Why Do Jews Kiss the Door?

Dear Jew in the City,

Why do Jews kiss the door?

Sincerely,

Puzzled

Dear Puzzled,

Thanks for your question. I’m going to answer it but before I do, I’m going to tell you a story.

Many years ago, when the interwebs were in their infancy, people got their information from a thing called newspapers. (Imagine cave drawings on very thin slices of a tree that a young boy threw at your house from a bicycle – that was newspapers.)

Anyway, my local paper (Newsday, if you care to know) once reported on a kosher wedding and in it, the reporter described the rabbi in the kitchen “blessing the food.” I wrote a letter to the editor (the ancient version of a comments section) explaining that kashrus entails many things. These include ritual slaughter, no pork, no shellfish, separating meat and milk products and more, but rabbis “blessing the food” isn’t part of it. Blessing the food is something the individual does before eating. (Actually, we bless God, Who created the food.)

The newspaper was originally inclined to publish my letter but they reversed themselves, claiming that the writer said he “knows what he saw.”

Clearly, he didn’t.

The same is the case here: what you think you’re seeing isn’t what’s going on.

In the Torah, there’s a mitzvah called mezuzah. Deuteronomy 6:4–9 make up the first paragraph of the prayer Shema. In part, this paragraph tells us:

These words that I command you today shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the way. … You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The word mezuzah literally means a doorpost, but we colloquially use it to refer to a small parchment that is mounted on our doorposts. This parchment contains the aforementioned Deuteronomy 6:4–9, as well as the next paragraph of Shema, Deuteronomy 11:13–21, which also contains the mitzvah of mezuzah.

Now, Jews often kiss religious objects as a sign of respect for God and our love of His mitzvos. People generally kiss a Torah scroll when it passes by. They often kiss holy books, like a Chumash or a siddur. They might kiss their tzitzis (the strings worn on a four-cornered garment). And many people kiss the mezuzah when they enter a house. (Actually, they’re not even kissing the mezuzah directly; they’re kissing their hand, with which they touch the mezuzah.)

While having a mezuzah is a Torah obligation (assuming you live in a building with doors and not, say, in a tent or on a houseboat), kissing it is not. As noted, it’s merely a sign of love and respect, and a personal preference.

So, Jews do not kiss their doors. If you ever think that’s what you’re seeing, then either (a) you’re mistaken, (b) the person you’re observing doesn’t know what he’s doing, or (c) you’ve found someone who, for some reason, really loves his door. That might be fascinating but it wouldn’t be a religious thing.

Sincerely yours,

Rabbi Jack Abramowitz, JITC Educational Correspondent

Educational Correspondent
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