Does a doorway with only one doorpost need a mezuzah?

Does a doorway with only one doorpost need a mezuzah?

Question:

Our new home was designed in a style called “open plan.” In plain terms, this means that the living areas sort of flow into one another without a lot of walls dividing them. For example, as you walk in my front door, the living room opens on your right. There is a doorpost on the right side with a lintel stretching from it to a continuous wall on the left. At the end of the living room you turn right again, but this time the sole doorpost is on the left, with a lintel stretching to a right wall that just curves. Can you blame me for being a little confused about whether I need mezuzot at all!

Answer:

The Sages debate whether the Torah’s use of the plural “doorposts” indicates that a doorway with only one post does not require a mezuzah.  In practice, if there is a post on the right side, we affix a mezuzah, without a berachah.[1] Here are some other typical cases of single doorposts which are topped by lintels:

If a doorway has one doorpost on the right side of the person entering the room, and on its left, the wall continues without a break, a mezuzah should be affixed on the right.[2] This is true even if that doorpost is nothing more than the end of a wall.[3][A]

If there is a doorpost on the right, but no wall continuing on the left, no mezuzah is necessary.[4]

If the sole doorpost is on the left, and the continuing wall is on the right, no mezuzah is necessary.[B]

However, if the right wall continues less than three tefachim of the left wall, they are deemed to be in alignment enough to require a mezuzah on the right post. Even so, no berachah is recited. [5][C]

[1] Shach Y.D. 287:1.

[2] Aruch HaShulchan  247:8;  Shevet HaLevi 5:160;  Agur B’ohalecha )20:8( cites Maharsham )4:111(, who rules that if there is no door, one may exempt this opening in a case of need.

[3] Agur B’ohalecha )20:10 and 23:5( rules that one may exempt this opening in a case of need.

[4] Aruch HaShulchan 287:8; Shevet HaLevi 5:160; Agur B’ohalecha 20:8.

[5] Da’as Kedoshim cited in Chovas HaDar 7 and Mezuzot Beitecha 287:1.

Sketches

Sketches
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