Ask the Rov: Do doorways without doors require a mezuzah with a bracha?

By Rabbi Chaim Hillel Raskin – Rov of Anash in Petach Tikvah

Most Rishonim hold that a doorway is obligated in mezuzah even if it doesn’t have a door. The Rambam, however, exempts such a doorway. As he explains in a famous letter to the scholars of Lunel, the possuk’s wording of uvish’arecha (“on your gates”) denotes that the obligation applies only when there is a “gate.”¹

The halacha in the Shulchan Aruch follows the majority of Rishonim that a doorless entryway is obligated (and uvish’arecha refers to city gates as the Gemara says), though the Rambam’s lenient view is mentioned as well.² Acharonim note that since the lenient view is noted in Shulchan Aruch, no bracha should be said when affixing a mezuzah on such a doorway alone.³

To qualify as a door, it must be at least ten tefachim tall, and block the width of the doorway. It doesn’t make a difference whether the door swings or slides, horizontally or vertically. A curtain can also qualify as a door.⁴ Interestingly, some argue that even the Rambam only requires a door on an entryway from the outside, which isn’t otherwise protected, and not for doorways inside a home, which function normally even without a door, but it remains a safek, and no bracha is recited.⁵

If one places a mezuzah on the doorpost before the door was installed and a door was added later, poskim note that, according to the Rambam’s view, the mezuzah was affixed before the obligation applied, and would involve the halachic issue of ta’aseh v’lo min he’asuy (the mitzva must be “done” and not just come to be). To satisfy the Rambam’s view, the mezuzah should be removed and reaffixed after the door’s installation.⁶

Yet, if the door was there when the mezuzah was affixed, and later the door was removed and reinstalled, the mezuzah remains kosher even according to the Rambam. The door’s removal is considered temporary and doesn’t affect the obligation.⁷

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From The Weekly Farbrengen by Merkaz Anash