Mezuzahs in the malls

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If  these are the days you are looking for a silly, I mean unusual gift, how about a mezuzah *  in the shape of a Muppet or a superhero or bearing your favorite college team's name?

I saw them in the window of a gift shop here where the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall meets Jaffa Street.
Since the advent of the tram last year, most of Jaffa St. has also become a pedestrian mall.
Just don't forget and stroll onto the tracks because the tram will honk at you.
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*Properly speaking, the Hebrew word mezuzah (meaning doorpost) refers to the handwritten parchment scroll inside the outer case.

Read all about proper mezuzahs at my post Mezuzot  in s-p-a-c-e . 
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(A post for Our World Tuesday.)
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Happy 3rd candle of Chanuka tonight!
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Rabbis vs. swine flu

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Looks like a boring job. But somebody has to do it, . . . right . . . ?

Behind the glass doors, you put your bag through the X-ray machine and then walk through the metal detector. Then you're free to enter the Western Wall Plaza and approach the Wall.
Well, unless you are wearing pants or skirt or sleeves that are too short. Then this [what I call] "prayer police" woman will nab you and have you put a "modesty scarf" over the offending bare skin. Orders of the Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Places.
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Some other rabbis in Israel have been busy coming up with highly interesting ways to fight swine flu before it reaches biblical proportions. We already have over 2,100 verified cases and nine have died.
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1. The top Sephardic rabbis urge us to start a 24-hour fast tomorrow at sunset. If you can't last a whole summer day without water or food, they say half a day is OK.
And if that is too hard, you should a ta'anit dibur. I had never even heard this term before. Literally translated, "a fasting from talking." Jews taking a vow of silence??
More about it here.
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2. Some fifty rabbis and "kabbalists" armed with ceremonial trumpets took to the skies over Israel a week ago to battle the swine flu virus . They circled Israel chanting prayers and blowing shofars ( rams' horns) in an Arkia airplane.
Full story here.
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3. Many people touch the mezuzah on the doorpost when they enter a building (even a hospital) and then kiss their fingers. (See my earlier post for more about mezuzot.)
Doctors are being asked if this is wise right now. Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar said "If a specific order is given in the matter, the mezuzah must be kissed from the air, to ensure that the custom is not forgotten."
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4. The Alter Rebbe of Ger has told his Hassidim to stop their old custom of toasting from one communal cup. Anything to discourage the spread of what rabbis prefer to call H1N1 (swine--feh!).
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Sei gesund! Be well!
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Believe it or not, this is the state of my world these past few weeks and I dare to share it at That's My World Tuesday.
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Mezuzot in s-p-a-c-e

Space shuttle Discovery will be launched in less than an hour, God willing. May God bless and keep the brave astronauts. Two mezuzot will go into outer space! Jewish astronaut Gregory Chamitoff said he would place them near his bunk to give him a sense of home as well as Jewish identity. They were made by Laura Cowan, a silversmith and designer of Judaica. She named this mezuzah below "Apollo." Almost all mezuzahs bear the Hebrew letter shin because Shaddai, one of God's names, begins with a shin. Cowan says that the windows on the spacecraft inspired this abstract shin.
Mezuzah actually refers not to the outer case but what goes inside: a small parchment scroll on which a certified scribe (sofer stam) has copied, in Hebrew, two passages from the Torah: Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21.
It is affixed to the right doorpost of the entrance to inhabitable rooms of Jewish homes.
Here is one of the two mezuzot in my home, this a simple one made of olive wood.

Here is the other one below. I opened the parchment for you to see the Shema, the main prayer recited daily, which is written on it. Click on the photo to see it enlarged.
The parchment is then rolled up like a scroll and the case is closed and nailed to the doorpost.