View Full Version : Mezzuzahs--random weirdness
iris lilies
10-6-17, 12:17pm
I should just start a W.T.F? thread today, haha.
Last week, two days before Yom Kippur, DH found a baggie of mezzuzahs on top of our mailbox. Yes, mezzuzahs. Random as hell.Photo below.
If I were a person who found meaning in random events I would say that my dead mother was urging me to contemplate my life and repent. this is a sign. She was Jewish. ;)
But I am not such a person and I do not believe they were truly meant for me, so I put out notice on Nextdoor asking if they belonged to anyone. No one claims them but two people offered to take them to their synagogue, so today I will drop off this small package of oddity to a nearby person who will take respectful care of them.
This is a the kind of stuff you can do when retired, we have time to deal with small, insignificant things. Or not so insignificant. And contemplate the meaning of these things in the universe.
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1971&stc=1
I am in the "maybe not so insignificant" and why not think it was your mom? So contemplate and repent, and good for you to getting these to their proper place.
Good for you recognizing what they were as I would have had no idea. Life is an adventure, isn't it?
iris lilies
10-6-17, 12:31pm
I am in the "maybe not so insignificant" and why not think it was your mom? So contemplate and repent, and good for you to getting these to their proper place.
Oh you! Not helping! Haha.
Now I think I may keep one of them. I will admit that one of these "speaks" to me via its kitschy medieval style.
Good old mom, offering a selection because she didnt know what style
I would like.
My first thought was some kids thought the top one was a glass pipe and there for the other pieces were too...but when they couldn't figure out how to 'get lit' with them they dumped them on your mailbox as they were passing by! Can't tell you how many times were were asked if we made pipes when doing shows in St Louis.
Oh you! Not helping! Haha.
Now I think I may keep one of them. I will admit that one of these "speaks" to me via its kitschy medieval style.
Good old mom, offering a selection because she didnt know what style
I would like.
I love that! It sounds like you know where these came from. They are all neat. I would be drawn to the glass one.
What will you do with them?
iris lilies
10-6-17, 2:09pm
What will you do with them?
Ah well, never mind about keeping them. I just read that is it inappropriate for a gentile to possess these, so I will give all three to a Jewish neighbor. I just finished sending email to her to arrange for pick up.
Ah well, never mind about keeping them. I just read that is it inappropriate for a gentile to possess these, so I will give all three to a Jewish neighbor. I just finished sending email to her to arrange for pick up.
If your mother is Jewish, aren't you Jewish too?
iris lilies
10-6-17, 2:41pm
If your mother is Jewish, aren't you Jewish too?
That was debated in my family.:) With spirit.
As I told my mother "If you can decide you are Jewish, I can decide I am NOT Jewish." So no, I am not Jewish and if someone else wishes to consider me Jewish, that is their idea separate from me.
In that spirit it is inappropriate for me to have a Mezuzah
Got it, but just sayin', your mom may have different ideas. . .
I don't think any of us have "religious identities" in the afterlife, although maybe they have parties or reunions or teas or something...
iris lilies
10-6-17, 2:47pm
Got it, but just sayin', your mom may have different ideas. . .
I don't think any of us have "religious identities" in the afterlife, although maybe they have parties or reunions or teas or something...
Haha yes,, who knows!
Ah well, never mind about keeping them. I just read that is it inappropriate for a gentile to possess these, so I will give all three to a Jewish neighbor. I just finished sending email to her to arrange for pick up.
Yeah--you're certainly more Jewish by birth than I am Catholic by baptism (although my mother was a CINO). The Jews have rules about those.things. Keep the one your mother would have wanted you to have. I believe in the power of "random" events.
I agree with Jane. How can it hurt to put it on your doorway?
I agree with Jane. How can it hurt to put it on your doorway?
I had to think about this.
Sure, it doesnt really hurt anything as far as I am concerned because I dont believe in what it represents. The Mezuzah has no meaning to me.
If I hung it on my door, a practice that isn't approved, I would be doing it to glorify myself. It makes a good story and that's why I would put it up. This would not be a sincere action.I dont want to be Jewish.
It is better that I give it away, that seems the right thing to do, a hgher degree of "right" I guess.
