Fine Art Ritual Objects

The inspiration for my first collection of ritual objects is the mezuzah. But these aren’t your Bubbe’s Mezuzot. I have reimagined the form and busted them out of the doorway and brought them into other parts of the home. Now they can live on walls, tables, or shelves with your other treasured objects. Some are even portable and meant to be held and played with. Somewhere beyond Judaica, you can think of them as fun, funky ART with a mezuzah soul.

I am excited to announce the new additions to the collection. The first pieces from the “Bayit”, “Hineni” and “Force Fields” series are now available.

Here are some of the latest from the new series.

Bayit 06

$540.00

This piece is part of the “Bayit” series. 10% of the sale of all “Bayit” pieces will be donated to SHALOM BAYIT, an amazing organization dedicated to ending domestic violence. These small portable, interactive mezuzot sculptures have the “Birkat HaBayit” or “Blessing for the Home” hand painted on them. Many translations of this blessing exist, this is the one I like and use for this series:

Let no sorrow come through this gate. Let no trouble come in this dwelling. Let no fright come through this door. Let no conflict be in this place. Let this home be filled with blessing and peace.

All of the pieces in this series are unique and one of a kind, each with its own personality. They stand up on their own or can live on the included base, but are really meant to be picked up and played with. This particular one, “Bayit06”, is a home made up of stacked building blocks that can all be spun around the mezuzah scroll, or “klaf” that is the spine inside. The Kosher hand-scribed scroll inside is wrapped with the text facing out, making it possible to read the words by strategically positioning the “windows” in the blocks up and down the piece and looking through them.

SELF CONTAINED, INDOOR: includes a section of door frame incorporated into the base of the piece so it can be displayed anywhere indoors - no doorway needed.

FREE STANDING: to be displayed on a table, shelf or pedestal.

DIMENSIONS: 6.25” tall, 1.5” width, 1.5” length, - 7” tall, 2.5” width, 2.5” length on base

NOTE: Includes Kosher hand-scribed mezuzah scroll (Klaf)

Hineni 01

$540.00

This is the first piece in the “Hineni” series. Hineni, the Hebrew word for “here I am”, appears a few times in the Torah, one being the response Abraham gives when G*d calls on him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. It is also a prayer of preparation and humility and the topic of endless scholarly, rabbinical discourse.

This simple, wall hanging mezuzah channels the “you are here” dots you see on public maps everywhere. I like the idea of how simply they can immediately “place” you so you know where you are in your context. The dot, in this case, is the Kosher hand-scribed parchment flattened out and fully exposed. The familiar Hebrew text, usually hidden away, shows through the red lens and reminds us of where we stand.

SELF CONTAINED, INDOOR: includes a section of door frame in the piece so it can be displayed anywhere indoors - no doorway needed.

WALL HANGING: to be hung on a wall just like a small painting.

DIMENSIONS: 6.5” tall, 5.5” width, 1.75” deep

NOTE: Includes Kosher hand-scribed mezuzah scroll (Klaf)

Force Fields 02 (Love, Nourish, Protect)

$1,080.00

This piece is part of the “Force Fields” series. A force field is an area of energy that surrounds an object or place. I am extending that to include, a person, family or relationship. The inspiration for the three energy forces, represented here by the concentric rings around the scroll, come from the Shin found on mezuzot. (the Shin stands for “Shaddai” [almighty], one of the biblical names for God.}

It is said that each of the three lines that make a Shin stand for something different. There are many interpretations on what they mean, so after some research, I came up with the combination that I really like and use for this series. They are “Love, Nourish and Protect”, the essential areas of energy needed to sustain a relationship.

This particular piece, “Force Fields 02”, is a wedding mezuzah, meaning it has a container to hold all the shards of glass that sometimes gets broken at a Jewish wedding. The three rings of “energy” can be spun or placed in any position of “surrounding”. The center ring that includes the scroll is attached to the handle at the top and the gears below. When you spin that (using the handle or the ring) it churns around the broken glass, never to be the same. The base serves as almost a “key” to the meanings of the rings, reinforcing the correspondence between the shin parts and the energy forces.

SELF CONTAINED, INDOOR: includes a section of door frame incorporated into the base of the piece so it can be displayed anywhere indoors - no doorway needed.

FREE STANDING: to be displayed on a table, shelf or pedestal.

DIMENSIONS: 16” tall, 5” width, 8” length

NOTE: Includes Kosher hand-scribed mezuzah scroll (Klaf)