"HaModia" Magazine, September 10, 2004
THE STORY BEHIND THE WORLD BIGGEST MEZUZA
By Benzion Sklar
"World's Largest Mezuza!" stated recent headline in a Hamodia.
A short announcement followed declaring that the Yerushalayim-based Judaica artist and sofer-STaM Avraham Hersh Borshevsky had successfully created the largest mezuza ever written. It measures 37 by 30 inches (94 by 76 cm) and was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as an all-time record.
What drove Avraham Borshevsky to this incredible achievement?
***
Why do artists always work in roof garrets? I wondered as, a few months ago, I clambered exhaustedly up to the fifth story of an old building on King George Street, Jerusalem, where Borshevsky works. Only when I was pressing on Borshevsky's doorbell did I notice a tiny elevator to my right, which I could have used.
Borshevsky led me down a long, art-lined passage into his studio, which is aptly named, "Ot Hazahay." Sunlight streaming in from the east lit up the place with a golden radiance, casting its glow on a mass of brushes, bookshelves stuffed with art books, paintings and prints, and all the paraphernalia that go into making Borshevsky one of the most sought-after Judaica artists worldwide. Although he is one of the world's top sofrim, he practices safrus more out of love than as a vocation.
A couch had somehow been squeezed into the room, and I took a seat while Borshevsky told me about his spiritual and artistic odyssey.
From Art School to Yeshiva
Borshevsky was born in Korosten, Ukraine, near Berdichev, one of the cradles of Chassidus. To this day, even Ukrainian gentiles come regularly to pray at the kever of Ray Yisrael Dov Ber of Velednick, which is situated in the area.
By the time Borshevsky was born, four generations had passed Since the 5687/1917 Bolshevik Revolution. His great-grandparents had been shomrei mitzvos and his grandparents traditional, but by the time Borshevsky made his appearance, things had sunk to such a spiritual low that he was not even given a bris.
After studying in art school Borshevsky continued his education in the Academy of Architecture in Leningrad. Soon afterward he created an explosion in his home when he announced that he was giving up his studies.
Feeling that he knew nothing about Yiddishkeit, Borshevsky had wandered into the Leningrad Shul. This was at the end of the '80s, before the glasnost era, and it took a little time before the local Yidden there were convinced that he wasn't a spy, but before long he was initiated in the shill's circle of secret shiurim, and after several months he finally had his long-delayed bris. When he abruptly announced to his shocked parents that he was leaving his art studies and entering a yeshiva, they protested that he was throwing away every prospect of ever making a decent living. Time would prove them wrong.
In 5750/1990 his family moved to Eretz Yisrael, where he continued his Torah studies in Shvut Ami, a yeshiva specially created for Russian baalei teshuva.
By 5754/1994 Borshevsky had become an accredited sofer with a kesav that was among the most beautiful in the world, but the endless repetition of identical letters frustrated his creative energies. So he began creating illuminated kesuvos and Judaica artwork, and since then his works have found their way to homes, shuts and collectors worldwide.
I Will Glorify Him
From the very start Borshevsky was determined that his artwork would not be a mere moneymaking effort, or simply art for art's sake.
"I want people to ornament their homes withmy calligraphic art," he insists, "in fulfillment of the Gemara's statement, Anveihu be-mitzvos, 'Make beauty for Hashem in mitzvos"' (Shabbos 133).
"Calligraphy symbolizes the Jews' oneness and unity," he declares. "Look at the Hebrew letters. Each one has a life of its own, while an inner relationship bonds them all together. Letters are the means by which to discover the Torah's essence. None of my works function through aesthetics alone. The Jewish letter and word is at the heart of every one of them."
Borshevsky's work is so much a blending of art and the spiritual that the Vaad Mishmeres Stam has commissioned him to write a booklet explaining the concept of the mezuza to non-committed Russian Jews.
One of the highlights of Borshevsky's career was his recent Moscow exhibition, which was the first Jewish art exhibition since the Bolshevik takeover. Titled "Revival of the Jewish Calligraphic Art," it was visited by hundreds of cultured Russian Jews who were totally unaware that traditional Jewish art exists. For many of them, this was a first introduction to Torah-true Judaism. Among the dozens of public figures who arrived to enjoy the exhibition was Harav A. S. Shayevich, the Chief Rabbi of Russia.
Recently, 5,000 calendars based on his work were printed for Russian Jewry.
The World-Record Mezuza
It was not long before Borshevsky began thinking about how to publicize Yiddishkeit on an even larger scale. Why not utilize the huge existing global media for our own ends? But how?
