Emergency Door

Question:

Our apartment building has an emergency door at the end of the hall. I started to ask all the other families on the floor to contribute towards a mezuzah, but my next-door neighbor told me that an emergency door is exempt. Is that true?

Answer:

It is exempt. Even though a door that is used infrequently is still obligated, an emergency door is exempt because it is not designed to be a doorway.^[1] Some authorities also exempt it because it is designed for exit and not for entrance.^[2]^[A]

[1] Rema Y.D. 286:18; Kuntres HaMezuzah 286:181 writes that even if it is used for emergency entrance, it is still exempt; Agur B’ohalecha 24:9:14; Sha’arei HaMezuzah 5:11:22, citing R. Moshe Feinstein in Ohalei Yeshurun 5.

[2] Minchas Shlomo (2nd Ed. 2-3, 100:5), cited in Sha’arei HaMezuzah 5:11:22.

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