Positive Mitzvah Fifteen

Affixing a Mezuzah to Doorposts and Gates

Devarim 6:9 And write them on the doorposts (mezuzot) of your house and upon your gates.

The Torah commands us to affix a special sign - a Mezuzah - on the right side of every entrance into Jewish houses and on the doorpost of every room. The Mezuzah assures us of Divine protection.

In the Mezuzah [a rolled-up piece of parchment generally enclosed in a case] two sections of Scripture are written: "Shema'..." (Devarim 4-9); "And it will be that if you hearken..." (Devarim 11:13-21).

A person has a duty to take care about a Mezuzah, so that every time he enters or leaves he will encounter the unity of the blessed G-d [written in the Mezuzah] and will remember his love for Him, and so he will awaken from his slumber and his errors in the vapid, empty matters of the present; and he will realize that nothing endures forever and ever except a knowledge of the Divine Rock-foundation of the world [G-d]. So he will return at once to his good sense and walk in the straightforward paths of decency.

The Sages of old said:

"He who has Tefillin on his head and his arm, Tzitzit on his garments, and a Mezuzah on his doorway, will presumably commit no sin," for he has many reminders, these being the guardian angels that save him from sin, as it is said, "The angel of Hashem encamps round about them that fear Him, and delivers them" (Tehillim 34:8; Menachot. 43b). Blessed be the Merciful One who so helped us' (Mishneh Torah, Ahavah, Hilchot Mezuzah 6.13).

This Mitzvah is in effect everywhere, at all times, for both man and woman.