Mi Polin Bronze Mezuzah - LODZ, UL. REWOLUCJI 18

This mezuzah is a part of the Mi Polin "Mezuzah From This Home" project, which commemorates the Jewish life of pre-war Poland by taking mezuzah casts from the door frames of once-Jewish homes. They symbolize the emptiness of now-vacant homes, the remembrance of those who lived there, and the reclaiming of the mezuzah, which for years remained empty but now can fulfill its role again.

Each mezuzah is cast in bronze, with a Shin and the place where it was cast engraved on the side. It has an open space in the back for a scroll. (Use the drop-down menu to purchase your mezuzah with or without a scroll.)

This bronze cast commemorates the inhabitants of 18 Rewolucji 1905 Street, Łódź.

On October 9, 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. Rywka's fate is unknown. According to documents of the Central Committee of Polish Jews, the building at 18 Południowa Street (an older name for the same street) was mentioned by 454 Holocaust Survivors as their postwar address.

While searching for mezuzah traces in Łódź, Mi Polin actually found a mezuzah containing a scroll in the workshop of a bookbinder at Rewolucji 18. At first, the workshop's owner agreed that they could take the mezuzah, but afterwards, she asked to keep it."Because this mezuzah has grown into this place, and now that I have learned what it is, I would feel inexplicably sad when it was gone,” she explains. Shortly after this conversation, Mi Polin remembered that the great Rabbi Remuh (Moshe Isserles) of Kraków had predicted such an event centuries ago: he decreed that if a home's new tenants would experience the mezuzah's removal as an expression of a lack of confidence in them, then it should be left, for the sake of preserving good relations between Jews and non-Jews.

Now the current owner of this workshop is responsible for this mezuzah, which can be seen by anyone who wants to.

Dimensions: 4.25 x 1.25 inches

Material: Bronze

Made in Poland.

Mi Polin, meaning “from Poland” in Hebrew, is the first brand that designs and produces Judaica in Poland since the end of World War II, the Holocaust, and forty-five years of Communism. This contemporary design studio specializes in Jewish objects, branding for Jewish institutions, and graphic design. Their design refers to "hiddur micva" (a Slavic transliteration of “mitzvah”), which demands that ritual artifacts be beautiful, while also
emphasizing their multi-faceted nature. Mi Polin was founded by Aleksander Prugar and Helena Czernek.