Shana Tova

We are honored to provide our community with a beautiful calendar each year, allowing families to follow and observe their most honored dates, holidays and traditions. My hope for you and your family is that the year ahead be flled with good health, blessings and milestones to celebrate. May the memory of those who have passed be remembered and honored on their Yahrzeit.

Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary is dedicated to serving the traditional and modern Southern California Jewish and Interfaith Community from generation to generation. As always, it is our privilege to assist you and your family with information, planning and afercare support.

RafaelOchoa GeneralManager

The Mezuzah Judaism is not confined to synagogues. We strive for spirituality even within the comfort and familiarity of our own homes. The mezuzah designates the home as Jewish, operating by a special set of rules, rituals, and beliefs. Equally, it reminds those who live there of their connection to G-d and their heritage. Hung on the doorpost, the mezuzah separates the house from the outside world and symbolizes its refuge from it. The word mezuzah literally means “a doorpost” but refers to the small parchment scroll upon which Hebrew words are written.

The decorative case containing the mezuzah scroll is just that: a mere container. What’s important is the scroll, upon which the first two sections of the Shema –Judaism’s fundamental declaration of belief in G-d – are handwritten, beginning with the eternal words “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One.” These sections contain the commandment to affix the mezuzah: “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.”

When a Jewish family affixes a mezuzah on their permanent residence they are forming another link in Jewish history and continuing a tradition that goes back to Biblical times.

September 2023

Elul 5783 - Tishrei 5784

Times listed in date boxes are for Los Angeles (zip code 90045.) For other locations, see inside back cover.

The Written Words

Written in the mezuzah parchment are the first two of the three paragraphs of the Shema – the primary Jewish declaration of the belief in one G-d, and the love and devotion to G-d.

The opening line of the prayer is its most significant: Shema Yisra’el, Ad-nai Elo-heinu, Ad-nai Echad –‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One’. The sentence asserts the monotheistic nature of Judaism and the one G-d is the essence of everything.

The first paragraph is the continuation of the Shema verse, (from Deuteronomy 6:5-9,) starting with the word “v’ahavta.” Its major themes in the first paragraph are: G-d is the single source of all of existence, the religious duties to love G-d, to teach Torah to one’s children, to talk of Torah, to put on tefillin, and to place mezuzot on the doorpost of one’s home.

The second passage (from Deuteronomy 11:13-21,) begins with the word “v’haya.” It declares the Jews’ acceptance of the commandments and their undertaking to carry them out as evidence of their loyalty to G-d. It presents the fundamental principle in Jewish belief of reward and punishment that is based on the fulfillment of G-d’s commandments – the positive consequences of fulfilling the mitzvot, and the negative consequences of not.

October 2023

Times listed in date boxes are for Los Angeles (zip code 90045.) For other locations, see inside back cover.

The Scribe Since the mezuzah is a Torah commandment, one must put forth maximum effort of holiness into it. The one entrusted to write the mezuzah – the sofer – must then be first and foremost be a deeply pious individual. They must love and fear G-d, and be very punctilious in performing the commandments properly and with devotion.

The sofer is deeply trained in the many laws of writing mezuzot, tefillin, and Torah scrolls. Their profession is very spiritually demanding as well. While writing, the sofer must be clearly focused and have can only pure thoughts in his mind. Should his mind begin to veer ever so slightly, he must stop writing. Jewish law states that a sofer must fully believe in G-d, and cannot deny just one word of the Torah. Should this not be the case, any mezuzah (or Torah scroll or tefillin) they write is considered unholy and invalid. It may not be used and must be buried.

November 2023

Cheshvan - Kislev 5784

Times listed in date boxes are for Los Angeles (zip code 90045.) For other locations, see inside back cover.

The Parchment

A “kosher” mezuzah is hand-written on genuine parchment or klaf, prepared from the skin of a kosher animal such as a cow, or a goat, and must be prepared by means of specific processes.

A mezuzah has 713 letters, written in a unique script and 22 lines each with defined justified line breaks and indentation. Every letter has numerous laws pertaining to its form. In order for a mezuzah to be written in accordance with all of the laws, it must meet thousands of requirements. Two letters are larger than the others. One is the dalet of the word ‘echad’ to ensure that the word is not read as ‘acher’ meaning [G-d is] ‘another’. The second being the letter ayin of the ‘shemah’ so that both letters together read as ‘ed’ (witness) as we are the witness of G-d’s Oneness in the world.

