Beyond The Record: World Famous Mezuzah

Currently in its 5780th year according to the Jewish calendar, Israel has brilliantly celebrated canonical autumn holidays recently. The largest national newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth shared an illustrated story about nine unusual Israeli achievements, which made it to the Guinness Book of Records. Asher Kesher’s extensive coverage titled “Beyong the Record” opens with an interview “Glatt Kosher*: the World Largest Mezuzah” featuring one of our museum exhibitors, Avraham Borshevsky.

Answering the questions to unveil the history behind the famous Mezuzah originated back in 2004, the renowned calligrapher and certified scribe for Hebrew sacred scrolls from Jerusalem shared the story of his idea coming to life:

“I came up with the idea to create a masterpiece of sacred calligraphy to materialize all knowledge and skills gained over the course of five year scribe training. Mezuzah is not only a traditional symbol of a Jewish home, but also a symbol of our canonical writing. With a few art exhibitions under my belt, I figured that making such a scroll will evoke interest to the key thing: what message does mezuzah scroll convey?”

Canonical requirements for mezuzahs are fairly strict. Seven hundred and thirteen letters in each mezuzah should be written according to the canon with no consideration to the scroll area.

“The Guinness Book of Records editors office was meticulous to check all the documents and media coverage,” Borshevsky notes.

With 110 cm in height, and 76x94 cm scroll, Avraham’s mezuzah struggled to fit into a regular doorway. “This is 70 times larger than a standard mezuzah scroll,” the author explains. “I could pick an even longer medium but refused in order to keep traditional proportions. The Mezuzah was highly appraised by leading rabbis, which is much more important than the record acknowledgement.”

Thanks to Borshevsky’s resonating achievement, the World Book of Records had opened a new chapter, “The Largest Mezuzah,” causing new ever surpassing mezuzahs to emerge.

The record holding Mezuzah has been exhibited in the Contemporary Museum of Calligraphy since 2009. When asked whether Borshevsky has become a celebrity, he smiles and says: “Your newspaper is covering me 15 years after the sensation had occurred. This is saying something.”

* Glatt kosher – ideally kosher, perfectly right (Hebrew)

BEYOND THE RECORD: WORLD FAMOUS MEZUZAH