What the House Inspector Failed to Tell Me

I don't remember who first explained to me - it might have been a visiting friend from medical school, years ago - the significance of the little plastic box, about six inches long and three-quarters of an inch wide, nailed to the doorframe of the back door. I bought this house more than 20 years ago, and the little box was there when I bought the house, and I didn't notice it for a while.

It is, of course, a mezuza, a tiny parchment scroll with verses in Hebrew from the Torah, in a protective container that holds it in place and protects it from the elements. I am thinking about this today because of a story in yesterday's New York Times, that because of turnover in occupants, mezuzas left by previous residents now are in doorways of many housing units occupied by people who are not Jewish. According to the New York Times article, "Jews leaving a home are expected to leave the mezuzas behind if they believe the next residents will also be Jewish. If not, they must take the mezuza with them, to guard against the possibility that a non-Jew might desecrate it, knowingly or not."

It would never have occurred to me to take it down, and I am glad that the previous owners of the house (who I am guessing are the people who put it there) didn't have their real estate agent ask me my religion; certainly it didn't come up when the house was inspected ("mezuza on rear doorframe"). I like having it there. It is part of the history of the house, and connects me and my family to the history of faith that is part of the history of our world.