Tel Aviv's Mezuzah Walk!

The Tel Aviv class will be spending a lot of time this week learning about, and making, their very own mezuzot! Their mezuzah exploration started with a class "mezuzah walk" around the temple. Together we found 11 mezuzahs. Many of which we different materials and had different colors and designs on them. It was so great to see their excitement after each time they found another mezuzah. We learned that even though mezuzot may look different from the outside each one has the same prayer on the inside and the Hebrew letter Shin on the outside. Tomorrow we will start making our own mezuzot out of sculpey!

Mezuzah Hunt

During their travels in Israel, Flat Stanley and Ellen reminded us about how
Jewish homes all over the world have a Mezuzah on the doorframes of their
houses. The class discussed how having a mezuzah on your house is also a
mitzvah mentioned in the bible. After Moses reveals to the Jewish people the
laws of the Ten Commandments, he tells them to inscribe the words of the
Shema "on the doorposts of your house" (Deuteronomy 6:9). Having a Mezuzah
is a way to respect this commandment and to remind us to perform more good
deeds when we enter our houses and when we leave to go out in the world.

We looked at all different kinds of Mezuzot and saw that they can be
beautiful works of art. We decided to make our very own special Mezuzah for
our homes. We printed out the blessings(of the shma'a and V'ahav'ta)
and the Unicorns designed their very own mezuzahs. Most friends wanted to put them in their bedrooms. We learned that as we pass the Mezuzah we gently touch it and give it a kiss of love and blessings.

The Unicorn friends decided we should go on a Mezuzah hunt throughout the temple as this was our home away from home. You may want to ask your children how many did we found! Here is a clue: More than 1 but less than 20