More Discussions for this daf
1. Placement of the Mezuzah (question 1) 2. Mezuzos on Doorways Used Infrequently 3. Placing a Sefer Torah in a diagonal position
4. Placement of the Mezuzah (question 2) 5. Placement of the Mezuzah (question 3) 6. Placement of the Mezuzah (question 4)
DAF DISCUSSIONS - MENACHOS 33

Dr. Katz asked:

4 - a Marpeset or backyard , which has no way of getting there from the outside. The only way to get there is from the inside of the house, which side do you put the Mezuzah on ? and if you change it to the other side do you make a Bracha ?

Sorry for all the Questions, as I said, I have found this gemarah quite complex.

Thank You, for your help in advance,

Shmuel Katz

The Kollel replies:

(a) Let us first deal with the possibility that a Mezuzah must be affixed to the right as one enters the yard or open Mirpeset. We know from the Gemara (bottom of 33b, about the Ginah and Kitonis) that an entrance to a Ginah does *not* require a Mezuzah. (This is the Halachic conclusion.) If so, it would seem evident that if the doorway is leading from the house to the yard or Mirpeset, no Mezuzah at all should be required.

However, the Rema cites a MAHARIL who rules that one must affix a Mezuzah by the entrance to *a* *Chatzer*. It is different from a Ginah, the Acharonim explain, since it is used the same way as a house.

Nevertheless, it would seem obvious that nowadays, we do not use the yard or Mirpeset the same way as we use the house. People generally use them only to relax in the sun, or hang laundry, but not to "live" in. Therefore we may conclude that if the doorway is considered to be leading *to* the yard or Mirpeset, no Mezuzah at all is required.

(b) Can the doorway be considered to be leading the other way, i.e. from the yard or Mirpeset to the house, if there is no way to enter the yard or Mirpeset without first going through the house?

The BEIS MEIR and CHAZON ISH cite our Gemara (bottom of 33b) which says that one who goes from the Ginah to the Kitonis must place a Mezuzah by the entrance to the Kitonis, as proof that even a closed garden can be considered to be leading "into" the house. (That is, they assume that the garden in this Gemara was a closed one.) They therefore writes that a Mezuzah should be placed on the right side as one enters from the yard or Mirpeset into the house.

However, if one takes a look in the NEMUKEI YOSEF, he will find that when the Nimukei Yosef drew a diagram to explain our Sugya, he put in some *extra* doors - he was careful to add doors *into* the garden and Beis Sha'ar (presumably from Reshus ha'Rabim), and not only *from* them towards the house! If so, it may be concluded that if there is *no* other entrance to the garden other than through the house, no Mezuzah at all is required.

If one wants to be Machmir, he should put the Mezuzah on the right as one enters from the yard or Mirpeset to the house, as mentioned above.

M. Kornfeld, based on discussions with Rabbi Eliyahu Feldman