Definition of "mezuzah" [mezuzah]

• A small piece of parchment inscribed with the biblical passages Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 and marked with the word Shaddai, a name of the Almighty, that is rolled up in a container and affixed by many Jewish households to their door frames in conformity with Jewish law and as a sign of their faith. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Actually, a mezuzah is a daily reminder — and a public declaration — of Jewish identity …"
• "As a matter of interest a mezuzah is a parchment scroll with selected Torah verses placed in a container and affixed to the exterior doorposts of observant Jewish homes."
• "From her father she knew that the box was called a mezuzah and that, inside, was a scroll with a prayer, called the shema."