Mi Polin Bronze Mezuzahs

Mi Polin, founded by Aleksander Prugar and Helena Czernek, means “from Poland” in Hebrew.

Mi Polin is the first company that designs and produces Judaica in Poland since the end of World War II, the Holocaust, and 45 years of communis

These mezuzot are part of the Mi Polin "Mezuzah From This Home" project. Before WWII and the Nazi Germany and Soviet occupations of Poland, there were 3.5 million Jewish inhabitants. This project commemorates the Jewish life of pre-war Poland by taking mezuzah casts from the doorposts of once-Jewish homes.

Wax imprints are taken from the door frames where the mezuzot were removed, then hand-cast in bronze to create three-dimensional replicas of the scars left on buildings whose original Jewish tenants are long gone. They symbolize the emptiness of now-vacant homes, the remembrance of those who lived there, and the reclaiming of those mezuzot, which for years remained empty but now can fulfill their roles in new homes.

Mi Polin is a contemporary design studio specializing in Jewish objects, branding for Jewish institutions, and graphic design. Their designs reference "hiddur micva" ("micva" is a Slavic transliteration of "mitzvah"), which demands that ritual artifacts be beautiful, while also emphasizing their multi-faceted nature.