2 - 33B - the Mezuzah should be placed on the outermost Tefach of the doorway facing the public. Most of our homes in Israel, have a stone entrance way ( Chalall ), which is a Tzurat Hapetach, and placed into the stone entrance way we have our door with it's door frame( aluminum ) recessed into it , towards the inner part of our house. Most of us place our Mezuzot on the door frame of the door, the aluminum part, which is about 2 Tefachim inside from the stone entrance way. ( lets face it, it is much easier to attach it to the door frame that to stone ). Is this the proper place / or should we ideally have our Mezuzot in the stone part of the entrance way, closer to the public ??
Thank You, for your help in advance,
Shmuel Katz
You are assuming that the stone entranceway to which the doorframe is attached is considered to be part of the doorway, and that it is appropriate to hang the Mezuzah there. Let us first discuss this point.
(a) Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach has been quoted (by Rav Stern, in his pictorial Hilchos Mezuzah book) as saying that the Mezuzah should not be placed in the stone entranceway, but on the doorframe itself. The Sefer "Chovas ha'Dar" cites Rav Jungreis as saying that as well. Why should they not consider the stone entranceway to be part of the doorway? After all, when one exits the house, he passes between the walls of the stone entranceway, so they would seem to be the "Mezuzos ha'Bayis," i.e. part of the "doorway."
One way of looking at this might be that the since a person the doorframe itself is made of another material from the stone, they are considered two different entities.
This still does not explain why the stone is itself not a valid doorway, to which a Mezuzah can be affixed. Let us simply ignore the doorframe, and hang the Mezuzah in the stone entranceway! Rav Chayim Kanievsky, though, defends this opinion by citing a Ritva (see Ritva Eruvin 11a, Kidushin 32b), who writes that a doorway that does not have a doorframe is not considered a doorway with regard to Mezuzah.
However, the opinion of the Ritva is not cited by the Poskim.
(b) Another reason why it might be suggested that the Mezuzah must be placed on the frame, is based on another form of logic. Indeed, the doorframe and the stone entranceway are considered a single entity. However, the space through which a person must pass on his way out of the house, is the narrower space which is bounded by the doorframe. The rest of the entranceway is "blocked" for exit. Perhaps the Mezuzah must be within a Tefach of that open gateway. Therefore, if the walls of the stone entranceway are set back from (i.e. broader than) the doorframe by more than a Tefach on each side, the Mezuzah placed there will not be within a Tefach of the doorway.
However, the Acharonim point out that none of the reasons given by the Rishonim for having the Mezuzah within a Tefach of the doorway would apply in this case, since the Mezuzah is still affixed to the side of the doorway. Therefore, it should be permitted to place the Mezuzah on the stone entranceway even if it is much wider than the actual doorway itself. Proofs to this ruling have been brought from the Derech ha'Chayim and others.
If so, your conclusion seems to be correct.
M. Kornfeld, based on discussions with Rabbi Eliyahu Feldman