Some one created these items with care and thoughtfulness. Even if they don't have significance to anyone at present, respect the work that went into them and the artist who made them for a specific purpose, IMHO anyway.
ApatheticNoMore
10-6-17, 9:58pm
one can choose to follow a religion or not but since Jewish is also an ethnicity and a history, "I don't want to be Jewish" in some sense makes about as much sense as someone saying they don't want to be native american or asian or etc.. "I don't follow the Jewish faith" would be accurate. But if one doesn't follow it no harm in keeping it either, though I probably wouldn't want to confuse people by hanging it in the traditional manner. Would it be any different than if one had a cross charm in a drawer and weren't christian because it's pretty say, or a Buddha statue and weren't Buddhist, if one wears the cross then people make assumptions about one's beliefs ...
iris lilies
10-6-17, 10:30pm
one can choose to follow a religion or not but since Jewish is also an ethnicity and a history, "I don't want to be Jewish" in some sense makes about as much sense as someone saying they don't want to be native american or asian or etc.. "I don't follow the Jewish faith" would be accurate. But if one doesn't follow it no harm in keeping it either, though I probably wouldn't want to confuse people by hanging it in the traditional manner. Would it be any different than if one had a cross charm in a drawer and weren't christian because it's pretty say, or a Buddha statue and weren't Buddhist, if one wears the cross then people make assumptions about one's beliefs ...
Actually, it does appear to be different than having a cross charm in a drawer, according to proscriptions I read on the internet. Three Jewish neighbors offered to help me with these, so these objects do appear, to me anyway, to have a sacred importance to others that i wouldnt give them.
My mother converted to Judiasm when I was 38 years old. That doesnt make me Jewish by ethnicity or history by my reckoning.
catherine
10-6-17, 10:35pm
I had to think about this.
Sure, it doesnt really hurt anything as far as I am concerned because I dont believe in what it represents. The Mezuzah has no meaning to me.
If I hung it on my door, a practice that isn't approved, I would be doing it to glorify myself. It makes a good story and that's why I would put it up. This would not be a sincere action.I dont want to be Jewish.
It is better that I give it away, that seems the right thing to do, a hgher degree of "right" I guess.
You have to do what seems right to you, IL. But it certainly seems like a weird random act!
On Wednesday, I had an interview with an 88 year old man who had aortic stenosis. He was an awesome guy. Plus he had a house with a totally amazing view near Palo Alto. My direct client (the person who hired me to do the market research) is a good friend of mine. The interviewee saw the name on the paperwork and he said, expectantly, "K..... that's a Jewish name!" I realized that he was hoping that I was Jewish, as he was. I wanted to tell him that my great-grandfather was Jewish, but that would have seemed totally gratuitous. So I explained that my colleague is Jewish.
I resist the impulse to be anything at all related to religion, which is why I haven't made it back to Catholicism formally (even though I "feel" Catholic still), and which is maybe why you don't want to hang the mezuzah. But if you feel any slight impulse to hold onto it, why not?
Williamsmith
10-7-17, 5:49am
Why couldn’t you consult a rabbi? And release these items to their proper place. If they were nothing to you or had no connection then you would not have responded as you did and this discussion would not exist.
iris lilies
10-8-17, 9:41am
Wrap up: Mezuzahs belong to my neghbors.
As block captain, I sent out an email to people on my block about various issues and included a photo of the Mezuzahs. New neighbors claimed them. I guess they didn't see my notice on Nextdoor.
Mystery solved.
Ha! I guess it's good you didn't get too attached to them. Good work.
I'm glad they are where they belong. Goo0d work, IL.
Packratona!
12-18-17, 8:51pm
Actually, it does appear to be different than having a cross charm in a drawer, according to proscriptions I read on the internet. Three Jewish neighbors offered to help me with these, so these objects do appear, to me anyway, to have a sacred importance to others that i wouldnt give them.
My mother converted to Judiasm when I was 38 years old. That doesnt make me Jewish by ethnicity or history by my reckoning.
Yes, you are right, by Jewish law you are not Jewish as your mother converted after you were born. Well, all I can say is, everything happens for a reason. You did a good deed trying to locate the proper owner.
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