Best Mezuzah Placement: The Case of the Double Front Portal

Best Mezuzah Placement: The Case of the Double Front Portal

A common design for the entrance of a brick or stone house is a tzuras hapesach (an opening formed by two side posts and a lintel, i.e. a doorway) which consists of a brick (or stone) portal that is adjacent to a second doorframe made of wood supporting the front door. There is a machlokes (difference of opinion) among poskim whether in such a situation, the mezuzah should be placed on the outer jamb or the inner one.

Those that argue for the outer (brick) doorframe cite the ruling that the mezuzah should be placed on tefach hasamuch lechutz (the four finger-breadths closest to the outside), so that we encounter the mezuzah right upon entry to the home, and there is no part of the home (even the smallest area) that is not under the mezuzah’s protection.

The opposing view determines the halachah according to the s’vara (halachic argument) that when one doorframe is adjacent to another, the first is nullified by the presence of the second.

So, practically speaking, what should the homeowner do? If the brick portal is indeed canceled out by the inner doorframe, it is no longer considered a real entrance and the mezuzah placement is invalid. Furthermore, if the inner doorframe protrudes a tefach or more beyond the outer brick doorframe, a mezuzah on the outer portal may be deemed he’emik lah tefach (embedded a tefach into the doorpost), which is not kosher.

On the other hand, whereas the idea of tefach hasamuch lechutz is considered good practice, it is not me’akev (restrictive, i.e. halachically binding). Therefore, the preferable placement for the mezuzah in this set-up is on the inner doorframe, if possible. If the inner doorframe is narrower than the outer portal by a tefach or more, the mezuzah must be placed on the inner doorframe.

https://halacha2go.com?number=646

Practical Halacha: One minute a day. By Horav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D'asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights.