Mezuzah

Ludwig Wolpert (Germany 1900—New York 1981)
Silver
Israel, ca. 1950
Skirball Museum

A mezuzah is a parchment inscribed with specified religious texts and attached in a case to the doorpost of a Jewish home as a sign of faith. Among devout Jews, it is customary to kiss one’s fingers and then bring the fingers to the mezuzah open entering and leaving the house. Wolpert was a prolific metal worker who emigrated from Germany to Palestine in 1933, where he taught metalworking at the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem. He later went to New York where he established the Tobe Pascher Workshop for Jewish ceremonial objects at the Jewish Museum. He is particularly known for prominently incorporating Hebrew characters into his ceremonial art. Here, the Hebrew in the design is from Deuteronomy 28:6: “Blessed art thou in coming and blessed art thou in going.”