Q: Is an elevator obligated in a mezuzah? On the one hand, in most buildings there are no mezuzot at elevator entrances; on the other hand, it is difficult to understand why elevator entrances should not be obligated in a mezuzah like all other entrances?
A: Many halakhic opinions have been stated on this question. I will present the different approaches and conclude with what appears to be the practical halakha.
Those Who Exempt
Some poskim (Jewish law authorities) say that the entrance of an elevator is exempt from a mezuzah, since the elevator goes up and down and is therefore considered a temporary place. In Tractate Sukkah (8b) we learned that a temporary gatehouse is exempt from a mezuzah, and similarly, we learned (Rambam, Hilkhot Mezuzah 6:9) that a ship is exempt because dwelling in it is temporary. So wrote Rabbi Chaim David HaLevi (Mayim Chayim 3:30), explaining that the elevator moves like a vehicle, and therefore, is not considered a house, and is exempt.
Not only is the elevator entrance exempt, but also the doorway through which one exits the elevator on each floor is exempt, because when the elevator is not on that floor, there is nothing on the elevator side but empty space, and therefore, the doorway loses its status as an entrance.
This is explained at length in Responsa Betzel HaChokhmah (3:80-84). So ruled the Rishon LeTzion Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (Halikhot Olam vol. 8, mezuzah 33), and similarly it was reported in the name of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Mesorat Moshe 3:258). Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Minchat Shlomo 2:97:23) also wrote this, adding that the elevator doorway is not considered a doorway since it constantly changes. However, since this is the normal way of entering a floor, he wrote that due to doubt, it is good to affix a mezuzah on the right side of the exit from the elevator to the floor, without a blessing.
Those Who Obligate the Elevator Itself
According to Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss (Minchat Yitzchak 4:93), the elevator car itself is obligated in a mezuzah, even if it has less than four amot, since it serves as a gatehouse to the apartments in the building. However, due to doubt that it may be too temporary, it should be affixed without a blessing. It should be affixed inside the elevator itself, on the right side of the entrance, and not at the entrances on each floor, since when the elevator is not there, there is no doorway. According to this view, one mezuzah suffices for all floors.
Those Who Obligate the Entrances
Others say that although the elevator car itself is exempt, since it resembles a moving vehicle (which is exempt), nevertheless on each floor, on the right side of the entrance from the elevator to the floor, a mezuzah must be affixed.
So wrote Rabbi Yeshaya Blau (Chovat HaDar 5:11), Rabbi Yisrael Yaakov Fischer (Even Yisrael 9:100), Rabbi Nissim Karelitz (Chut Shani, mezuzah 286:20), and Rabbi Zilberstein (Chashukei Chemed, Bava Metzia 101b). It appears that according to the straightforward reading, one should affix it with a blessing. In Chovat HaDar it is stated explicitly: if the room entered from the elevator is four by four amot, affix with a blessing; if not, without a blessing.
Rabbi Yitzchak Drazi (Shevut Yitzchak 16:2-4) related that Rabbi Elyashiv was asked about this. Initially he ruled to affix with a blessing, but when it was pointed out that there are opinions that exempt, he agreed that it should be affixed without a blessing, and ideally one should first affix a mezuzah with a blessing in a place that is certainly obligated, and immediately afterward affix the mezuzah at the elevator entrance.
Rabbi Natan Gestetner (Lehorot Natan 3:72-73) wrote that if the area one exits into has four by four amot, one should affix with a blessing, and additionally, due to doubt, one should affix also on the right side of the elevator itself, like the opinion of Minchat Yitzchak.
The Entrance Floor According to Those Who Obligate
Even on the entrance floor, a mezuzah should be affixed. However, unlike other floors where it is affixed on the right side when exiting the elevator, on the entrance floor it is affixed on the right side when entering the elevator, since this is the way to enter the apartments. This area is considered like a shaft or small chamber through which one ascends, which requires a mezuzah if it has a doorway (Menachot 34a; Shulchan Arukh YD 286:19). So wrote Chovat HaDar, Shevut Yitzchak, and Birur Halakha. Some say it should be on the right side when entering from the elevator to the ground floor (Lehorot Natan 3:73).
There are those who say not to affix a mezuzah there at all, unless there is a storage area on the entrance floor (Chut Shani).
