Mazel Tov! It's a mezuzah!
January 28, 2011 8:06 PM   Subscribe

Mezuzah hanging ceremony - What's an appropriate gift?

We've been invited to a mezuzah ceremony this weekend at the house of a friend. They indicated "no gifts", but we'd still like to bring them something. While flowers are a possibility, I'm wondering if anyone has other suggestions. Is there something more appropriate?
posted by neurodoc to Society & Culture (8 answers total)
 
it's basically a housewarming. I'd bring a pretty plant or some cute edible gift like candy or jam.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:22 PM on January 28, 2011 [2 favorites]


Cookie platter, with traditional Jewish cookies. Which is not really a gift, but really nice.
posted by fifilaru at 8:50 PM on January 28, 2011


If your friends keep kosher and you do not, you might not want to make cookies for them.
posted by easy, lucky, free at 9:16 PM on January 28, 2011


Definitely do get kosher food if you get food. If it were me I'd want the candies that look like slices of oranges and come in a couple of different colors - more or less my favorite kosher food.

As for getting them: you are in San Fransisco, right? After sundown tomorrow go buy some nice kosher goodies. Or, heck, the Kroger near the most Jewish part of Columbus has a full kosher deli and lots of kosher food and they're open 24/7; again, you're in San Fransisco.
posted by SMPA at 9:24 PM on January 28, 2011 [1 favorite]


Likewise with any other edibles, if they're particularly observant. (I'm Reform myself, but I know of no traditional gifts for mezuzah hangings in particular, and am inclined to say that if they asked you not to bring gifts you should respect their wishes. But if you know more about their degree of observance people might be able to give you better-informed ideas.)
posted by restless_nomad at 9:25 PM on January 28, 2011


Best answer: I think I've seen Green's babka at Lucky's in Alamo Square, if you're looking for something that's Jewish-y in addition to being kosher. A lot of regular food is kosher, though, including most Entenmann's stuff (OU-D mark.)

Randomly: while wine might seem like a good idea, it would be a complicated one if they're religious - kosher wine is hard to find and if they're drinking it with/around non-Jews, it needs to be "mevushal."
posted by needs more cowbell at 9:36 PM on January 28, 2011


Since they specified "no gifts," shouldn't you respect that?
posted by Carol Anne at 6:23 AM on January 29, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks for all the great suggestions! Food seems a good choice, especially if it's in the spirit of something that can be shared with everyone there. That's really why we were thinking of bringing something in the first place.
posted by neurodoc at 9:42 AM on January 29, 2011


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