In every home there is a lock on the door, and often not even one – this is to ensure that the house is safe and calm. There is also a peephole, intercom or video camera – to know who comes into the house. In Jewish homes, a mezuzah hangs on the door – and now we know what it is for. In many Jewish households at the entrance, you can also find “birkat ha bayt” – “blessing of the home.”
“Birkat ha bayt” is not a commandment, like a mezuzah, but a custom. Therefore, they can be very different. Each family chooses to their taste. This is not a prayer, but rather good wishes – what its inhabitants wish for themselves and their home. There are blessings composed of passages of the Torah, there are in verses, and some even turned into songs. What is said in “birkat a bayt”? Of course, only the best!