Thursday 7 May 2009

And...we're back

When, for some inexplicable reason, i finally acknowledged that i would rather get lost in a sandstorm with my eyes taped open than finish my chapter on Hooker, i knew i had to make a little project. You know, to get that out of the way.

It's called a mezuzah, a piece of parchment containing the Shema (the affirmation of God's unity) in fulfillment of the Deuteronomic injuction And you shall write them on the entryways of your dwellings and your gates. It's basically a shoutout to God, and in Egypt, insurance that the first-born Israelites would not be slain.

To be precise, my project is actually a case for the mezuzah. I had a zebrawood pen blank i got a Rockler ages ago and decided that the stripes made a natural ש or shin, the twenty first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and generally written on the mezuzah case. For some wild stuff on shin, click here.

I used my new favourite chisel from my cousin, Otto (i will make a separate post about the tools from Otto) to make room for the parchment in the back and then rubbed some polyurethane and paste wax on it and that was pretty much it. I used velcro to affix it to the door jamb.




Hmm...i wonder if Hooker mentions anything about mezuzahs. Oooh...Guess I'm back to work...

4 comments:

  1. "Rollin' a fat one, eh??? A nod is as good as a wink to a blind bat, what??
    In all seriousness though, looks like a beautiful mezzuza - now all you need to lean is to write the parchment; but that's for when you don't want to write the NEXT Hooker chapter....
    Houdoe, schatje!!! piep piep

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice. Is there a back to the mezzuza or is it just hollowed out?

    The liberation day posts were great. A wonderful family history.

    TK

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mum:
    Thanks! I am working on writing the parchment--i took a good look at the handwriting, and i don't think i am so far off the mark at this point...
    There will not be another Hooker chapter. Hopefully i will be on to Taylor or Andrewes...
    I should have worn those gloves you gave me, as Batya generously spent some time pulling pieces of zebrawood out of my hands!
    TK:
    Thanks! There is no back. I just hollowed it out. The wood was so hard that none of the other ideas i had would have worked for me...at this point in my development and with the tools i have...
    As for the liberation posts, my plan is to get hold of the entire diary and create a separate blog and scan stuff like food rations and photos from my anunt in Breda...

    ReplyDelete
  4. this blog is fascinating. i heart you.

    ReplyDelete