JTF.ORG Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: muman613 on September 21, 2010, 02:03:21 PM
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This story is disturbing, especially the ending:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/nyregion/18mezuzahs.html
In Mezuzas, a Custom Inherited by Gentiles
By ANN FARMER
The doorways inside 30 Ocean Parkway, an Art Deco building in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, are studded with mezuzas of all sizes and styles: plastic, pewter, simple, gaudy, elegant.
The people behind those doors are an assortment, too: Catholics, Baptists, Episcopalians, Buddhists, atheists and even a few observing the High Holy Days this week.
“I love mine,” said Eva Gasteazoro, a performance artist who discovered a mezuza on the doorway of her second-floor apartment when she moved in 10 years ago. Although she was raised Catholic, it never crossed her mind to take down this symbol of a Jewish household.
“It’s a very beautiful one,” she said, running her fingers over the raised Hebrew lettering on its tarnished but ornate metal casing. “A lot of the new ones are plastic,” she added, looking askance at a white mezuza jutting from her Jewish neighbor’s doorway.
Jews have left their mark on every aspect of New York life, but perhaps none are so ubiquitous and tangible as the palm-length encasements attached to countless doorways. So in a city that both savors history and likes to shake things up, it is perhaps inevitable that many of those mezuzas now belong to gentiles.
Left behind when Jewish residents died or moved out, they have survived apartment turnovers, renovations, co-op conversions, paint jobs and other changes wrought by time.
When Tazio and Todd Hilbert moved into their fifth-floor apartment in Ms. Gasteazoro’s building 10 years ago and spotted four mezuzas, Ms. Hilbert said, “We didn’t know what they were.” Although she was brought up Presbyterian and considers herself nonreligious, she kept her mezuza in place. “We never considered taking it down,” she said. “I liked how it was part of the history of the building.”
As any observant mezuza owner knows, they are not only decorative. Each mezuza — the word actually refers to the scroll inside, though most people use it to describe the casing as well — is a tiny parchment inscribed with Hebrew verses from the Torah that include “Shema Yisrael,” a prayer central to Judaism: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our G-d, the Lord Is One.” The Tanach commands Jews to inscribe the words “on the doorposts of your house.”
Many Orthodox Jews touch the mezuza upon entering or leaving a home, sometimes accompanying the gesture with a touch to their lips in a simulated kiss.
Traditionally, Jews are expected to affix a mezuza to the right side (when viewed from the outside) of a door frame at approximately shoulder height, tilted inward. Ideally, they should do so upon moving in, but most Jewish authorities allow 30 days because, historically, Jews had to move frequently and under duress and were often unsure where their permanent home would be, said Rabbi Andy Bachman of Congregation Beth Hashem, a Reform synagogue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Jewish law commands that every inhabited room have a mezuza on the door, but many Jews in America today put them only on the front door.
Jews leaving a home are expected to leave the mezuzas behind if they believe the next residents will also be Jewish. If not, they must take the mezuza with them, to guard against the possibility that a non-Jew might desecrate it, knowingly or not. If a mezuza becomes too weathered, dirty or otherwise damaged, it is to be buried, as are all sacred documents, a service that a rabbi or synagogue can facilitate.
Non-Jews, naturally, are not bound by these customs, but many follow them out of deference. Alex Cohen of Borough Park, Brooklyn, who sells, installs and inspects mezuzas under the business name Mezuzah Man, said he had answered calls from non-Jews asking him to remove their mezuzas. The mezuzas should be handled respectfully, he said: “You don’t just put it in the garbage.”
But many gentiles choose to keep their piece of Judaica in place.
“It’s good karma, if I can mix my religious metaphors,” said Brian Hallas, a resident of Kensington, Brooklyn, who teaches kindergarten at the Calhoun School in Manhattan. Although his mezuza was heavily camouflaged in what he described as a “lovely institutional beige” hallway tone, he spotted it immediately upon moving in, having once received a mezuza necklace from a college sweetheart.
“They took theirs down,” he said, pointing to a neighbor’s doorway, where all that remained of a mezuza was its footprint, stamped in the pea green color of the building’s previous interior.
The prospect of such a paint scar is what kept Eleanor Rodgers from removing the mezuza from the doorway of her home on Albemarle Road in Brooklyn, in a heavily Jewish neighborhood. “We’re not only not Jewish, we dislike organized religion,” said Mrs. Rodgers, a doctor’s receptionist who grew up in Ireland.
The mezuza-owning gentile might not be so unusual in a city where bankers live in artists’ lofts and almost every nationality has a pizza parlor. But the idea does not sit right with some observant Jews who see the mezuza as an important emblem of Jewish identity.
