Today is Yom Hazikaron, the Day of Remembrance. I want to speak about a mitzvah intended to foster memory and ask what its meaning might be for us.
We were walking in Girona, a 45 minute drive from Barcelona, exploring the Jewish call, where Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman had been the most prominent community leader. In the museum, I saw the stamp of Nahmanides, the seal - discovered in the 1970s – which he used to authenticate his correspondence. Ramban, acommentator on Talmud and Torah, a legal writer and judge, a physician and poet, was born in Girona around1194. A significant figure in the transmission of kabbalah, he defended Judaism in the Disputation of Barcelona 750 years ago.
But first, another disputation. Several centuries ago, a bishop decreed a religious debate. If the rabbi won the debate, the Jews would be permitted to stay. If the bishop won, the Jews would have to leave.
It was decided that this would be a "silent" debate. On the day of the great debate, the Bishop and Rabbi Moshe sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Bishop raised his hand and showed three fingers. Rabbi Moshe looked back and raised one finger. Next, the Bishop waved his hand about. Rabbi Moshe pointed to the ground where he sat. The Bishop then brought out a communion wafer and chalice of wine. Rabbi Moshe pulled out an apple. With that, the Bishop stood up and said, "I have nothing more to say. The Jews can stay."
Later, a group of priests gathered around the Bishop, asking him what had happened. "First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was only one God. I waved my finger to show him that God was everywhere. He answered by pointing to the ground to show that God was not in Hell. I pulled out wine and wafer to show that God absolves us of our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything."
Meanwhile, the Jewish community crowded around Rabbi Moshe, asking what happened. "Well, first he said to me, 'You Jews have three days to get out.' I wagged my finger to say not one of us will leave. Then he tells me the whole city would be cleared of Jews, so I said we’re staying right here. "And then?" asked a woman."Who knows?" said Rabbi Moshe. "He took out his lunch, so I took out mine."
In a real disputation, on July 1263,Ramban defended Judaism against Pablo Christiani, a convert to Christianity. The four day debate, which culminated on the 9th of Av, took place in the presence of King James I of Aragon. The three issues were whether the Messiah had appeared, whether the Messiah announced by the Prophets was divine or a man born of human parents, and whether Jews or Christians were in possession of the true faith.
After Ramban distributed an account of the Disputation, he was sentenced to two years of exile. He subsequently came to Eretz Yisrael1. Ramban wrote a number of sermons; one of which was delivered in Akko, the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah, prior to his death in 1269. He taught that the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah was a means of attaching ourselves to God. “Happy are the people who know the teru’ah,” for it brings them close to the Divine, to devekut, attaching oneself to God.2
On the old streets where this great scholar once lived, Josette and I noticed diagonal niches in archway entrances. These were remnants of mezuzot, now scars on doorways, reminders for those who once lived there. I began to consider what mezuzot tell us about who we are, how we have survived, what we believe, which traditions we carry on, and what all this might mean to ourselves and others.
The Torah mandates that we inscribe the words of the Sh’ma directly "on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates”. Mezuzah means doorpost, but as early as the 1st century, we began to write the passages onto parchment to be placed in a container and affixed to the door frame. The earliest mezuzah texts seem to have included the Ten Commandments and the Sh’ma.3
Other civilizations also have inscriptions on the lintels and doorframes of private houses and temples. Muslims continue a similar practice with verses from the Quran. Thresholds and entryways, gates and doors, were symbolically or literally places of danger or safety. The Torah points to the two-fold nature of liminality when it links doors to deliverance from Egypt (Ex. 12:23) as well as bondage for the Hebrew slave (Deut. 15:17). As we marched with the Torah we sang, “Lift high your gates, so that the glorious Sovereign may enter.” שְׂא֤וּ שְׁעָרִ֨ים ׀ רָֽאשֵׁיכֶ֗ם . Doors are the portals through which we and God enter.
In Girona and other walled cities, the gate was where commerce was conducted and justice dispensed. The gate was the most vulnerable part of a city’s defense. Even now, we treat entrances to government buildings, airport terminals, and Jewish communal institutions as sensitive points for security. Recent disclosures about national security, private telecommunications, public safety and personal freedom reflect the intersection of vulnerability and protection.
Mezuzot were sometimes understood as amulets, intended to protect the house4. Because שד"י, one of the biblical names of God, is taken asan acronym for שומר דלתות ישראל, "Guardian of the doors of Israel", it is often written on the back of a mezuzah. In Zohar, the central work of kabbalah, the mezuzah is an assurance that “a person will be protected by God when going out or coming into the house.
