No Mezuzah at McDonald's

I was quite surprised when I first learnt that the franchise owner of McDonald's chain in Israel was Omri Padan. The guy was known as an extreme anti-religious, left-oriented political activist. That could theoretically mean that some 25%-30% of potential customers would not go to McDonald's eateries.

the very first McD  , opened at Ayalon Mall ,Ramat-Gan in 1993

 McD's in my hometown -on  ground floor of  building 

But what do I know? The triangle of business, religion, politics is indeed a very tricky one, and yet it seems Padan (now Dr Padan) has successfully played his cards. McDonald's Israel is an empire.

Anyway, I like the McDonald's concept (all of it - food, system, social experience).
What I do not like when I happen to be there, is the fact that there's no 'mezuzah' sitting on the entrance doorpost . Almost every house and shop in this country has a 'mezuzah' affixed to its doorpost. It's a tradition, a nice  one, if you ask me.

copper made mezuzah on the local Supermarkets's doorpost

A 'mezuzah' is a case, a holder (usually decorative) containing a piece of parchment with  hand-written biblical verses on it. It's supposed to protect and bless  the house and its people. 

case and scroll 

The case comes in various materials:  plastic, wood, metal, ceramics, silver, porcelain - the two last mentioned being more expensive. Everything goes.

ceramics and metal cases

metal cases (aluminium, bronze, copper)

The most important part, though, is the scroll to be placed within the case. 
It must be hand-calligraphed with verses from Deuteronomy that start with "Hear o Israel, the Lord our God,  the Lord is One".

A genuine scroll is usually not sold at a souvenir shop but at a judaica one, and could be quite expensive.
After a while (several years) it has to be checked for faded or deleted letters, spot or crease;if this is found,  the scroll will be considered faulty and will have to be replaced.

scrolls of different sizes

Sometimes, a 'mezuzah' gets stolen; the thieves are looking for authentic, high quality scrolls. Because of that, there are buildings where the 'mezuzah' is placed on the inner side of the entrance door.(In a house or office there's a 'mezuzah' on every door - except bathroom and toilets).

ceramics - inner room

metal- utility room

wood - balcony

As someone has remarked:"if it can't even protect itself from thieves, it can't protect the house either"   Food for thought. Perhaps it was a faulty mezuzah.