Mezuzah for Goyim?

March 5, 2017 9:53 PM

Hopefully, we will be closing on a house at the end of the month. On the front door, there is a door knocker in the shape of a treble clef. This has what looks to be Hebrew letters on it (the house was previously owned by a Rabbi), and when I showed it to a few friends, they said it was a Mezuzah. I think it's absolutely lovely and I would very much like to keep it, but as a religious object that I have little familiarity with, I have a few questions:

- This looks different from the other mezuzahs that I have seen. Can anyone give me a literal translation of the Hebrew on the clef?

- While I would very much like to keep this up, is it appropriate for goyim to have? I am agnostic and my husband is an atheist and we are both from WASPy families. I think that keeping it up is a lovely nod to the house's past residents, but I want to make sure that it's not offensive for non-Jewish, non-religious people to have.

- Both the metal of the door knocker and the door itself need to be refinished. Is there anything special we should do to be respectful when removing the knocker to clean it? Also, friends mentioned that there may be a small scroll tucked away inside the door knocker. I didn't see an opening, but might there be? And if so, do we need to do anything special to maintain that?

I am probably overthinking this, but our new neighborhood has a large orthodox Jewish population and I want to be respectful to our new community. I appreciate any insight that you can give!!

posted by emilyclaire to Religion & Philosophy (14 answers total)

I don't see how this could be a mezuzah. There doesn't seem to be a place for it to hold a scroll inside it, which is the relevant/religiously meaningful part of a mezuzah. And the idea of a combination mezuzah/door knocker sounds very odd. A mezuzah is specifically supposed to be on the door frame, plus banging on the thing to let people know you are at their house would be...not in line with how people treat mezuzahs.

At first and second glance the things that seem to be letters aren't all legible to me as Hebrew letters. (The one in the middle that looks sort of like a distorted cross, particularly, doesn't resemble any letter.)

I'm wondering if the writing might actually be a family's last name written in very stylized Hebrew, with this not being a mezuzah at all.
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:19 PM on March 5, 2017 [17 favorites]

That's not a mezuzah. It's not in the right place at all and it doesn't look like one. The things you think are Hebrew letters are musical notes (like quarter notes tied together) and musical notation like the long 'f' (forte).
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 10:33 PM on March 5, 2017 [11 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you both!
posted by emilyclaire at 10:38 PM on March 5, 2017

Terminology note: a mezuzah is the piece of parchment with the inscription, and the door knocker you have is not a holder. I'm not convinced the inscription is musical notes, either. It's quite attractive, however. Congrats on the new home!
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:48 PM on March 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

The lettering could be Cyrillic, except the middle and last letters don't really fit - maybe Ukrainian? My guess is sh-i-t-m-y.
posted by heatherlogan at 5:04 AM on March 6, 2017

Yep. That's not a mezuzah, and if that's Hebrew, it's so stylized I can't read it.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:40 AM on March 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: musical notes (like quarter notes tied together) and musical notation like the long 'f' (forte).

A doorknocker is a percussion instrument. The idea of a doorknocker that comes with its own sheet music appeals to me.

triplet, ♫ f ♫♩.
posted by zamboni at 6:13 AM on March 6, 2017 [15 favorites]

Definitely not a mezzuzah, it would be mounted on the doorframe by the side of the door at an angle, and it would not knock, and it would have a space inside for the scroll. And while I've seen themed mezzuzahs I've never seen one with that kind of stylizing. And if that's Hebrew it's totally unreadable. This is definitely a door knocker.
posted by epanalepsis at 6:55 AM on March 6, 2017

The door knocker is definitely made in a style that is reminiscent of mezuzot. Probably made at the same metalworks in Israel, or by someone deliberately making secular housewares to appeal to collectors of Judaica. (It's working on this collector! I love the piece.)
posted by juniperesque at 7:03 AM on March 6, 2017

Yeah, I'm seeing the notation and forte as well. Maybe it's subtly hidden instructions for the "secret knock"?
posted by xedrik at 7:13 AM on March 6, 2017 [11 favorites]

I like the secret knock idea. Can someone who reads music record what these notes would sound like?
posted by domo at 8:10 AM on March 6, 2017

Can someone who reads music record what these notes would sound like?

Disappointing. I mean, even though they're grouped in different ways, it's just a series of eighth notes, which means a steady beat. Like, you know, knocking but for a while. :)
posted by acm at 10:54 AM on March 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

Assumptions made for this literal thigh slap of a recording:

- this is one measure in 4:4 standard time
- the first set of notes is intended to be a triplet, rather than 3 eighth notes [otherwise it doesn't add up to a standard measure length and would require more explicit cues; therefore, Occamifying]
- that really is a forte mid-measure; I guess this could be in 2:2 time for tidiness but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

doorknocker on soundcloud.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 11:39 AM on March 6, 2017 [7 favorites]

The shape of it resembles a stylized G clef.
posted by Tawny Owl at 9:00 PM on March 9, 2017