I noticed this object nailed inside our front doorway when we first moved in. I soon forgot it as we don’t often use that door. It caught my eye again this past weekend, so I decided to query the collective conciousness.

Eight minutes later I had my answer:

It’s a Mezuzah, a Jewish house blessing and sign of devotion to God. Mezuzot contain small parchments inscribed with two sections from the Torah’s Book of Deuteronomy (6:4-9 and 11:13-21).

The symbol at the top of the object is the letter Shin, which stands for “Shaddai,” one of the Hebrew names of God. The letter Shin was also the inspiration for Spock’s Vulcan salute on the original Star Trek.

Thanks again AskMeFi.
Live long and prosper. ;)

An interesting aside:

This picture is now my most viewed image on Flickr with over 1600 views.