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MOVING INTO A NEW HOUSE

After you have moved in and unpacked your boxes, invite family and friends, old and new, to join you for a Chanukat Habayit, a dedication of your new house. To those unfamiliar with the brief ceremony, explain that this is the Jewish way of transforming a new house into the sacred space of home.

MEDITATION

Across this threshold may these things never cross: anger and anxiety, hatred and hunger, insult and injury.

May this mezuzah as we kiss it going in and out, remind all who enter to bring with them only love and laughter, praise and prayer, kindness and comfort.

Let the doors of thus house be wide open, so all who enter may find shelter and love.

RITUAL

After everyone has assembled, greet your guests with a blessing of welcome. If weather permits, gather just outside your front door.

Ask everyone to take a moment to silently meditate upon the blessings they wish for this home.

Sing: Hineh ma tov u'manayim, shevet achim gam yachad. 'How very good is to be together in this house.'

Affix the mezuzah, one you have selected because its shape or design is meaningful to you. Hang it on the right side of your doorpost, with the top tilted inward, and say the blessings. Invite everyone to enter your home and after you have said the blessing for bread, dip your bread in various symbolic condiments, alone or in combinations: salt (symbolizing a life of holiness) oil (sustenance) or honey (sweetness).

As you conclude, offer a blessing of thanksgiving. Invite your guests to share their blessings for your new home.

BLESSING

(As you bless your guests)

Bruchim haba'im b'shem Adonai

'We bless all who come in God's name with love and peace to sanctify this place, as we make this house our home.'

(After you have affixed the mezuzah)

Baruch atah Adonai eloheinu melekh ha'olam, asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav, likboa mezuzah.

'Blessed are You Gracious One our God, sovereign of all worlds, who makes us holy with your mitzvot and commands us to affix the mezuzah.'

Barukh atah Adonai eloheinu melekh ha'olam shehechianu v'kimanu v'higianu lazman hazeh.

'Blessed are You Eternal One our God who gives us life and keeps us strong and has brought us to this time.'

(Before you eat the bread)

Barukh atah Adonai eloheinu melekh ha'olam, hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz.

'Blessed is the One who sustains us with bread.'

(As you conclude)

N'varech et ayn ha'chayim v'cho ne'varech.

'As we bless the Source of Life, so we are blessed.'

TEACHING

And you shall tie them for a sign upon your arm, and they shall be a remembrance between your eyes, and you shall write them upon the doorposts (mezuzot) of your house and upon your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:8-9)

The mezuzah, in addition to marking the passage from public to private domain, also designates that the private domain must be a certain type of dwelling, one that is fit for human living. When we mark our doorpost with a mezuzah, we are saying something about the whole range of qualities what make our house a home.

At the very same time, we are saying something about our own personal qualities. We are, after all, human beings, created in the image of God. When we depart from the company of others (who are also images of God) and pass into our private domain, the mezuzah reminds us that our domain must be a fitting abode for an image of God, such as ourselves.

(CLAL faculty)

CLAL's National Jewish Resource Center develops and publishes rituals that help to bridge the gap between our contemporary lives and the ancient wisdom of the Jewish tradition.