What is
a mezuzah trace?

What is a mezuzah?

Mezuzah is a scroll of parchment with excerpts from the Book of Deuteronomy.
The scroll is housed in a container with a letter shin as one of the names for God, Shaddai. In a house, mezuzahs are hanged on the right side of all doorframes at approximately 2/3 of the frame’s height. It is a very important symbol of a Jewish home, as it reminds to respect Torah laws.

Mezuzah set contains:

Typical pre-war Polish mezuzahs consisted of the following elements:

1 – A metal plate covering the container containing the mezuzah scroll located in a recess on the doorframe. The plate is marked with the letter Shin.

2 – A recessed indentation in the doorframe in which the mezuzah is affixed.

3 – An additional container in which the mezuzah scroll was placed. This container was made of tin. The visible letter Shin.

4 – A rolled-up mezuzah scroll made of parchment. On the scroll is written the letter Shin.

How pre-war mezuzahs look like?

From the outside, the plate enclosing the scroll in a recess in the doorframe was visible. On the plate is the letter Shin. The mezuzahs were of very primitive construction but this made the scrolls perfectly secure.

What is mezuzah trace?

The mezuzah traces are where the mezuzah scroll was located before the war. More than 3.5 million Jews lived in Poland before World War II. In the majority of Jewish homes, on the doorposts of every door used to be mezuzot. With the War, the mezuzot disappeared – leaving nothing but traces of emptiness and loneliness. Atypical traces on doorframes can be an indication of past presence of a mezuzah. It can be a groove, or a contour that sticks out from under the paint, or some nails that used to hold the mezuzah box. The mezuzah marks are symbols of emptiness.

Symbolics behind a mezuzah

It is customary to write inscriptions on the back of the parchment: the Hebrew word שדי “Shaddai” [Almighty] – one of the Biblical names of God, also serves here as an acronym for Shomer Daltot Yisrael, „Guardian of Israel’s doors”. Many mezuzah cases are also marked with the Hebrew letterש‎ Shin, for Shaddai.

The purpose of mezuzah

In the Biblical verses where the mezuzah command is found, the purpose is educational, to constantly remind a person of God’s commandments. In later generations, though, the mezuzah began to be interpreted as an apotropaic device, protecting the house from forces of evil. A culture-comparative analysis suggests that the objects placed on domestic thresholds often bear the function of an amulet repelling the broadly understood evil. Some early Rabbinic sources explicitly witness the belief in the anti-demonic function of mezuzot. While some Jewish sources indicate that mezuzah is construed as a device protecting against divine anger, others vehemently reject such an interpretation. The belief in the protective power of mezuzah is prevalent in modern times as well. According to various pieces of sociological research, approximately three-quarters of adults in Israel believe the mezuzah guards their houses.

The text of mezuzah
Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 11:13–21

HEAR, O ISRAEL: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto My commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, so that there shall be no rain, and the ground shall not yield her fruit; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. Therefore shall ye lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

Why mezuzah traces are important?

Synagogues and Jewish cemeteries are symbols of existence of communities and are, unlike mezuzah traces, protected by law. Traces of mezuzahs are a sign of the existence of individual families. This kind of mark on doorpost makes it possible to reconstruct family stories. Additionally, traces of mezuzahs are symbolic keyholes through which one can see the old Polish-Jewish world.

Where we found mezuzah traces?

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Acknowledgement

On this page we have shown photographs of the only surviving complete mezuzah in Poland, which consists of a doorframe with a mezuzah trace, a mezuzah container, a mezuzah scroll and a closing plate. The doorframe is the property of Mr. Wojciech Mszyca. Thank you for making the object available for documentation purposes.