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Preparation or you can skip to The
actual Ritual
1. If possible do this as a Hanukkat HaBayit by inviting friends to
participate with their presence. The root of Hanukkah is kh-n-khkh,
which has meanings with nuances such as education , dedication,
enlightenment, consecration. It's nice to do this on a Saturday night,
after offering a Havallah ceremony to end Shabbat.
2. Preparation. When I
transitioned from the home I raised my children in, to a new home due to
divorce, my friend Rabbi Gail Diamond suggest that I see this as my new
sacred space. To take on that sacred space she suggested that I clean the
full house myself symbolically, since it had been done by the prior
owners. Now cleaning is not really my field, as Jackie Mason might say, for
this I will sacrifice other joys to hire people, so taking this on myself
was no small decision.
3. Chessed, (pronounced khessed)
- overflowing loving kindness, is symbolized by water in Judaism, and
gevurah is boundaries
and strength. These I wanted to have in balance in this new home. So, I
collected some rain water and added it to the tap water. [Much like a
mikveh, (ritual pool
for healing immersions and conversions and monthly transformations), must have
mayyim chayyim, living waters.] Then I sumoned the
koach
(pronounced koakh), strength to clean without resenting the task, and then damp mopped each
room and ran a sponge around each of the floor boards.
d. In my spirit I called for the house to be filled with lots of
hakhnassat orkhim, entertaining of guests, as I crossed each
"threshold,"
which in Hebrew is ehden
(more easily visualized as adan), the root word of Adonai, I kissed each mezuzah
and entered with the intention to be a sacred servant preparing a Jewish
home to be the container for many mitzvot for HaShem
(God).
e. The experience was so valuable. I felt bonded to the house through this
very physical ritual. In past years I'd attended smudgings, where folks
carry a bit of burning sage to drive out the energy of prior inhabitants,
a la Native American
traditions. I too wanted something "more Jewish."
In any event, find some symbolic way to prepare that
feels right for you. Include yourself in the preparation, water rituals
are very prevalent in the Torah, there are at least
seven mentioned in the Torah itself.
3. A kosher mezuzah scroll is handwritten by a scribe with special ink on
special paper with focus and precision. This gets tucked into your
mezuzah. Have these items ready and be shore to check your door post(s) to
see if they are metal or wood. Double stick tape will be needed for the
former and tiny screws for the latter. Learn more about
what's in your scroll here.
4. Except for the bathroom where you
presumably will be alone most
of the time, every
threshold requires a mezuzah so that your consciousness will be shifted to
holiness in your relationships as you transition from one space to
another.
THE RITUAL:
1. Choose a popular melody or verse from Torah to gather the energy of
your community of friends and/or new neighbors. Or, this might be an
expansion of your mezuzah practice, perhaps one for your study door, or
exam room at your office or school, or a child's room, then gather the
staff, or the family. You might simply chant: Adonai.
(My Lord/My Threshold).
Hold the silence at the end of the chant, it contains holiness which is
filling your room/home.
INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON:
1. In the Torah the reward the midwives receive for saving the lives of
the Israelite boy babies are homes. What does home mean to you? You might
invite your guests to share what the idea of "home" is for them.
Is it possible to have everywhere you live with the qualities of what you
desire to be in your "home."
OR
2. Reflect on the
intentions you have for the space you are decorating - how is this home,
office or room one you are making into sacred space? What does see your
home as sacred space mean to you?
3. Pass the mezuzah around and have your friends infuse it with some of
the qualities of living and experiencing would be great for filling your
home. This is not a cult, they can say them aloud, in a whisper, or
pass.
4. Now, hold the mezuzah in
place, about 1/3 down the right side of the doorway as you enter, set it
comfortably at about shoulder height.
5. Let the intentions of
your heart for your home pour into the doorpost while you are holding the
mezuzah in the place you will affix it.
6. Attach the mezuah and recite the blessing:
Baruch atah
Blessed are you
Ado-noy
My God/Threshold (Adon, the root word of Adonai means threshold)
E-loheinu
Our
G-d, the
melech
organizing principle of
ha-olam
the
universe (olam=world, eternity or universe)
asher
through
which
kiddishanu
our holiness comes in the
b'mitzvosav
doing of mitzvahs (sacred acts of consciousness)
v'tzeevanu
such as the Your guidance
leekboah
to affix
m'zuzah
a
mezuzah.
Click here for Reb Goldie's Mezuzah Story
If this is the first time you have ever put up a mezuzah, or the first
time you'd have a place of your own, or the first time you've owned your
own home,
a shehekheyanu blessing is in order, as well.
6. Guests can call out Siman Tov and Mazel Tov,
which are astrologically based Hebrew blessings.
Siman Tov - may this be happening under a good sign for you
and Mazel Tov and a good star, may its blaze bring
good fortune - mazel, for you in your new home.
And many blessings from my heart to yours, as well, Reb Goldie
Blessings for Reaching a Milestone in the Journey of Your Life
Prayer Ritual
for the Journey Called Life
The cycles of human life are also profoundly supported by
Jewish prayer and ritual practice. If you elect to raise a child,
there is a rich emotional passion at seeing that child named,
Attaining
the age of bar/bat mitzvah or entering a committed relationship.
Making it through to such joyous times isn’t guaranteed.
Do these and other memorable moments,
regardless of your rational beliefs, ever yield a desire to say
"Thank God!"? In Jewish rituals this impulse has become
associated with a prayer called the shehekheyanu.
So it is that this prayer gives form and depth to a voice
quavering with emotion as at those special times you can
bless the mysterious
Process,
Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheynu Melech ha olam
She-heh-kheh-ya-nu Which
enlivens us
v’ki-mah-nu And sustains us
v’higee-ya-nu And brings us to
lazman ha zeh. This [special] time.
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