A mezuzah is a small case fastened to the doorpost of a Jewish home. It is easy to mistake for decoration, or for a charm. It is neither. Inside is a handwritten scroll, and on it are the words that the Torah tells us to write “on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

What is inside

The scroll — the klaf — is written by a trained scribe in the same patient hand as a Torah scroll. It contains the Shema and the passage that follows it, the Ve’ahavta. The case around it protects the parchment, but the parchment is the mezuzah. A case with no valid scroll is a doorpost with a box on it.

Which doors need one

A mezuzah is placed on the doorposts of the home — every room used for ordinary living qualifies — plus the entrance to the home itself. Exceptions include bathrooms, small closets, and rooms without doors. A common beginner’s question is whether to put one only on the front door. In fact, a Jewish home typically has mezuzot on most of its doorways, so that the words are never far from us.

How to affix it

1. Affix on the right side of the doorway as you enter.
2. Place it in the lower part of the upper third of the doorpost.
3. Tilt the case so the top leans slightly into the room — the old compromise between two schools of thought, now a custom everywhere.
4. Recite the blessing: Baruch Atah Adonai … asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu likboa mezuzah.

On a home already lived in, take a moment and mean it. The blessing is short; the commitment is long.

Why we touch it

Many people touch the mezuzah with a hand and then kiss the fingers as they pass through the door. It is a small, constant reminder — leaving the house, entering the house — that this home is not just a place to sleep. It is a place to remember what we are for.