Q&A: Several Questions About the Location for Affixing a Mezuzah
Several Questions About the Location for Affixing a Mezuzah
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I recently moved into a rented apartment, and I have several doubts about where the mezuzot should be placed:
- In your opinion, are elevator entrances required to have a mezuzah?
- Is a corridor required to have a mezuzah, and if so, on which side? And does its area make a difference?
- Attached is a schematic drawing of the apartment I recently moved into. Also attached is a short video of the apartment’s doorways. My question is where the mezuzot should be affixed on the two kitchen passageways and on the passageway to the covered balcony. In addition, I’m not sure whether the back door requires a mezuzah because of its unusual structure and the wall in which it is set (shown at the end of the video). There is also a red point in the drawing where I am unsure whether a mezuzah is required (shown at the beginning of the video).
- Is a person required to affix all the mezuzot before moving into the apartment, or is it permissible to get settled in the apartment for up to 30 days before affixing all of them?
Best regards,
Answer
- There are several opinions about this; see here: http://din.org.il/2013/07/08/%D7%94%D7%90%D7%9D-%D7%A6%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9A-%D7%9C%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%9E%D7%96%D7%95%D7%96%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%AA/ and by simple reasoning it seems to me that there is no need to install one.
- I didn’t fully understand the question. Where does one enter the corridor from? I understand that it is from outside and not from some adjoining room. If so, it has the status of an entrance chamber, which requires a mezuzah. That is if the area is four by four cubits. If there is no door there, the custom is to put one up without a blessing.
- At the two kitchen openings there is no door, so one should put up a mezuzah without a blessing there (of course, if one puts it up together with the other mezuzot, there is no problem). In my estimation, the main use is toward the living room, so it should be on the right when entering from the kitchen into the living room. But between the kitchen and the corridor, put it on the right when entering the kitchen. At the exit to the covered balcony, put it on the right when entering the room. At the red point, one does not put one up, because there is no doorway form. As for the back door, from what I saw in the video there is no doorway form there (but in the drawing it seems there is).
- One should not delay affixing the mezuzah. True, there is a dispute as to whether the obligation begins from the time one lives there or from the time one brings in one’s belongings. However, I have heard of those who at first put a mezuzah on the main entrance and only afterward add the others, though I do not know the reason for this.
Discussion on Answer
Also, a question about affixing a mezuzah in the passageway between the stairwell and the building lobby. Seemingly, in a regular case, from the perspective of a resident living on floors 1 through 7, the mezuzah should be placed on the right side when entering from the lobby into the stairwell. But in my case, my apartment is on the ground floor, so from my perspective it should be placed on the right when entering from the stairwell into the building lobby (because that is considered as though it were my floor, and it’s possible that I would use the stairwell from the parking garage in order to go up to my floor = ground level). So it comes out that from the perspective of most residents it should be placed on one side, but from my perspective it should be placed on the other side. Where should it be affixed in such a case?
At the entrance to the living room.
I didn’t understand the second question. I didn’t understand why on the upper floors it should be placed on the right when entering, and what is different in your case.
As I understand it, a mezuzah should be placed at the entrance to a stairwell so that the direction of movement is from outside to inside, that is, on the right of the entrance from the building lobby into the stairwell, and on the right of the entrance from the stairwell on the residential floor into that floor’s lobby. The problem is that in my case the residential floor is the building lobby floor (= ground floor), so theoretically, if there were no floors above me, I would need to place the mezuzah on the right of the entrance from the stairwell into the building lobby (because one can go up from floor minus one, where the parking garage is, to the ground floor).
I still don’t understand.
Indeed, a mezuzah should always be placed on the right of the entrance to the residential area. Between a stairwell and a lobby, it seems to me by simple reasoning that the lobby should be treated as the primary area (like an entrance chamber, because stairs are mainly for passage and not for dwelling).
So what is the question? Why does it matter whether there were floors above you or not?
The point is that there are two types of lobby: the main building lobby, and the lobby of a residential floor. On which side should the mezuzah be placed in each type (the passageway between the main lobby and the stairwell, and between a floor lobby and the stairwell)?
I do not see a difference. In my opinion, the lobby is the primary use compared to the stairwell, and therefore it goes on the right when entering the lobby.
Would that also apply on floor minus 1 (the underground parking garage)—that the mezuzah should be placed on the right when entering from the stairwell into the floor lobby?
By the way, I got the distinction between the main lobby and a floor lobby from the responsum at this link:
There is a reasoning that a stairwell leading into a lobby is an entrance chamber to an entrance chamber. Therefore, perhaps in such a case the outer one would be considered more primary. Even so, it still seems to me as I wrote, that if one puts up a mezuzah, the lobby is the primary area in all cases. And the same applies to the parking area.
Regarding the mezuzah at the exit to the balcony, you wrote to place it on the right when entering the room. Which room did you mean?