This is the secret of the verse "God shall guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore." (Psalms 121:7-8) This [protection] is the hidden purpose of mezuzah. It is always directed against the opening to [other powers].” 5
There is a cryptograph written on the back of the parchment. כוזו במוכסז כוזוis a one letter shift of the middle three words of the Sh’ma, י-ה-ו-ה א-להינו י-ה-ו-ה, "The Eternal is our God, the Eternal". Concern that demons might infiltrate the home led Jews to place coded letters on the back of the parchment to confuse the dark forces. 6
Rambam of Cordoba, had a radically different approach to religion from the Zohar. In his code of law, Mishneh Torah, Maimonides prohibits placing any writing on the parchment other than the words of Torah. He rejected belief in the objective existence of spiritual and supernatural forces, whether angelic or demonic. Ritual items are simply educational devices. Mezuzot help people remain aware of the singular unity of God.7
Maimonides would have rejected the miracle stories about flawed mezuzot leading to terrible misfortunes. He “had scorn for rabbinic faith-healers … hawking … supernatural powers that they claimed inhered …in the names of God…. imagine what Maimonides would make of the magical tchotchkes, from red strings to Hebrew tarot cards, for sale in [various] gift shops, to say nothing of Madonna’s form-fitting T-shirts emblazoned with the Lord’s ineffable name.”8 On a walk in Key West, Josette and I noticed that many of the local store owners have super-sized mezuzot on the doorframes, while inside they sell gaudy and suggestive booty clothing and supplies. Clearly, not followers of Maimonides.
On the doorposts to Auschwitz, there was no mezuzah, only the sign Arbeit macht Frei. But in the collection of mezuzot of the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem, there is a mezuzah that hearkens back to the Holocaust. A scribe managed to bring some small parchments and a pen when deported to a labor concentration camp. In secret, he wrote mezuzotand distributed them, wrapped in thin paper, to be placed in crevices behind barrack doors. These mezuzot were symbols of resistance and hope.
And after the Shoah? On “Curb your enthusiasm”, Larry David says: “It's a mezuzah. … And I need you to put it over the door here. This is like a Jewish thing … we put it over the door so every anti-Semite in the neighborhood will know that we live here”. Instead of security, the mezuzah might be an indicator of Jewish anxiety.
For others, it is about Jewish identity. Astronaut Garrett Reisman spent three months in 2008 aboard the International Space Shuttle, with a mezuzah above his bunk. "I wanted to acknowledge my Jewish heritage and represent the Jewish people…. I was looking for a way to connect to my Jewish roots”.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has a silver mezuzah on the doorpost of her chambers at the Supreme Court in Washington to serve as an "ever-present reminder of what judges must do.”
Nachmanidesof Girona thought that when we are called to perform a mitzvah as a zikaron, a recollection of a past event, it reflects the reality of our experience: no overt miracles. But he goes on to assert that a memory mitzvah - such as shofar or mezuzah - asserts the hidden presence of the Divine in the world. “The essence of the mitzvah [of the mezuzah] is to remind a person about faith in God.” Lacking visible miracles, our actions become affirmations of the presence of God. “One who purchases a mezuzah … affixes it to the doorpost, and focuses upon its essential meaning, accepts [beliefs in] the creation of the world, the existence of the Eternal, and that God … is immanent in our world. … All this was demonstrated by God taking us from abject servitude to boundless freedom.”9
Rather than an functional reminder of the unity of God (Maimonides), instead of a protection for life and property (Zohar), in distinction from an assertion of personal identity (Astronaut Reisman and Justice Ginsburg), Ramban suggests that mitzvot of action, such as listening to shofar or affixing a mezuzah, bring awareness of God into this world and enable us to establish a personal relationship of devekut, spiritual closeness, with God.
In our century, this mitzvah takes on a new metaphoric meaning. It reminds us of the doors that throughout history were locked or unlocked to Jews, rendering us defenseless or protected. It also can testify to a change of orientation. Rather than a symbol of protecting our homes from the world, with all its difficulties and dangers, the mezuzah can symbolize a willingness to open our homes to share our spiritual heritage.10
In contrast to the time of Ramban, where Judaism and other religions were in deep disagreement about their respective truth claims, we now accept the beliefs of others as expressions of personal faith. We seek mutual respect, not theological victory. Clearly, not all practitioners of different religions are at this point, but we can encourage this dialogue and direction. That is part of the Path of Abraham study mission.
The late Krister Stendahl, Lutheran Bishop of Stockholm, articulated three principles of religious understanding, which apply within Judaism and between Judaism and other religious traditions.11
1. When we try to understand another tradition, we should ask the adherents of that religion and not its enemies.
2. Don't compare our best to their worst.
3. Leave room for "holy envy," a willingness to recognize elements in the other tradition that we admire and wish were, in some way, be reflected in our own faith.
These principles would go a long way to reduce internal Jewish conflict and inter-religious acrimony. They can also be applied to our interpersonal relations with family and others.
Increasingly, we are seeing non-Jews adopting Judaic symbols and actions: ketubot and wedding canopies for weddings, organizing a Passover seder and building sukkot. We can accept those developments, as long as we maintain our own practices and remain knowledgeable of our own beliefs, and know where our guarded gates are.
At Beth Tzedec, we can open other doors. We can become guides for visitors to our Museum who seek to learn more about Judaism. We can welcome and mentor Jews-by-Choice. We can respect the non-Jews married to our children and grandchildren and create a welcoming space for them in our homes and synagogue.
But we must also know where and how to draw a line. This correspondence is instructive:
Dear Rabbi Y, I have been reading about the Mazuzah and the meaning of placing a Mazuzah at one's doorway. Would it be inappropriate or even sacrilegious for a Catholic to place a Mazuzah on his doorway? Manuel, Pueblo, Colorado
Dear Manuel, Your faith has much in common with the Jewish values that the mezuzah expresses – the need to bring G-d's presence into the home, the confidence in His protection. The mezuzah, while expressing these values, has also taken on a new dimension over the generations. … Putting a mezuzah on the door [has become] an expression of … Jewish identity.…regardless of whether the family observes the Torah's commandments to the fullest, or only nominally. … if you put a mezuzah on your door, it would express not only faith in G-d, which you have, but also Jewish identity, which as a Catholic you do not have. Since you find the message of the mezuzah meaningful, and you deserve much admiration for that, I … suggest [that you] write the text of the mezuzah in English on a beautiful piece of paper or parchment, frame it, and keep it near your door. You will be able to strengthen your faith in G-d in way which authentically expresses your religious identity.12 The rabbi writing back was respectful of the questioner and clear about our own tradition. He provided a welcoming bridge and a border gate.
We are seeing a change regarding Jews and identity. This change represents what Lacanian theory would call a shift from a signified identity to a signifier of identity. Formerly, we spoke of Jews with specific beliefs and behaviors. It was clear- for us and others. Now we describe people as Jewish. Not a noun but an adjective. Sort of the way truthiness is to truth.
Non-Jews can adopt Jewish behaviour. Jews by birth may live lives that are not Jewish. Your Jewish expression may be different from mine. Rather than clarity, we see the fracturing of identity. For some Jews, this is very disturbing. The clarity that Ramban fought for in the Disputation and that was part of his concept of mezuzah has been lost.
Doors have been opened and closed to Jews throughout history. The meaning of those mezuzot may differ from philosopher to mystic, from secular Jews to those who seek to bring the Divine Presence into this world. Yet the action persists.
We continue to place mezuzot on doorposts as reminders that long ago we took a unique route from slavery to redemption, from alienation to love of God. That path, honoured “when we sit in our homes and go on our way, when we lie down and when we rise up”, has sustained us from a time of disputation to a time of dialogue.
During this New Year, may God, the guardian of the doors of Israel, give us the courage and strength to stay on the path. And may the doors that open for you bring blessing.
1 http://www.traditiononline.org/news/originals/Volume%2010/No.%201/The%20Centrality%20Of.pdf
2 http://hitzeiyehonatan.blogspot.ca/2013_09_01_archive.html,
3 Jeffrey Tigay, The JPS Torah Commentary: Deuteronomy
4 http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/310885/jewish/The-Significance-of-mezuzah.htm
5 Zohar, Va’ethanan, 264a;http://www.morashasyllabus.com/class/Mezuzah.pdf
6 http://caje33.wikispaces.com/file/view/GoldManuel_Magic%25202.pdf
7 Mishneh Torah, Laws of Tefillin and Mezuzah 6.13
8 http://forward.com/articles/10097/the-radical-rationalism-of-maimonides/
9 http://www.reparashathashavuah.org/3/post/2013/01/parashat-bo-5773-2013-the-rambans-theological-manifesto.html
10 http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/23315/mezuzot-remind-us-that-doors-hold-a-symbolic-meaning/
11 http://ancienthebrewpoetry.typepad.com/ancient_hebrew_poetry/2010/05/krister-stendahls-three-rules-of-religious-understanding.html
12 http://www.mezuzah.net/sofer.html
