Jewish Memorial Leeuwarden

The memorial has been placed in front of the former Jewish Dusnus-school.

In front of the school a column (Mezoeza) has been built up out of seventeen rings and a Wailing-Wall.

The meaning of the Mezoeza:
This is a metal cylinder, which is placed on the right hand doorpost by the rabbi of the Jewish community in the presence of ten grown up Jewish men while reciting a quote from the Tora. The house became only then a Jewish house when this Mezoeza was attached to the doorpost.
In the cylinder is a piece of vellum with the credo of the Jewish people. On the backside of this piece of parchment is Gods name Sjaddai. A Mezoeza contains commandments and prayer, it is also a passport like in the case of children, which did not have a home any more but were carrying a Mezoeza on a chord around their neck, they could enter Israel without any problems.

The front of the Monument "the Mezoeza" contains fragments of the last synagogue counsel meeting of 8 December, 1942, during Hanukkah.
Below that, the Star of David.
The backside of the column contains the names of the streets where the Jewish co-citizens once resided that were carried away.

The text on the plaque can be translated as follows:
Hear Israel the Eternal is our God
the Eternal is one
you have to love the Eternal, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul
and with everything you are capable of.
Take those words that I gave you today
as a commandment to your heart.
You must repeat them continuously to your children
time and again and talk about them
when you are at home
and when you are under way
and when go to sleep
and when you wake up
you must bind them onto your hand as a sign
and as a token of remembrance
between your eyes
and write them down on the posts of your house
and at your gates

From the Tora book of Dewariem.
(Deuteronomy: 4 – 9).

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Source

• Text: Dennis de Munck
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze