Often when we enter a Jewish home, we find a mezuzah in the doorway. A mezuzah is a tiny scroll upon which are written two chapters of Torah, the shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) and vehaya (Deuteronomy 11:13-21), including the verse, "And you shall inscribe these words upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates." Whenever we pass through a doorway with a mezuzah, we are reminded of God's oneness, and our sacred partnership, our covenant, to complete the work of creation. As you enter our Temple Isaiah website, we hope that you are reminded of these things as well.

The Blessing of Inbetween
Rabbi Zoë Klein

The place of transitions is a place of blessing in our tradition.
Typically we think of the most blessed place
as being the place of destination.
But in Judaism, in is in the process of getting there
where we find the wisdom,
the treasures,
and the blessings of life.
Consider the Israelites in the desert,
where did they receive revelation?
It was not when they were enslaved in Egypt,
and it was not when they had arrived in the Promised Land,
rather, it was in the in between,
in the desert,
wide and blank and barren,
where they met God at Mount Sinai.
Consider also,
the ultimate symbol of in betweeness ~
The doorway.
The moment when you have neither arrived in one room
nor left the other,
you are in between, and yet you are
in the safest place should the ground start to shake,
and if you look up, and to your right,
you will see a mezuza,
you will see that this little liminal place
is blessed,
is worthy of a sacred kiss,
is sanctified by God and man,
this state of in between
is one of the most sacred places
because it is where all potentiality resides,
it is replete with hope and promise and blessing,
it is pulsing with creative energy,

you might not realize the potential every time you are in a doorway,
but every time,
you might consider
the rebirth that can take place as you enter a room,
will your head be held high this time,
will you be proud,
will you come as if you have something to offer,
will you enter the room with joy,
with presence,
with determination?
Will you come in with courage,
or will you enter this room
timid,
with the past clinging to you,
afraid,
averting eyes,
anticipating loneliness,
the mezuza is tilted when we enter a room,
tilted up,
as if to remind us that every entrance is an ascent,
should bring us to a higher place,
and for this constant ability to be reborn,
renewed,
we kiss the mezuza
and thank God for creating us and
allowing us to create ourselves anew.
The very root of the word mezuza, ZUZ,
means movement.
It is when we are in motion,
when we are in between leaving and arriving,
when we are most blessed.
That is when the elevator you portrayed is so potent,
standing anonymously between here and there,
at once afraid by the vast void of that place,
and challenged to fill that void with a simple
but heroic word of kindness.
Right now,
you are in motion,
you are in between,
making decisions every minute,
every time you walk through a door,
you are making choices,
choosing pathways,
inventing
and reinventing yourselves.
You are kaleidoscopic,
constantly changing and bedazzling
yourselves and others,
never quite settling on one pattern of being.
You are so vibrant and profound.
You are in between projects
in between devotions
in between who your dating
in between socially
in between beliefs
in between school years
in between stages
in between in so many ways,
and I envy you that place,
because it is the place most sacred in Jewish life,
you aren't in Egypt,
and you aren't in the Promised Land,
you are right in the middle,
right where Revelation is about to appear,
right where God is about to descend,
you are in exactly the perfect place
to receive that divine calling,
that inspiration,
just keep your eyes open,
keep your hearts open,
your spirit free,
and it will come,
may you be blessed on your journey,
may your dreams by night come true by day,
and may our paths cross again,
bearing tidings of health and happiness and peace.