Taking a Mezuzah from a Rental Apartment
Question
I rented an apartment, and there was a place where there was no mezuzah. I asked a rabbi, and he told me that one is obligated to put up a mezuzah. After I put up the mezuzah, I told my landlord, and he told me that he had asked a rabbi at the beginning, and the rabbi told him that there was no need to put a mezuzah there.
Now I am leaving the apartment.
A. Am I allowed to take the mezuzah and leave it without a mezuzah, because my landlord’s rabbi told him that a mezuzah is not needed there?
B. If it is forbidden to take it, is it permissible to replace the mezuzah with a simpler mezuzah, and likewise one written in Beit Yosef script instead of Ari script?
Thank you very much.
Answer
Shalom u’vrachah.
A. You are forbidden to take the mezuzah, as is the case with anyone who leaves his home, and there is also danger involved in this.
Even though according to the landlord’s view there is no need to put a mezuzah there at all, the obligation of mezuzah rests on the tenant and not on the owner of the apartment.
B. You are permitted to replace the mezuzot with other, less expensive mezuzot, or with mezuzot according to a different custom, but only while you are still living in the apartment. You are forbidden to remove the mezuzot when you leave, even if you put up other mezuzot.
