and therefore carries great weight. “And you shall inscribe them on the doorposts (mezuzot) of our house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9, 11:20). What is to be inscribed? Divine instruction is very clear: “The words that I shall tell you this day”: that you shall love your God, believe only in God, keep God's commandments, and pass all of this on to your children.
Thus, a mezuzah has come to refer also to the parchment, or klaf, on which the verses of the Torah are inscribed (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 11:13-21). Mezuzah refers as well to the case or container in which the parchment is enclosed. A mezuzah serves two functions: Every time you enter or leave, the mezuzah reminds you that you have a covenant with God; second, the mezuzah serves as a symbol to everyone else that this particular dwelling is constituted as a Jewish household, operating by a special set of rules, rituals, and beliefs.
Mezuzah: What Does it Signify? from InterfaithFamily.com
http://www.interfaithfamily.com/files/pdf/Mezuzah-whats-on-the-door-Booklet.pdf
A mezuzah signals to all who pass by that the space inside is a special place where holy things can happen. It is a space where people aim to be considerate of each other, children learn respect for their parents and parents value the ideas and opinions of their children. It is a space where ethical behavior is not only taught but also modeled. Moses Maimonides, a sage of the fifteenth century, taught that the mezuzah reminded us each time we left our home and went into the world that everything in the world outside the home was temporary and would not last, that family and the traditions inside the home were more important.
Origins of the Mezuzah
by Blu Greenberg http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/mezuzah/
A Jewish household is created by the people who live in it–by the way they act, the things they do and don’t do, the beliefs they hold. To a great extent, a Jewish way of life is a portable faith: you can take it with you anywhere you go. This is true for Shabbat, kashrut, Taharat Hamishpachah [family purity laws], daily prayer, and study of Torah.
It is generally accepted that Judaism as a religion is more oriented to holiness of time than holiness of place. There are many occasions we sanctify, but very few places we call holy. Is that the whole truth? Not at all, for the very place in which we live, our permanent residence, is sanctified. This is achieved through a very concrete ritual, through the mitzvah of mezuzah.
Mezuzah is of biblical origin and therefore carries great weight. “And you shall inscribe them on the doorposts (mezuzot) of our house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9, 11:20). What is to be inscribed? Divine instruction is very clear: “The words that I shall tell you this day”: that you shall love your God, believe only in God, keep God's commandments, and pass all of this on to your children.
Thus, a mezuzah has come to refer also to the parchment, or klaf, on which the verses of the Torah are inscribed (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 11:13-21). Mezuzah refers as well to the case or container in which the parchment is enclosed. A mezuzah serves two functions: Every time you enter or leave, the mezuzah reminds you that you have a covenant with God; second, the mezuzah serves as a symbol to everyone else that this particular dwelling is constituted as a Jewish household, operating by a special set of rules, rituals, and beliefs.
Mezuzah: What Does it Signify? from InterfaithFamily.com
http://www.interfaithfamily.com/files/pdf/Mezuzah-whats-on-the-door-Booklet.pdf
A mezuzah signals to all who pass by that the space inside is a special place where holy things can happen. It is a space where people aim to be considerate of each other, children learn respect for their parents and parents value the ideas and opinions of their children. It is a space where ethical behavior is not only taught but also modeled. Moses Maimonides, a sage of the fifteenth century, taught that the mezuzah reminded us each time we left our home and went into the world that everything in the world outside the home was temporary and would not last, that family and the traditions inside the home were more important.
Jewish Space: Identity, Relationships, Sacred Boundaries-- Mezuzah
What is a mezuzah?
The Hebrew word mezuzah means “doorpost.” According to tradition, the mezuzah is to be affixed to the doorpost at the entrance to a Jewish home as well as at the entrance to each of the interior rooms except for bathrooms. The mezuzah itself consists of a small scroll of parchment (k’laf ) on which are written two biblical passages. The first is Deuteronomy 6:4–9...the second is Deuteronomy 11:13-21. The scroll is inserted into a wooden, plastic, or metal casing that is often quite beautiful and artistic in design. A mezuzah may be purchased at any store that handles Jewish religious articles.
Why do Jews affix a mezuzah to the doorpost of a home?
The custom of affixing a mezuzah to the doorpost fulfills the biblical commandment: “You shall write them upon the doorposts of thy house and upon thy gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9). The mezuzah distinguishes a Jewish home and is a visible sign and symbol to all those who enter that a sense of Jewish identity and commitment exists in that household. The mezuzah reminds us that our homes are holy places and that we should act accordingly—when we enter them and when we leave them to go out into the world.
What is a mezuzah?
The Hebrew word mezuzah means “doorpost.” According to tradition, the mezuzah is to be affixed to the doorpost at the entrance to a Jewish home as well as at the entrance to each of the interior rooms except for bathrooms. The mezuzah itself consists of a small scroll of parchment (k’laf ) on which are written two biblical passages. The first is Deuteronomy 6:4–9...the second is Deuteronomy 11:13-21. The scroll is inserted into a wooden, plastic, or metal casing that is often quite beautiful and artistic in design. A mezuzah may be purchased at any store that handles Jewish religious articles.
Why do Jews affix a mezuzah to the doorpost of a home?
The custom of affixing a mezuzah to the doorpost fulfills the biblical commandment: “You shall write them upon the doorposts of thy house and upon thy gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9). The mezuzah distinguishes a Jewish home and is a visible sign and symbol to all those who enter that a sense of Jewish identity and commitment exists in that household. The mezuzah reminds us that our homes are holy places and that we should act accordingly—when we enter them and when we leave them to go out into the world.
Jewish Values through Practice: Kashrut, Tzedakah, Learning