Mezuzah Society

Uch’tavtam al m’zuzot beitecha uvish’arecha.
“On the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.”

For your role in helping to build the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in New Orleans, the Museum invites all donors of $1,800 or more to participate in our unique Mezuzah Society installation. Each donor is asked to send the Museum a mezuzah of their liking to be affixed in an artful assemblage symbolizing their dedication to the Museum and an accompanying finding index allows visitors to locate individual mezuzahs.

In return, each Mezuzah Society participant will receive a specially designed, limited edition mezuzah, designed and hand-made by acclaimed Southern Jewish glass artist Andrew Jackson Pollack, to commemorate the opening of the Museum. We hope that all of our supporters will proudly display their MSJE mezuzahs in their homes in support of the Museum and in honor of the Southern Jewish experience.

Watch Andy work…

Why Mezuzahs?

The Hebrew word mezuzah means “doorpost.” Mezuzahs are affixed to the doorposts at the entrance to Jewish homes. Each mezuzah contains a small scroll of parchment on which is written two biblical passages. The first, Deuteronomy 6:4–9, makes up the beginning of the V’ahavtah prayer:

Hear, O Israel! The Eternal is our God, the Eternal alone. You shall love the Eternal your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.

The Mezuzah Society display will stand as a beautiful and creative symbol of the founding of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, and those who committed themselves to build and sustain a strong institution of history, tradition, culture, and education.