'From This Home' series Łódź, ul. Rewolucji 18 - A Bronze Cast Mezuzah by Mi Polin

Mezuzahs from "Mezuzah from this home” series are bronze casts of imprints of mezuzah traces found in Poland.  They are castings made from beautiful bronze, with the letter Shin etched into the mezuzah.  

There is a powerful history and emotion to this mezuzah - yet also a satisfying quality and aesthetic to the overall finish of the mezuzah.

Please find some information below, unique to this particular mezuzah - however if you would like more information feel free to email info@contemporaryjudaica.co.uk

The Idea

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. These traces we cast in bronze creating new and trace based mezuzot to give a new life to those long gone and fulfil their holy function. Again. Every mezuzah is a story of a given house, family and person. Touching the mezuzah activates a link between past and present.

The Home

A mezuzah containing a scroll was found in the workshop of a bookbinder at 18 Rewolucji 1905 Street. The owner of the workshop would prefer it to remain in its original place. She explained: „The mezuzah has grown into this place and having found out what it is, I would feel inexplicably sad if it were to be gone.” The Rabbi Remuh of Kraków predicted such a case 500 years ago. He decreed that if to removal of mezuzahs would be received by the new tenants as an expression of lack of confidence in them, they should be left there in the same place the name of preserving good relations between Jews and non-Jews. Now the current owner of the workshop is responsible for the mezuzah. In the building on 18 Południowa there was a prayer house since 1893.

The Family

On the October 9th 1930 Chaim Moszek Dudelzak was registered with his wife Rywka. Chaim was born in 1889 in Nowe Miasto and died in 1942 in Łódź Ghetto. Fate of Ryfka is unknown. According to the documents of Central Committee of Polish Jews, the building at 18 Południowa street was mentioned by 454 Holocaust Survivors as their postwar address.

Brand:
Mi Polin

Material:
Bronze

Dimensions:
4.33” long / 1.18" wide.
Takes a 6cm scroll