Twelve Tribes Stainless Steel Car Mezuzah

A banded stainless steel column with a raised shin (שׁ) for Shaddai across the upper section and, below it, a panel of twelve coloured stones set four rows deep, three to a row. Those twelve are the Choshen (חֹשֶׁן, breastplate) worn by the Kohen Gadol, one stone for each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The segmented body is the other half of the design: the steel is cut into offset blocks so the piece catches light from several angles at once, which is what stops something two inches tall from disappearing against a dashboard. Twelve Tribes Stainless Steel Car Mezuzah Specs Use the specs below to confirm material, measurements, mounting and intended use for this Twelve Tribes car mezuzah. Origin: Made in Israel Material: Stainless steel with set coloured crystals Color: Silver with multicoloured Choshen stones Design: Raised shin for Shaddai above twelve Choshen stones in four rows of three Measurements: 2" tall by 0.5" wide / 5.1 cm by 1.3 cm Mounting: Affixes with double-sided mounting tape, included Use: Decorative Jewish travel Judaica for a vehicle interior Packaging: Ships gift-box ready Is a Car Mezuzah a Real Mezuzah? The short answer is no, and it is better to say so than to let a customer assume otherwise. The obligation of mezuzah attaches to a dwelling, and a vehicle is not one. Nothing you fix to a dashboard discharges the duty on your doorposts, and nothing here should be read as replacing it. What it is instead is a travel piece with a long history behind the symbol on it, meant for a space most people occupy more hours a week than they expect. That is a reasonable thing to want, and it is why we sell it as a finished object rather than an empty case. A handwritten kosher klaf (קְלָף, parchment) belongs behind a doorpost, and our kosher mezuzah scroll collection is written and sized for that purpose. If the difference between a case and a scroll is unfamiliar, what is inside a mezuzah covers what a sofer (סוֹפֵר, scribe) actually writes and why a printed imitation is worth nothing halachically. Buy this for the car, and buy real parchment for the house. Twelve Tribes Stainless Steel Car Mezuzah Design The Choshen described in Shemot held twelve stones in four rows of three, each engraved with the name of one of the tribes, worn over the heart of the Kohen Gadol when he entered the Sanctuary. The arrangement here follows that layout exactly, which is why the stones are set in a grid rather than scattered decoratively across the face. Twelve Choshen stones: Four rows of three, following the breastplate layout in Shemot Raised shin for Shaddai: Cut in relief across the upper section Segmented steel body: Offset blocks that catch light from multiple angles Solid stainless steel: Unaffected by heat, humidity or sunlight in a parked car Made in Israel: Produced in Israel rather than generically imported Colour is doing real work on a piece this size. Against a black or grey interior the crystals are the only thing that registers from the driver's seat, and they are what make this the more giftable of our two car pieces. It belongs with our metal mezuzahs and our unique mezuzahs, and at two inches it is one of the smallest things we stock, alongside our small mezuzahs. Mounting a Car Mezuzah in a Vehicle The dashboard, the centre console and the inner face of the A-pillar are the three positions that work. Each keeps the piece in view from the driver's seat without putting it in the way, and the included double-sided tape grips plastic, vinyl and painted trim. Textured or heavily grained dashboards hold better with a wider adhesive, which is what our mezuzah mounting tape and the rest of our mezuzah accessories are for. One practical note: keep it clear of airbag panels and anything marked as a deployment seam. And since a car is not a doorway, the halachic placement rules do not apply here at all. Side of the frame, height and the diagonal tilt govern the mezuzot on your house, and our guide to putting up a mezuzah covers all three for those. Also Available with the Traveler's Prayer The companion piece is the Tefilat HaDerech Stainless Steel Car Mezuzah, which carries the full text of the Traveler's Prayer in raised Hebrew instead of the stone panel. The Choshen version speaks through symbol and colour; the Tefilat HaDerech version speaks through the words themselves. Either makes a natural small gift for a new driver, a graduation or a move, and both sit within our mezuzah gifts and our decorative mezuzahs. Get Mezuzahs for Your Entire Home! Jewish tradition places a mezuzah on nearly every doorway of the home, not only the front door. Bedrooms, the kitchen, a study and the back door all take one, which is why most families build their collection a few doors at a time. Our guide to which rooms need a mezuzah works through which doorways are obligated, and the full range of mezuzot is organised by size, material and colour so a second case is easy to match to the first.