Replying to this when I'm not at work, and can check my siddur...
The service is in the Singer's after all. Dr Sacks says in his commentary:
No formal ceremony for the consecration of a house is mentioned in the early rabbinic literature other than saying Shehecheyanu [...] and the blessing on fixing the mezuzah. The current ceremony is part of long-standing Anglo-Jewish custom. A service for the consecration of a house was compiled by Chief Rabbi Solomon Hirschell; another was compiled by Chief Rabbi Dr Hermann Adler, which is the basis of the present text.
Ah well, something to remember for next time I move house.
Miscellaneous. Eclectic. Random. Perhaps markedly literate, or at least suffering from the compulsion to read any text that presents itself, including cereal boxes.
סדר חנוכת הבית
Date: 2010-02-06 08:56 pm (UTC)The service is in the Singer's after all. Dr Sacks says in his commentary: Ah well, something to remember for next time I move house.