There are some traditions from my Jewish background that
have followed me into my life as a Christian. The menorah my family used when
we celebrated Chanukah sits on one of my bookcases. On the anniversaries of my
parents’ deaths, I put on my father’s prayer shawl, such as Jesus would have
done at the Temple before he read from the scrolls, and recite the Kaddish, the
prayer for those who mourn. On both my
front door’s frame and my back door’s frame, hang two small boxes, the tops of
which point to the east. In those boxes, those mezuzahs, are these words,
written in Hebrew, from Deuteronomy II: 18-21, “And thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I
command thee this day shall be upon thy heart. And thou shalt teach them to thy
children when thou sittest in thy house, when thou walkest by thy way, and when
thou liest down and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign
upon thy hand and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And thou
shalt write them upon the doorposts of thy house and upon thy gates that ye may
remember and do all my commandments and be holy unto your God.”
Several months after my father
died, my stepmother gave me a box of my items that belonged to my father,
things she thought I might like to have. She had no idea what treasures she was
giving me. The box contained my father’s prayer shawl, given to him on the occasion
of his 13th birthday. Also in the box was a small blue velvet bag
tied with a gold cord. Contained in that pouch were my father’s tefellin, the
small black boxes I had seen my father wear on his head and on his left arm from
time to time, such as after his parents died and when he headed out to
synagogue with a friend for Sabbath services. I recall the time I had asked him
why and how he wore those strange boxes, especially one that was tied by
leather straps to his forehead. He started to explain and then stopped and told
me to go get my bible. After he tied the boxes, one to my left arm and the
other to my forehead, he opened the bible to Deuteronomy II and read verses
18-21.
As I stood feeling the pressure of
the boxes strapped to my forehead and my bottom side of my upper arm, my father
explained to me that he wore the tefellin out of a sense of duty to God. I had
long been taught that with faith in God came responsibilities to God. Verses
18-21 were a summation of some of those responsibilities.
For as long as I can remember, I
have had the habit of kissing my fingertips and then reaching up and touching
the mezuzah that is affixed to the back doorpost of my house. I am certain it
is a habit I developed from watching my father do the same thing each time he
exited the house in which I was raised. That simple act, as I head out into the
world, reminds me of God’s presence in my life and of my responsibility as a
result of that presence. I try daily to live up to those responsibilities. I
admit, some days I think I am much more successful than on others. But with
each new day, as I head out the door, I tap my kissed fingertips on the box on
the doorpost of my house and hope people whose paths I cross that day are able
to see the love God has for each of them reflected in me.
