31 Days of His Wisdom - Day 24 - Sweet as Honey

source Microsoft Office.com

Proverbs 24 contains one of my favorite passages about wisdom:

¹³ My son, eat honey, for it is good;
    honeycomb drippings are sweet to your taste.
¹⁴ Know that wisdom is similar[ly sweet] to your soul;
    if you find it, then you will have a future,
    what you hope for will not be cut off.

Wisdom is compared to honey in this passage as being sweet to the taste, and if you have found wisdom, you know this is true.  The mezuzah is a daily reminder of this.  

Rabbi Jem blessing the home

The mezuzzahs are put on the doorposts of homes, businesses, and synagogues to remind us of the sweetness of wisdom.  Inside the mezuzzah is the Sh'ma.  You can read more about that prayer HERE

The picture above is of Rabbi Jem saying the Hebrew blessing after applying the mezzuzah to the doorpost of a synagogue member's home.  

When entering or leaving the house, we touch the mezuzzah and bring our fingers to our lips as a reminder that wisdom is sweet as honey.  What a wonderful, tactile reminder of the honey for our souls. 

We are also reminded of this when the Torah scroll is paraded in the synagogue.  We touch the scroll with our siddurs (prayer books) and bring the book to our lips to remind us of the sweetness of His Holy Word.  This is a weekly reminder of how precious wisdom is.

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Quotations are from The Complete Jewish Bible

Each time I read through Proverbs, something different jumps out at me.  This is ADONAI quickening His Word to my heart.  

As I go through this month of studying Proverbs, I hope you'll join me and read the chapter, too.  I'll share what stands out to me for that day.  

I'd love for you to share something He shows you through the day's reading. 
I'll be linking these posts to the 31 Days event at The Nester


This 31 day series will focus on the things I learned from Proverbs, as well as some things from Torah study, and will add in a sprinkling of what I've learned from Judaism. 

I will be posting daily through October 31.  To read the posts, just go to the Labels section on the left, and click on "31 Days of His Wisdom".

My Favorite Word - Sh'ma

"Sh'ma" is my favorite word. It is Hebrew for the word "Hear" and the first word of a very important Jewish prayer. This prayer is both a daily prayer, and one we say weekly in our liturgy on Shabbat (the Sabbath). The prayer is found in Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 6. You can read the entire passage here: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Bible/Deuter6.html

Yeshua (Jesus our Messiah) referred to the Sh'ma in Mark 12:28 - 34. Also, in Luke 10:25 - 37, He expounded on it and explained how love of G-d is exhibited in caring for our neighbors. Following G-d's commandments is loving to God, to ourselves and our neighbors. His laws are loving and protective of us and society.

The Sh'ma is a call to obedience. Hashem is not telling us just to listen, but to "hear". In the Holy Scriptures, to hear is to obey. Yeshua said "If you love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15).

photo from Wikipedia

The Sh'ma is printed and rolled up inside a mezuzah, then placed on the doorpost of our home. As we leave the house and come back in, we touch the mezuzah and then kiss our fingertips. This is a reminder that G-d's Words are like honey to our lips. They are so, so sweet.

Recently, Rabbi Jem and I went to the homes of several of our congregation to affix the mezuzah, and bless their homes.  One little boy touched the mezuzah, kissed his fingertips, and said, "It really is sweet!"  We wholeheartedly agreed.  


What is your favorite word? I'd love to hear about it and why it is so special to you.

I'm linking up to Cindy's blog today: http://ioweitalltohim.blogspot.com