Menachot

in the handbreadth nearest to the street, the further it is from the house the better, he therefore teaches us [that it is not so]. Rab Judah further said in the name of Samuel, If one wrote it on two sheets,1 it is invalid. An objection was raised: It was taught: If one wrote it on two sheets and fixed it on the two door-posts, it is invalid. It follows, however, that if it was placed on one doorpost it is valid!2 — [The Baraitha] meant that it could be placed on two door-posts.3 Rab Judah further said in the name of Samuel, In the law of mezuzah one must be guided by the conclusiveness of the hinge. What is meant by ‘the hinge’? — R. Adda said, The sockets [for the pin of the hinge]. In what circumstances?4 — For example, where there is a door between two houses, one house being for men and the other for women.5 The Exilarch once built a house and said to R. Nahman, ‘Fix the mezuzoth for me’; whereupon R. Nahman replied, ‘First put the door[-posts] in their places’. 6 Rab Judah said in the name of Rab, If one fixed it in the manner of a bolt,7 it is invalid. But this cannot be, for when R. Isaac b. Joseph came [from Palestine] he reported that all the mezuzoth in Rabbi's house were fixed in the manner of a bolt, and also that the door through which Rabbi used to enter the House of Study had no mezuzah! — This is no contradiction, for in the one case it was attached horizontally,8 in the other it was bent at a right angle.9 But this10 too cannot be, for the door through which R. Huna used to enter the House of Study had a mezuzah! — That [door] was used more frequently [than the others]. And Rab Judah has said in the name of Rab that in the law of mezuzah one must decide upon the [door] most frequently used.11 R. Zera said in the name of R. Mattena who said it in the name of Samuel, The proper performance of the precept is to fix it at the beginning of the upper third of the door-post. But R. Huna said, It must be raised one handbreadth from the ground and it must be one handbreadth away from the lintel, otherwise the whole of the door-post is valid for the mezuzah. An objection was raised: It must be raised one handbreadth from the ground and it must be one handbreadth away from the lintel, otherwise the whole of the door-post is valid for the mezuzah. So R. Judah. R. Jose says, It is written, And thou shalt bind them,12 and And thou shalt write them:13 as the binding [of the tefillin] is high up,14 so the writing must be placed high up.15 Now according to R. Huna this is well, for he agrees with R. Judah; but with whom does Samuel agree? Neither with R. Judah nor with R. Jose! — R. Huna the son of R. Nathan answered, Indeed he agrees with R. Jose, door-posts since there were separate sheets; thus it is in accordance with Rab Judah. communicates between two houses, whilst each house has its own door leading into the street, it is difficult to establish which house leads into the other, and on which door-post of this door is the mezuzah to be fixed. We are therefore taught the following test: that side of the door where the sockets for the door-pin are placed is considered to be the inside. Accordingly the mezuzah must be affixed to the right door-post as one enters that house on the inside of which the sockets are found. In this case it is valid. used.