“To me, it’s very offensive,” said Sara Sloan, a retired schoolteacher in Windsor Terrace. “It’s taking my custom.” {It is not just a custom it is a COMMANDMENT!}}
She has mezuzas on every door frame except those for bathrooms and closets. And if she ever moves out, she will take them with her, unless she is certain the next residents will be Jewish. “I have contempt for people who didn’t care enough or respect tradition enough to remove it,” she said.
Still, Connie Peirce, 87, a retired secretary and Catholic who lives in Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan, said she often wished she had inherited a mezuza like many of her non-Jewish neighbors did. The tradition recalled her youth, she said, when her local priest appeared each Easter to write “G-d bless this house” on her family’s front door.
To her delight, one of her Jewish neighbors recently hung a mezuza on her doorway. “Every time I come home and remember, I kiss it and touch it and then I bless myself, saying, ‘In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.’ ”
Poor mezuzah... I doubt it is kosher... I hope not...
I dont know about any other Jews here but I find this story very very offensive... People are desecrating one of the most dear symbols of Jewish life, the Jewish home... The mezuzah contains a scroll which contains portions of the SHEMA prayer which starts "HEAR O' ISRAEL!"... It is intended for the children of Israel to mark Jewish homes, not some kind of Karma or status or luck symbol!!! It is especially offensive to hear a woman pray to a trinity of gods in the presence of the mezuzah, poor mezuzah, oy vey!
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How are gentiles stealing the customs of Jews when unobservant Jews are the ones who left the mezuzahs on the doors instead of consulting a rabbi and burying them as required by Judaism?
Confusing.
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That is somewhat disturbing. Traditionally I like mezzuzah because I feel, usually, comfortable in knocking on a person's door who has affixed one to say hello, and I consider my mezzuzah a signal to any Jew who passes by that they can knock on my door to say hello, or if they need help. For me it signals Ahavat Yisroel.
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That is somewhat disturbing. Traditionally I like mezzuzah because I feel, usually, comfortable in knocking on a person's door who has affixed one to say hello, and I consider my mezzuzah a signal to any Jew who passes by that they can knock on my door to say hello, or if they need help. For me it signals Ahavat Yisroel.
Yes indeed... Now some people are just using it like a good luck charm or a quaint custom...
Coon, a non-Jew should remove it because they are not commanded to put one up... Why do you assume that the Jew who left it is unobservant? Maybe they really believed that the people moving in were Jewish.
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How are gentiles stealing the customs of Jews when unobservant Jews are the ones who left the mezuzahs on the doors instead of consulting a rabbi and burying them as required by Judaism?
Confusing.
How are you coming to the conclusion these are unobservant Jews? Also, how do we know its not an old Jew who has died? Or, perhaps these Jews were under the impression another Jew would be moving in. A mezzuzah is only to be buried if it is no longer in good condition.
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That is somewhat disturbing. Traditionally I like mezzuzah because I feel, usually, comfortable in knocking on a person's door who has affixed one to say hello, and I consider my mezzuzah a signal to any Jew who passes by that they can knock on my door to say hello, or if they need help. For me it signals Ahavat Yisroel.
Yes indeed... Now some people are just using it like a good luck charm or a quaint custom...
Coon, a non-Jew should remove it because they are not commanded to put one up... Why do you assume that the Jew who left it is unobservant? Maybe they really believed that the people moving in were Jewish.
So a non-Jew should be required to know a Jewish custom that probably many Jews don't even know about? Most non-Jews don't even know their own religion yet you require them to know the meaning and procedure surrounding mezuzahs? Come on, Muman. You're being ridiculous. Yes it's dumb for a gentile to leave it up and think of it as a lucky charm but the onus isn't on the gentile to remove it.
And I'd lean towards them being unobservant because if they were an observant Jew their children or perhaps rabbi would come by and help with the removal and handling.
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I hear you muman but desecration means if they bang it with a hammer or throw it away in the garbage. Many of the gentlest here cherish the mezuzah more than self hating Jews.
But its not an idol or charm. And I agree with your distaste
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This story is disturbing,
I find it very disturbing that they cited a reform so-called "rabbi" as a source of information for an explanation of Jewish tradition. It's an outrage and such journalistic laziness and dishonesty simply makes people even dumber when they read it.
said Rabbi Andy Bachman of Congregation Beth Hashem, a Reform synagogue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
I don't agree with the jewish woman cited in the article complaining about stealing traditions (or with you, Muman). The article said, if we assume it is truthful and correct (which I don't really know given the above), the non-Jews can either have the mezuzot removed carefully, or leave them up. And it says they leave them up out of deference (or for fear about the paint job, or whatever other reason they are entitled to as the owner). What's wrong with that?
A problem would be if non-Jews moved in and then smashed the mezuzot. That would be an outrage. Nobody is reported doing that here.
