About the mezuzah.
Jan. 2nd, 2009 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobelleI had been telling someone about why the mezuzah is tilted when I realised the line I was reciting sounded highly suspicious. So finally, I decided to do some of my own research. Thanks, Wikipedia!
Where the doorway is wide enough, Ashkenazi Jews and Spanish and Portuguese Jews tilt the mezuzah so that the top slants toward the room into which the door opens. This is done to accommodate the variant opinions of the medieval Rabbis Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam as to whether it should be placed horizontally or vertically, and also to imply that God and the Torah (which the mezuzah symbolizes) are entering the room. Most Sephardim and other non-Ashkenazi Jews affix the mezuzah vertically.[3]
Where the doorway is wide enough, Ashkenazi Jews and Spanish and Portuguese Jews tilt the mezuzah so that the top slants toward the room into which the door opens. This is done to accommodate the variant opinions of the medieval Rabbis Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam as to whether it should be placed horizontally or vertically, and also to imply that God and the Torah (which the mezuzah symbolizes) are entering the room. Most Sephardim and other non-Ashkenazi Jews affix the mezuzah vertically.[3]
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Date: 2009-01-05 02:48 pm (UTC)Before looking it up what had you been telling people?
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Date: 2009-01-05 03:35 pm (UTC)I heard it came from the time of the Crusades, when the knights would cross the mezuzahs. I think that may be just an old tale.