Selected halachos from the “One Minute Halacha” project by HaRav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D’asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights
THE RULE OF THE HOLY IPAD
S’farim (books of Torah learning) are considered holy and must be treated with utmost respect. We are cautioned not to place anything on top of a seifer (indeed s’farim themselves have a hierarchy of holiness, wherein a Chumash is placed on the top of the pile).
A person is learning from a tablet or a phone. Does the device attain the status of a seifer, so that if s’farim are lying around, the machine may be placed on top?
There is indeed leniency to rest a computer/phone/tablet on a seifer at the time it is being used for learning. However, if the learner takes a break or is temporarily distracted from the screen, the computer should be moved right away, because this leniency only applies when the device is actually being used for learning in the moment. There are some, though, who are machmir (stringent) and out of respect for the seifer always rest the device alongside it.
“ISN’T IT ENOUGH TO HAVE A MEZUZAH ON MY FRONT DOOR?”
It’s a common misconception that it is sufficient to have a mezuzah on the front door of the house, or perhaps that this mezuzah is somehow more important than the mezuzos inside the house. In fact, the halacha is that all doorways of a house that lead to rooms occupied by people or used for storage require a mezuzah.
A bathroom is an exception, since it’s not a diras kavod (respectable living quarters). The “leniency” of a single-mezuzah home harks back to a time of other modes of living, and certainly does not apply to modern buildings (with indoor plumbing, yet).
The outside door of a home is actually sometimes less likely to need a mezuzah min HaTorah (according to the Written Law), since it often leads into a foyer—which is considered merely a beis shaar (an entranceway) into the home, and not an area of residence. According to some poskim, a beis shaar needs a mezuzah only mi’d’rabbanan (by Rabbinic decree).
The foyer is often smaller than the requisite dimensions for a mezuzah, according to most poskim. A room needs to be at least four by four amos (arm lengths, i.e. approximately six feet in length and width) to require a mezuzah.
Any small room that is the same overall size as a room of four by four amos (an area of about thirty-six square feet), even with different dimensions, doesn’t require a mezuzah, according to some opinions; therefore, when affixing a mezuzah, no bracha may be recited. Some maintain that a beis shaar requires a mezuzah even if it is less than the requisite dimensions, but likewise, no bracha is recited. (The only pass-through that all agree does not require a mezuzah, is an area less than four by four t’fachim—approximately one square foot.) Accordingly, when homeowners recite the bracha on affixing mezuzos, they should choose the mezuzah of a larger room— ideally one with an actual door—upon which to make the bracha.
A room with multiple entrances requires a mezuzah on each doorway, and each is a mitzvah onto itself. A house where even one room is occupied requires a mezuzah—on the doorway(s) of the room being resided in, as well as all doorways of pass-through rooms on the way in and out.
*“One Minute Halacha” is a succinct daily presentation on practical Halacha in video, audio, and text formats, by HaRav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D’asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights. The daily One Minute Halacha can be accessed by phone at 718.989.9599, by email, halacha2go@gmail.com, or by WhatsApp 347.456.5665. More halacha discussion, with notes and sources, can be found at http://halacha2go.com