Mezuzah is the Hebrew word for doorpost. The parchment scroll, which is placed upon the doorpost, is also referred to as a mezuzah.  It is named after the place where the mezuzah case is nailed.   

Inside the mezuzah, are two portions of the book of Deuteronomy:  View Mezuzahs

Deuteronomy 6:4-9  “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.  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.”

Deuteronomy 11:13-21  “And it shall be that if  you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.  And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.  Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest the Lord’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.”

“Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit down, and when you rise up.  And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.”   

The parchment scroll is rolled up and enclosed in a case of wood, metal, ceramic or glass. The Hebrew letter “Shin” usually appears on the outside of the mezuzah case symbolizing God’s name “El Shaddai.”

The mezuzah case with the scroll inside is then nailed to the upper third right side of the doorpost as you enter the house, with a slight tilting of the top of the mezuzah towards the inside of the home or room.  

If you want to make a ceremony of affixing the mezuzah to your doorpost, the blessing is as follows:

Baruch Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech Haolam asher kidshanu b'mizvotav v'zivanu al kviat mezuzah.   

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to affix a mezuzah.

Having a mezuzah on your doorpost, touching it and then touching your lips, will remind you to keep the word of God on your lips as you enter and leave your home.  It is a reminder of the Shema and the commandment, “to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”

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