"This is how I thought of writing a record-size mezuza," Borshevsky told me last week. "What could publicize the idea of mezuza better than that? I knew that this would make a kiddush Hashem and teach Jews worldwide about themselves and their religion. "My goal was to bring honor and prestige to Klal Yisrael, and this goal has indeed been realized. Besides being listed in the Guinness Book of Records, the story of my mezuza has been replied worldwide."
Is It Kosher?
People were concerned that Borshevsky's giant mezuza might not fit all halachic specifications. Borshevsky investigated this issue before beginning his venture, and letters like the following from the prestigious "Machon Pe'er" affirm that it is indeed kosher lechatchila:
Concerning the large mezuza written on parchment, which was accepted by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest mezuza:
I would like to note that the topic has been clarified in the framework of the Professional Beis Din Concerning STA"M (Sifrei Torah, Tefillin. and Mezuzos) of Machon Pe'er, under the leadership of Harav Hagaon Rav Mordechai Klein, shlita.
According to Jewish law there is no problem with writing a mezuza of any size, and it is permitted leclatchila to write extremely large mezuzos.
Of course, one can affix such a mezuza only a very high doorpost, because a mezuza must be affixed at the upper third of the doorway, leaving at least 8 to 9.6 cm (3.15-3.78 inches) from the top.
Sincerely yours, Yisrael Yud
Head of Machon Pe'er, Bnei Brak.
But what about the ethical angle?
"Is it ethically correct to use a mezuza as a public-relations tool?" I asked Harav Yisrael Yud.
"Aderaba," he insisted. "On the contrary — this mezuza has come at the right time, because we are far behind when it comes to public relations. Two surveys (made in 1993 and 2002) showed that 95 percent of Israeli Jews put mezuzos on their doors, but they know almost nothing about its meaning. Who explains the meaning of Shema Yisrael to secular Israeli kids?"
"I spoke to Avraham Borshevsky," Ray Yud continued, "and when he told me of his background and goals I was convinced of his sincere yearning to do something for Klal Yisrael. He told me that his aim was to make Russians in particular more interested in mezuzos.
"For most of them, the mezuza is no different from a printed Birkas Habayis. He wanted to turn the mezuza into a subject of conversation and show the world that Am Yisrael chai — the Jewish nation is alive and creative. He wanted to make a kiddush Hashem in a massive way.
"I saw with whom I was dealing," he concluded. "Someone with a tremendous heart and highly knowledgeable in the halachos and concepts of STA"M.
“But what about the kashrus of the mezuza?" I asked.
"I checked the proportions of his mezuza compared to normal-sized mezuzos," Ray Yud replied. "We checked every letter and every tag [crown on a letter]. Every halacha was scrupu-lously observed. All the sheimos were sanctified. Borshevsky's writing is of the standard of the most mehudar in the world."
"But still," I persisted, "wasn't this project based on using the mezuza as a gimmick?"
"We are trying to spread Hashem's sovereignty in the world," Ray Yud pointed out. “This mezuza is a literal fulfillment of the verse, 'All the nations of the world shall see that the Name of Hashem is upon you.' One could argue that with modem technology it is an obligation to put a mezuza in something like the Guinness Book of World Records. The mezuza is not something to hide inside one's home but, on the contrary, to use as a vehicle lekadesh Shem Shamayim, to sanctify Hashem's Name."
"Do you have any ideas for how this trend could be continued?" I asked him.
“There are people with vision," he replied, "and there is a chance that other things will follow."
The challenge has indeed been taken up, but that is another story.
Borshevsky's Telshe Connection
"Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again" (Kohelles 11).
During World War II, hundreds of thou-sands of panicking Russians fled cast before the advancing German army. Among them was Borshevsky's family, who found themselves in faraway Uzbekistan. They befriended two yeshiva refugees who had fled from Telshe, and they helped these bachurim survive.
Fifty years later a letter arrived in the Jerusalem mailbox of Avraham Borshevsky's grandfather. The two bachurim his family had befriended so long ago were none other than Harav Chaim Stein and Harav Meir Zelig Mann, both of whom dedicated the rest of their lives to building Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland, a mission to which they have remained faithful to this day.
Rav Stein met the Borshevsky family in Eretz Yisrael and told them that he remembered well the sukka put up by their great-grandfather so many years ago. He also told them that he and Rav Meir Zelig thought of no better way to express their gratitude than to daven that at least one member of that generous family should return to the heritage of his forefathers. As we now know, their prayers bore fruit.
24 ELUL, 5764 SEPTEMBER 10, 2004
HAMODIA MAGAZINE