As to the retired Catholic lady, of course Catholics pray their own way - what do you expect, because there's a mezuzah the Catholic lady is going to pray as a Jew?
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No one is throwing it away it's better that they are keeping it on the door and some cherish it rather then throwing it in a garbage can.These people are trying to be respectful
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This is a far worse situation than this story would indicate.
Today Lady GaGa went on to the Okra Winfree Show, brought mention to this same article, and then introduced her protege band: The Mezuzah Human-Oys!
Each of the "Oys" [stands for 'oy-veyz mir'] sports an abandoned and painted over mezuzah from a formerly Jewish home worn prominently around their neck like "Gangsta-Bling", which is said to symbolize their commitment and dedication to the "iT-qUeer" movement promoted by Ban Bli Ku Blu U from the United Nations. Gaga said that they're all so queer that they've left the "Rainbow" movement and now they're "it"-boys which is difficult to pronounce so they dropped the "b" and now say "Oys". Almost as an afterthought, the greatest artistic genius songwriter and performer GaGa added: "Oh yeah...and they're "Human" too!"
The artwork for their about to be released hit CD is in the anime style from Japan and adapted from the recent full length movie entitled "Shiao-rin Chowder Boy Battles King Mezuzah", and has as its central motif a gigantic Hebrew Mezuzah, abandoned in New York and covered with thick housepaint, out to avenge its honor and kill the evil Chowder Boy working at Shiao-rin Eat Diner House who taunts him daily by shouting things like "Wa-haaa Yew Jew Stick Now What?"
Just how much more of this can decent folk take?
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Muman,
Given the recent threads, why post this article? Do any of us need more proof that there are ignorant stupid people in the world. Also Jews should be smart enough to remove their mezuzahs when they depart the residence. Placing that on Gentiles is inappropriate. How on Gd's green earth would most non-Jews (and even some Jews) know what to do with a mezuzah abandoned there by it's rightful owner. That some 80 year old woman incorporates it into her own religion should come as no great surprise to anyone. The Jews living there had a responsibility to remove it, they chose not to, it's on them.
And the title of this thread is both misleading and inflammatory. They aren't 'stealing' anything. They clearly don't have a clue as to what the tradition is about. The only thing that reflects poorly on them is that they seem to think it is cute to 'play' with another person's religious/holy objects.
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Have you ever considered doing stand up comedy???
This is a far worse situation than this story would indicate.
Today Lady GaGa went on to the Okra Winfree Show, brought mention to this same article, and then introduced her protege band: The Mezuzah Human-Oys!
Each of the "Oys" [stands for 'oy-veyz mir'] sports an abandoned and painted over mezuzah from a formerly Jewish home worn prominently around their neck like "Gangsta-Bling", which is said to symbolize their commitment and dedication to the "iT-qUeer" movement promoted by Ban Bli Ku Blu U from the United Nations. Gaga said that they're all so queer that they've left the "Rainbow" movement and now they're "it"-boys which is difficult to pronounce so they dropped the "b" and now say "Oys". Almost as an afterthought, the greatest artistic genius songwriter and performer GaGa added: "Oh yeah...and they're "Human" too!"
The artwork for their about to be released hit CD is in the anime style from Japan and adapted from the recent full length movie entitled "Shiao-rin Chowder Boy Battles King Mezuzah", and has as its central motif a gigantic Hebrew Mezuzah, abandoned in New York and covered with thick housepaint, out to avenge its honor and kill the evil Chowder Boy working at Shiao-rin Eat Diner House who taunts him daily by shouting things like "Wa-haaa Yew Jew Stick Now What?"
Just how much more of this can decent folk take?
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I had no idea what you were supposed to do if you found something like that in a place you moved into. Now I know. I had never thought about it before because there aren't many Jews around here. I have seen those on a few people's doors though.
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I am sorry if the title is open to misinterpretation. I just hope that Jews will properly ensure that their mezuzahs are checked {so that the scrolls are kosher, etc.} and that they remove them from the door if a non-Jewish family moves in...
I don't know what a non-Jew should do with them if they are not Jewish. Basically I think that they should leave them up and just not do the upkeep required to keep them kosher. It is just strange to read about a Catholic praising the trinity while kissing the mezuzah, it seems almost ridiculous.
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They've been doing this for 2000 years
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I am sorry if the title is open to misinterpretation. I just hope that Jews will properly ensure that their mezuzahs are checked {so that the scrolls are kosher, etc.} and that they remove them from the door if a non-Jewish family moves in...
I don't know what a non-Jew should do with them if they are not Jewish. Basically I think that they should leave them up and just not do the upkeep required to keep them kosher. It is just strange to read about a Catholic praising the trinity while kissing the mezuzah, it seems almost ridiculous.
