What is a mezuzah trace?

“It’s likely our last hope for you to find us…”

What is a mezuzah?

Mezuzah is a scroll of parchment with excerpts from the Book of Deuteronomy. The scroll is housed in a container with a letter shin as one of the names for God, Shaddai. In a house, mezuzahs are hanged on the right side of all doorframes at approximately 2/3 of the frame’s height. It is a very important symbol of a Jewish home, as it reminds to respect Torah laws.

Mezuzah set contains:

Typical pre-war Polish mezuzahs consisted of the following elements:

1 – A metal plate covering the container containing the mezuzah scroll located in a recess on the doorframe. The plate is marked with the letter Shin.

2 – A recessed indentation in the doorframe in which the mezuzah is affixed.

3 – An additional container in which the mezuzah scroll was placed. This container was made of tin. The visible letter Shin.

4 – A rolled-up mezuzah scroll made of parchment. On the scroll is written the letter Shin.

How pre-war mezuzahs look like?

From the outside, the plate enclosing the scroll in a recess in the doorframe was visible. On the plate is the letter Shin. The mezuzahs were of very primitive construction but this made the scrolls perfectly secure.

What is mezuzah trace?

The mezuzah traces are where the mezuzah scroll was located before the war. More than 3.5 million Jews lived in Poland before World War II. In the majority of Jewish homes, on the doorposts of every door used to be mezuzot. With the War, the mezuzot disappeared – leaving nothing but traces of emptiness and loneliness. Atypical traces on doorframes can be an indication of past presence of a mezuzah. It can be a groove, or a contour that sticks out from under the paint, or some nails that used to hold the mezuzah box. The mezuzah marks are symbols of emptiness.

Symbolics behind a mezuzah

It is customary to write inscriptions on the back of the parchment: the Hebrew word שדי “Shaddai” [Almighty] – one of the Biblical names of God, also serves here as an acronym for Shomer Daltot Yisrael, „Guardian of Israel’s doors”. Many mezuzah cases are also marked with the Hebrew letterש‎ Shin, for Shaddai.

The purpose of mezuzah

In the Biblical verses where the mezuzah command is found, the purpose is educational, to constantly remind a person of God’s commandments. In later generations, though, the mezuzah began to be interpreted as an apotropaic device, protecting the house from forces of evil. A culture-comparative analysis suggests that the objects placed on domestic thresholds often bear the function of an amulet repelling the broadly understood evil. Some early Rabbinic sources explicitly witness the belief in the anti-demonic function of mezuzot. While some Jewish sources indicate that mezuzah is construed as a device protecting against divine anger, others vehemently reject such an interpretation. The belief in the protective power of mezuzah is prevalent in modern times as well. According to various pieces of sociological research, approximately three-quarters of adults in Israel believe the mezuzah guards their houses.

The text of mezuzah Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 11:13–21

HEAR, O ISRAEL: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto My commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, so that there shall be no rain, and the ground shall not yield her fruit; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. Therefore shall ye lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

Why mezuzah traces are important?

Synagogues and Jewish cemeteries are symbols of existence of communities and are, unlike mezuzah traces, protected by law. Traces of mezuzahs are a sign of the existence of individual families. This kind of mark on doorpost makes it possible to reconstruct family stories. Additionally, traces of mezuzahs are symbolic keyholes through which one can see the old Polish-Jewish world.

Where we found mezuzah traces?

