Is there anyone who can read and translate fluid Hebrew?

Hello all,
I need collective help, It may be nothing, but I looked at the side of my door about 2 days ago and noticed this little yellow rectangle, that was inscribed in hebrew, never noticed it before. My friends boyfriend explained to me that it was a jewish house blessing, that you touch or kiss when you walk in the room.

Weeel... Upon further inspection, Bobster goes, "hey, it looks like it opens", so of course after all that's been going on, we did the natural thing..
We opened the sucker.

Insde was this little cylinder, I went "Holy cr@%" Its a scroll rolled up"..
We unwrapped it and there was the most beautiful caligraphy I have ever seen, upon further inspection, its handwritten.

The weird thing is it was above the door I always hear knocks at 230 in the morning from, so could anyone translate this thing and put my worries to rest, any help is greatly appreciated!
I am dying to know what it says!
Thank you,
Denial
View the front here..



and the back here

Wow that is really erm.....weird. it may mean alot of things but i have no idea i am sorry. but i have never heard of this before.

well if you do find out what it says then you should post it. it will be intresting to know what it says!

oni x x

Im thinking maybe sending this over to the scholars at ID. I wish I knew what it said...:shk:

From: Judaism 101

Signs and Symbols

Level: Basic

Mezuzah

MezuzahOn the doorposts of traditional Jewish homes (and many not-so-traditional homes!), you will find a small case like the one pictured at left. This case is commonly known as a mezuzah (Heb.: doorpost), because it is placed upon the doorposts of the house. The mezuzah is not, as some suppose, a good-luck charm, nor does it have any connection with the lamb's blood placed on the doorposts in Egypt. Rather, it is a constant reminder of G-d's presence and G-d's mitzvot.

The mitzvah to place mezuzot on the doorposts of our houses is derived from Deut. 6:4-9, a passage commonly known as the Shema (Hear, from the first word of the passage). In that passage, G-d commands us to keep His words constantly in our minds and in our hearts, by (among other things) writing them on the doorposts of our house. The words of the Shema are written on a tiny scroll of parchment, along with the words of a companion passage, Deut. 11:13-21. On the back of the scroll, a name of G-d is written. The scroll is then rolled up placed in the case, so that the first letter of the Name (the letter Shin) is visible (or, more commonly, the letter Shin is written on the outside of the case).

The scroll must be handwritten in a special style of writing and must be placed in the case to fulfill the mitzvah. It is commonplace for gift shops to sell cases without scrolls, or with mechanically printed scrolls, because a proper scroll costs more than even an elaborately decorated case ($30-$50 for a valid scroll is quite reasonable). According to traditional authorities, mechanically printed scrolls do not fulfill the mitzvah of the mezuzah, nor does an empty case.

The case and scroll are then nailed or affixed to the right side doorpost on an angle, with a small ceremony called Chanukkat Ha-Bayit (dedication of the house - yes, this is the same word as Chanukkah, the holiday celebrating the rededication of the Temple after the Maccabean revolt against Greece). A brief blessing is recited. See the text of the blessing at Affixing the Mezuzah.

Why is the mezuzah affixed at an angle? The rabbis could not decide whether it should be placed horizontally or vertically, so they compromised!

Every time you pass through a door with a mezuzah on it, you touch the mezuzah and then kiss the fingers that touched it, expressing love and respect for G-d and his mitzvot and reminding yourself of the mitzvot contained within them.

It is proper to remove a mezuzah when you move, and in fact, it is usually recommended. If you leave it in place, the subsequent owner may treat it with disrespect, and this is a grave sin. I have seen many mezuzot in apartment complexes that have been painted over by subsequent owners, and it breaks my heart every time I see that sort of disrespect to an object of religious significance.


Or, just Google "Mezuzah"

I'm guessing that your house was once occupied by a Jewish family who either left the mezuzah as a gift or blessing or they just didn't bother to have it removed when they left. Technically, only a Rabbi is supposed to attach or remove it.

Your house may be "haunted" but it's not likely that it's connected to the mezuzah. In fact, the mezuzah may be what is protecting you from even more hauntings. ;-)

Thank you so much for your information, yes the previous owners were Jewish, they we actually from Israel, and the daughters lived across the street from me, which is how I wound up with this house. I crack them up, I have a strong love of Babaghanouj, but my old landlord is a jerk, so I havent spoken to them in months.

Now you say that only a rabbi, is supposed to touch the scroll, I had handled it, and my father in law died the very next day, we are making funeral arrangements tomorrow. What is the proper handling of this scroll, aside from scanning it, it is now on top of my mantle. Should I rewrap it and put it back, or should I take it to my local temple? Or should I place it with my father in law, we aren't jewish, but it never hurts to have all bases covered when it comes to your soul...