The entire story is ridiculous..... I would be far more concerned if non Jews were prying the old mezuzah's off the door post and tossing them into the trash... The fact that they are being left in place shows a level of respect for the object... It is strange to read about Catholic praising the trinity while kissing the mezuzah but I guess its different strokes for different folks....Personally if I found this on my door I would leave it in place as a good luck charm.
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10 years ago, I moved in my apartment, the people who sold me it were an old Jewish couple moving to Florida. They left it on my door.. Till now it is still there and I have no problem.. I like having it there, it's been there for 10 years I don't find it being stealing.
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As an observant, Jew I do not see a gentile having a mezzua offensive quite the contrary.
Furthermore, they should not be there in the first place. There is no excuse for the Jew unless he was dead , had no kids and no friends.
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I'm in ur doorway, stealin yur mezuzah
(http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/66476/66476,1200391185,1/stock-photo-cat-reaching-out-for-a-toy-out-of-the-frame-you-can-easily-insert-the-desired-toy-or-any-other-8564308.jpg)
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I think the gentiles in this article all seem respectful of the mezuza. The reason Jews should remove it if they leave is so it won't end out in the garbage not because the gentiles keep it on the doorstep. But the last women in the report, actually hung a mezuza on her doorstep (with the help of her self hating jewish neighbor), now that is inappropriate IMO.
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Mahnn! You really hate the dumb goy.
Take it easy, the stupid goy is not out to get you.
Calm down.
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Mahnn! You really hate the dumb goy.
Take it easy, the stupid goy is not out to get you.
Calm down.
:::D :::D :::D :::D :::D :::D :::D :::D :::D :::D :::D :::D
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Even if someone takes it off and throws it in the trash how is that going to harm its previous owners?
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Even if someone takes it off and throws it in the trash how is that going to harm its previous owners?
I think that's harming the mezuzah, not harming the previous owners.
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Mr Uman, seriously, relax. The world is not out to get you. Muslims are the only ones who want you dead....and nazis.
--Your friend A.C.K., the maniac
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Mr Uman, seriously, relax. The world is not out to get you. Muslims are the only ones who want you dead....and nazis.
--Your friend A.C.K., the maniac
ACK,
Thank you... But I really don't think that.
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Mr Uman, seriously, relax. The world is not out to get you. Muslims are the only ones who want you dead....and nazis.
--Your friend A.C.K., the maniac
ACK,
Thank you... But I really don't think that.
OK. You can still hate muslims and nazis
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I would much rather someone left the Muzuzah on the door, out of love and respect for the word of God, than to rip it off the door and to desecrate it...
Does anyone here agree???
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I am sorry if the title is open to misinterpretation. I just hope that Jews will properly ensure that their mezuzahs are checked {so that the scrolls are kosher, etc.} and that they remove them from the door if a non-Jewish family moves in...
I don't know what a non-Jew should do with them if they are not Jewish. Basically I think that they should leave them up and just not do the upkeep required to keep them kosher. It is just strange to read about a Catholic praising the trinity while kissing the mezuzah, it seems almost ridiculous.
Im sorry but you are really reaching here. You have a point with the current pope, but its not as if they are nazis or anti sekmitic. With anti semitism going up 10 percent this year, this is nothing to whats going on. Unless you are the rudi guiliani of jewish injustice???
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Even if someone takes it off and throws it in the trash how is that going to harm its previous owners?
I think that's harming the mezuzah, not harming the previous owners.
To non-Jews, it's just an object, nothing sacred about it.
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Even if someone takes it off and throws it in the trash how is that going to harm its previous owners?
I think that's harming the mezuzah, not harming the previous owners.
To non-Jews, it's just an object, nothing sacred about it.
It does contain parts of the Bible though. How do Christians respectfully dispose of old Bibles?
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Even if someone takes it off and throws it in the trash how is that going to harm its previous owners?
I think that's harming the mezuzah, not harming the previous owners.
To non-Jews, it's just an object, nothing sacred about it.
It does contain parts of the Bible though. How do Christians respectfully dispose of old Bibles?
That's true, the Scriptures inside would be sacred. I'm not really sure how to dispose of an old Bible. There's one that's practically falling apart in my house that's at least 40 years old.
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Jews and Christians do not go apesh** when their holy books are discarded or naturally fall apart the way Moolies do.
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Well, I am a Christian and Wear the Star of David with the Shofar. I also wear jewelry that says Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. I have to be honest, I love the Star of David, many Jewish People, and Israel. This is coming from Christ, his power is building support for Israel and the Jewish people among the Christian nation. I have also sent alot of money to Jewish organizations as have my friends. We are fighting for God's people!