Any error, even should one of the mezuzah’s 713 letters is missing, or shaped incorrectly, the entire parchment is rendered invalid. While some errors can be corrected in accordance with Jewish law, others cannot. Heat, humidity and moisture can damage the integrity of the letters on the parchment. Traditionally, a mezuzah is checked twice in seven years for cracked or faded letters.

December 2023

Times listed in date boxes are for Los Angeles (zip code 90045.) For other locations, see inside back cover.

Shaddai Inscribed on the outer side of a mezuzah scroll, opposite the empty space between the two passages is י-ד-ש or Shaddai. This is one of the biblical names of G-d meaning Almighty. The Zohar (Kabalistic text) explains that this name describes G-d as our protector. Others explain that it is an acronym for Shomer Daltot Yisrael or “The Guardian of the doors of Israel.” At one point, Kabbalistic symbols and inscriptions once appeared on the back of the parchment, to accentuate the protective element of the mezuzah. ‘Shaddai’, which appears on the back of the parchment, is a remaining example of this. Once the mezuzah is rolled up, Shaddai appears on the outside. The outer case should have an opening through which the word Shaddai is visible when the mezuzah is inserted. If the case does not allow for a window, then the word Shaddai, or the Hebrew letter shin is often part of the outer casing design.

Times listed in date boxes are for Los Angeles (zip code 90045.) For other locations, see inside back cover.

A Sign of a Jewish Home

The mezuzah has always identified a home as being Jewish. Positioned at the doorpost of the house entrance exposed to the outside, the mezuzah separates the house from the outside world as a Jew’s inner sanctum and marks it with the sign of holiness. Travelling throughout the world, one can often seek out fellow Jews by looking for a mezuzah on the door. In areas where Jews have been exiled, or in homes once lived in by Jews, many doorposts still bear the mark of a mezuzah removed – an empty groove or discolored portion of the doorpost. In this photo, the carved out indentation on the stone doorpost indicates the once presence of a mezuzah and Jewish home. The adjacent mezuzah is a testament of the return by a Jewish family. Here, the mezuzah is embedded in the doorpost with concrete as a sign of permanency or of prevention from any attempt to tear it off the wall.

February 2024

Times listed in date boxes are for Los Angeles (zip code 90045.) For other locations, see inside back cover.

Transformation

Originally built between 1537 and 1541 under Ottoman Empire rule, the Zion Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City, became the prominent scene of a short, but fierce battle fought during the 1948 Israeli War of Independence. Badly outmatched, the desperate Israeli troops opened fire at the Jordanians guarding the gate, wreaking havoc and breaking the siege long enough to evacuate the Old City’s Jewish inhabitants. It left the walls of Zion Gate covered in bullet holes, which earned it the nickname the “Wounded Gate.” However, battle scars aren’t the only remnants left behind from the 1948 skirmish at the Zion Gate. Its mezuzah, is said to have been made from the casings of bullets collected from the shootout to commemorate the bravery of those Jewish soldiers.

This mezuzah is far more than just the fulfillment of a biblical commandment or the memorial leftover from a decades-old war. Beyond its history, what makes the Zion Gate mezuzah special is that it was created from objects normally used to spread violence, transforming them into something wonderful. The mezuzah embodies the message of modern Israel, proving that with enough perseverance, beauty can be born from destruction.

March 2024

Times listed in date boxes are for Los Angeles (zip code 90045.) For other locations, see inside back cover.

The Samaritan Version

Samaritans are a sect of Judaism tracing their lineage to three of the biblical northern Israelites tribes – Menasheh, Ephraim, Levi. Today there are more than 800 Samaritans in Israel, split between their town next to Mount Gerizim near Schechem (Nablus), and their community in Holon. The Samaritans, who do not accept the oral tradition, do not require a mezuzah to be affixed at the doorpost. They interpret the commandment to mean displaying any select text from the Samaritan version of the Torah. This can contain a blessing or a particularly holy or uplifting message. Nowadays a Samaritan mezuzah is usually made of either marble, a wooden plate, or a sheet of parchment or high quality paper, on which they inscribe select verses. They are placed either above the house door, or inside the house, in the entrance hall or at a prominent place on a large wall. As well, many Samaritans today also use a common-style mezuzah case and place inside it a small written Samaritan scroll, written in the Samaritan alphabet. The more such mezuzot there are in the house, the better.

Times listed in date boxes are for Los Angeles (zip code 90045.) For other locations, see inside back cover.