I only wish to do the right thing.

I checked around and the consensus seems to be that it is indeed this 'mezuza' thing. To dispose of it its suggested that the tradtional thing to do is to give it to a local synagogue, along with the case if possible, where it will be stored. "Any jew can handle it", I am told. I can't imagine that your handling of it has anything to do with anyone's death.

I printed it out and my boss, as he walked by my cube, asked me why I had a copy of the Mezuzah on my desk, and why was it upside down.

He got a really big kick out of Nygdan's line:

I can't imagine that your handling of it has anything to do with anyone's death.

There isn't any kind of curse or anything related to it if you handle it. It is simply something that "sort of protects your home" (boss's words). Let not your heart be troubled

Thank you, you actually made me crack up about your boss asking why it was upsidedown Its nice to smile right abouts now. Now I have the utmost respect for it, and I put it back in it's case, maybe I'll take it with me in my travel tonight, I slept holding it, and I've never slept so peacefully.

Maybe in my theological quests, I was meant to find this to renew my faith.
After reading about it last night and reading the deut. passages, I was actually bouncing off the walls at 4 this morning. I think this scroll came from Israel, the son(who reads and writes aramaeic) and daughters were all born in Israel, (the previous landlord)So it would make sense.

My heart tells me to keep it, I'm now afraid somethings going to happen to it, and who knows, maybe the knocks I heard everynight at my door were someone not of this plane telling me Gods got a message for me...

Very cool..

I just got to say that is the best story I heard in a while! Can you post a pic of the door thingy? Someone probally answered but I bet its a prayer on the scroll...With that said where do you live?

Originally posted by denial28
Hello all,
I need collective help, It may be nothing, but I looked at the side of my door about 2 days ago and noticed this little yellow rectangle, that was inscribed in hebrew, never noticed it before. My friends boyfriend explained to me that it was a jewish house blessing, that you touch or kiss when you walk in the room.

Weeel... Upon further inspection, Bobster goes, "hey, it looks like it opens", so of course after all that's been going on, we did the natural thing..
We opened the sucker.

Insde was this little cylinder, I went "Holy cr@%" Its a scroll rolled up"..
We unwrapped it and there was the most beautiful caligraphy I have ever seen, upon further inspection, its handwritten.

The weird thing is it was above the door I always hear knocks at 230 in the morning from, so could anyone translate this thing and put my worries to rest, any help is greatly appreciated!
I am dying to know what it says!
Thank you,
Denial
View the front here..



and the back here

I live in Philadelphia PA. I am so sorry it's taken long to reply to this, but my father in law passed the day after I found this thing. I have been in west virginia taking care of Mother in law. I do believe I was meant to find this, the renewed spirituality I have found and the comfort this has brought me, has been a great blessing in this very hard time. My mother in law sleeps with it now, on the nightstand next to her bed. When I explained that I felt I was meant to pass it to her, I was filled with a very warm, (call me silly) very squishy feeling. I then instructed her to pass it on to someone who needs a very powerful source of guidance. Can you imagine how cool it was to find this thing...

Very nice to hear! I can relate to your feeling back as a teen I lived in a bad area and got in trouble and many other things that had me scared at one point my grandmother which now has passed gave me roasry beads like my father had got a I forget some sort of Catholic neklace that has two pictures on it of Mary and Jesus, which are cloth like. He told me he has had his for a very long time in his wallet. Anyway it is the one thing that I put around my neck and never have taken off. I am not really Catholic by the book if you will as I don't really know what the difference of Catholic,Chrstian etc is but I wear at as a symbolic piece to remind me of my grandmother & God and the one think I would pray on in my worse of times

I was sad to find out that my brother had a turn for the worse in recent times and my mother told me he has taken up the same thing of wearing a rosary non stop. Its funny what it takes for someone to seek such things.

Sometimes I felt weird cause I belive a roasry is to be held and prayed with versus worn, however I developed a personal symbolic reason to wear it so there for I do.

I have always heard that wearing a rosary is a sin, however....If you are wearing it out of devotion, It is done out of love, not as an insult. When someone wears it simply as a fashion statement then that is wrong. I have a rosary bracelet, that has been blessed by the pope himself.

Yikes! heh yeah I never wear it over my shirt and usally don't converse if someone notices I am wearing a beaded necklace as its not the purpose. Its funny they make a rosary necklace not to wear I would figure a strand of prayer beads would make more sense if they belive it is not to be worn. I guess it was illegal at one time to wear clothing of the US flag, not for sure though. I know it is a local law that the US flag has to be the highest flag you fly if you fly other flags and at night by law you take the flag down or shine a light on it!

Back to the Rosary I remember seeing gang members back east wear them talk about an oxymoron lol