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  1. Baranowicze, ul. Mickiewicza 3
  2. Baranów Sandomierski, ul. Fabryczna 4
  3. Będzin, ul. Piłsudskiego 12
  4. Będzin, ul. Kołłątaja 14
  5. Bełz, Plac Sawenka
  6. Biała Podlaska, ul. Moniuszki 14/16
  7. Biała Podlaska, ul. Moniuszki 14/16
  8. Biała Podlaska, ul. Prosta 25
  9. Białowieża, ul. Stoczek 16
  10. Białystok, ul. Ciepła 8
  11. Bielsko-Biała, ul. 11 Listopada 63
  12. Brody, ul. Stusa 7A
  13. Brzesko, ul. Chopina 3
  14. Brześć, ul. Pograniczników Sowieckich 27
  15. Brzeziny, ul. Joselewicza 2
  16. Brzeziny, ul. Traugutta 12
  17. Buczacz, ul. Halicka 79
  18. Chełm, ul. Uściługska 3
  19. Chełm, ul. Uściługska 3
  20. Chełm, ul. Uściługska 3
  21. Chełm, ul. Uściługska 3
  22. Chęciny, ul. Staszica 1
  23. Chmielnik, Rynek 4
  24. Chmielnik, Rynek 6
  25. Chmielnik, ul. Sienkiewicza 12
  26. Chrzanów, ul. Krakowska 28
  27. Chrzanów, ul. Krakowska 28
  28. Ciechanowiec, ul. Kozarska 1
  29. Częstochowa, ul. Targowa 14
  30. Częstochowa, ul. Krakowska 7
  31. Dawidgródek, ul. Juchniewicza
  32. Dynów, ul. Mickiewicza 1
  33. Dynów, ul. Mickiewicza 21
  34. Działoszyce, ul. Piłsudskiego 9
  35. Gąbin, ul. Płocka 3
  36. Góra Kalwaria, ul. Piłsudskiego 13
  37. Grodzisk Mazowiecki, ul. 11 Listopada 6
  38. Iwano-Frankiwsk, ul. Hetmana Mazepy 56
  39. Jędrzejów Nowy 72
  40. Jarosław, ul. Kasztelańska 6
  41. Jarosław, ul. Sobieskiego 8
  42. Jasło, ul. Polskiego Czerwonego Krzyża 10
  43. Kalisz, ul. Chopina 12
  44. Kielce, ul. 1 Maja 68
  45. Kłodawa, Plac Wolności 6
  46. Kołomyja, ul. Orensztajna 10
  47. Kołomyja, ul. Piekarska 2
  48. Końskie, ul. Warszawska 5
  49. Kraków, Plac Wolnica 3
  50. Kraków, ul. Szeroka 38
  51. Kraków, ul. Brzozowa 13
  52. Kraków, ul. Brzozowa 13
  53. Kraków, ul. Dietla 66
  54. Kraków, ul. Dietla 83
  55. Kraków, ul. Krakowska 13
  56. Kraków, ul. Orzeszkowej 9
  57. Kraków, ul. Orzeszkowej 10
  58. Kraków, ul. Sebastiana 19
  59. Kraków, ul. Sebastiana 19
  60. Kraków, ul. Sebastiana 34
  61. Kraków, ul. Józefa 42
  62. Kraków, ul. Mostowa 8
  63. Krosno, ul. Słowackiego 19
  64. Krynki, ul. Piłsudskiego 1
  65. Leżajsk, Plac Targowy 6
  66. Lubaczów, ul. Wyszyńskiego 9
  67. Lublin, ul. Lubartowska 47
  68. Lutomiersk, ul. Kościuszki 40
  69. Lwów, ul. Braci Rohatyńców 21
  70. Lwów, ul. Braci Rohatyńców 45
  71. Lwów, ul. Braci Rohatyńców 47
  72. Lwów, ul. Rybna 3
  73. Lwów, ul. Fedorowa
  74. Lwów, ul. Chornomorska 9
  75. Lwów, ul. Gonty 1
  76. Lwów, ul. Kniazia Lwa
  77. Lwów, ul. Lajnberga 9
  78. Lwów, ul. Ruska 4
  79. Lwów, ul. Starojewriejska 4
  80. Lwów, ul. Starojewriejska 4a
  81. Lwów, ul. Starojewriejska 29
  82. Lwów, ul. Starojewriejska 48
  83. Lwów, ul. Użhorodska 16
  84. Łomża, ul. Polowa 59
  1. Łowicz, ul. Browarna 11
  2. Łódź, al. Armii Krajowej
  3. Łódź, ul. Rewolucji 1905 r. 5
  4. Łódź, ul. Rewolucji 1905 r.18
  5. Łódź, ul. Wschodnia 34