Why Many Were Lenient
Even though it appears that one is obligated to affix a mezuzah at elevator entrances, and especially since this has become the accepted way of entering stairwells and floors, and the Torah commanded to affix a mezuzah at the entrance of houses and entryways, in practice, very many have the custom not to affix a mezuzah at elevator entrances, and the question arises why.
Perhaps because initially, about 50 years ago, the elevator was a remarkable innovation, and was perceived in people’s eyes as a kind of vehicle, to which it is not applicable to affix a mezuzah at its entrances. And since this was the practice at the outset, many continued their custom even when the elevator became a fixed means through which one enters entryways and apartments.
A Place Smaller than Four by Four Amot
Perhaps they did not practice affixing mezuzot at elevator entrances because often the elevators, stairwells, and entryways were smaller than the measure of four by four amot, and as is known, a room that does not have this measure is exempt from a mezuzah, as it is stated: “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house" (Deuteronomy 6:9), and a place smaller than this is not considered a house (Sukkah 3a; Shulchan Arukh YD 286:13). For the precise measure, four amot are 1.82 meters.
When there is in a room an area of four-by-four amot that is not in a square shape, for example if its length is eight amot and its width is two amot, some say it is obligated in a mezuzah, for the main point is that there be an area of four-by-four amot, meaning sixteen square amot (Rambam; Riaz). And some say that if its width is not four amot, it is not fit for dwelling and is exempt from a mezuzah (Rosh; Tur; Rabbeinu Yerucham). In practice, since there is a dispute, one should affix a mezuzah there without a blessing (Shach 286:23).
An Entryway Smaller than Four by Four Amot
According to Rabbi Daniel of Hrodna, author of Chamudei Daniel (cited in Pitchei Teshuvah 286:11), a small room less than four by four amot that is not intended for dwelling, such as an entrance lobby or a storage room, since it fulfills its function and is included within the system of the rooms of the house - there is reason to obligate it in a mezuzah, but due to doubt, he ruled that one should affix a mezuzah there without a blessing.
Many accepted the chiddush (novel) ruling of the Chamudei Daniel (Ikkarei HaDa"t 31:3; Maharam Shick 1:71; Ben Ish Chai, Ki Tavo 2:19, and others). And the Chida (Yosef Ometz 15) regarding a gatehouse even wrote to recite a blessing. On the other hand, there are those who did not accept his chiddush, and in their opinion, any place that does not have four by four amot is exempt from a mezuzah (Rashak in Kinat Sofrim 118; Mikdash Me’at 286:39). And so also appears from the Talmudic discussion of the subject and the Rishonim, for although they were precise in defining the smallest room size, they did not specify this important law.
In practice, it appears that in an entrance lobby it is proper to take into account the opinion of the Chamudei Daniel and to affix a mezuzah without a blessing, but one who is lenient has upon whom to rely.
At First, the Elevators and Stairwells Were Small
Returning to the elevator: initially, most elevators were smaller than four by four amot, and also the place to which one exited from the elevators in many buildings was smaller than four by four amot. And although according to the Chamudei Daniel one should have affixed mezuzot there, since his opinion is not universally accepted, and in addition there were those who exempted elevators because they appear to them like vehicles, they did not practice affixing mezuzot at elevator entrances. And since this became the habit, they continued so even when elevators became larger and the lobbies in the stairwells were larger than four by four amot.
Practical Halakha
Even though one who is lenient and does not affix mezuzot at elevator entrances has upon whom to rely, it is proper to act in accordance with those who obligate and to affix a mezuzah at elevator entrances (and not in the elevator itself), because their reasoning appears sound.
When the entrance is to a space of four-by-four amot, one who affixes with a blessing is not considered to have erred. And one who wishes to take into account the opinion of those who exempt, should affix without a blessing.
On the other floors, when one exits the elevator and enters a lobby that has an area of four-by-four amot, one should affix a mezuzah on the right side of the doorway when exiting the elevator to the floor. Likewise, if initially the place is smaller than four amot, but further on it expands to an area that has four by four amot, even then one should affix a mezuzah, and one who recites a blessing is not considered to have erred.
And when the elevator space does not have four by four amot, and likewise, when the lobby into which one exits the elevator does not have four by four amot, one should affix a mezuzah without a blessing. And one who wishes to be lenient and not affix, may do so.
This article appears in the ‘Besheva’ newspaper and was translated from Hebrew.