  6. Łódź, ul. Wschodnia 35
  7. Łuck, ul. Kowelska 12
  8. Marakesz, Maroko
  9. Międzyrzec Podlaski, ul. Jatkowa 10
  10. Mogielnica, ul. Grójecka 7
  11. Nasielsk, Rynek 22
  12. Nasielsk, ul. Starzyńskiego 10
  13. Opatów, ul. Szeroka 5
  14. Ostrołęka, ul. Gomulickiego 20
  15. Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, ul. 3 Maja 4
  16. Oświęcim, ul. Ks. Jana Skarbka 2
  17. Oświęcim, ul. Solskiego 4
  18. Otwock, ul. Świderska 6
  19. Ozorków, ul. Wyszyńskiego 5
  20. Pabianice, ul. Bóźnicza 9
  21. Pińsk, ul. Komsomolska 23
  22. Pińsk, ul. Komsomolska 23
  23. Piotrków Trybunalski, ul. Wojska Polskiego
  24. Płock, ul. Kwiatka 9
  25. Przemyśl, ul. Władycze 17
  26. Przeworsk, ul. Krótka 3
  27. Radom, ul. Wałowa 5
  28. Radom, ul. Żytnia 1
  29. Radziłów, Plac 500-lecia 13
  30. Radzyń Podlaski, ul. Ostrowiecka 26
  31. Rudki, ul. Stepana Bandery 3
  32. Rudki, ul. Stepana Bandery 3
  33. Rudki, ul. Stepana Bandery 3
  34. Sambor, ul. Wuzka 4
  35. Siedlce, ul. Sokołowska 18
  36. Sieradz, Rynek 4
  37. Słonim, ul. Komunistyczna 2
  38. Sokołów Podlaski, ul. Wilczyńskiego 4
  39. Sosnowiec, ul. Targowa 15
  40. Stalowa Wola, Rynek 14
  41. Stryj, ul. Krawiecka 22
  42. Suwałki, Plac Marii Konopnickiej 14
  43. Syhot Marmaroski, ul. 20 Grudnia 1984 11
  44. SyhotMarmaroski, ul. 20 Grudnia 1984 14
  45. Szczebrzeszyn, ul. Zwierzyniecka 3
  46. Tarnobrzeg, Rynek 13
  47. Tarnów, ul. Brodzińskiego 32
  48. Tarnów, ul. Zakątna 11
  49. Tarnów, ul. Zakątna 11
  50. Tarnów, ul. Zakątna 11
  51. Tomaszów Mazowiecki, ul. Jerozolimska 3
  52. Tomaszów Mazowiecki, ul. Jerozolimska 3
  53. Ulanów, Rynek 11
  54. Użhorod, ul. Gagarina 347
  55. Warszawa, ul. Brzeska 18
  56. Warszawa, ul. Brzeska 18
  57. Warszawa, ul. Brzeska 18
  58. Warszawa, ul. Brzeska 18
  59. Warszawa, ul. Próżna 14
  60. Warszawa, ul. Twarda 28
  61. Warszawa, ul. Twarda 28
  62. Warszawa, ul. Twarda 28
  63. Warszawa, ul. Waliców 10
  64. Warszawa, ul. Waliców 10
  65. Warszawa, ul. Waliców 14
  66. Warszawa, ul. Wileńska 7
  67. Warszawa, ul. Wileńska 9
  68. Warszawa, ul. Ząbkowska
  69. Warta, ul. Targowa 10
  70. Wieliczka, ul. Sikorskiego 7
  71. Wojsławice, Rynek 58
  72. Wojsławice, Rynek 58
  73. Wojsławice, Rynek 58
  74. Wrocław, ul. Włodkowica 9
  75. Wrocław, ul. Włodkowica 9
  76. Wrocław, ul. Włodkowica 9
  77. Zamość, ul. Spadek 27
  78. Zamość, ul. Spadek 27
  79. Zduńska Wola, ul. Getta Żydowskiego 7
  80. Zgierz, ul. 1 Maja 29
  81. Żółkiew, ul. Zaporiwska 1
  82. Żarki, Stary Rynek 15/17
  83. Żarki, Stary Rynek
  84. Żelechów, Rynek 4

Acknowledgement

On this page we have shown photographs of the only surviving complete mezuzah in Poland, which consists of a doorframe with a mezuzah trace, a mezuzah container, a mezuzah scroll and a closing plate. The doorframe is the property of Mr. Wojciech Mszyca. Thank you for making the object available for documentation purposes.