Mezuzah: Office and bomb shelter

Hi Rabbi, Baruch Hashem I just moved into my new office and would like to know if I am obliged to fix a mezuzah?

Thank you for your question.

The Mitsvah of mezuzah is a learnt from the Torah as it is written:

דברים פרק ו, ט

(ט) וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל מְזֻזוֹת בֵּיתֶךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶיךָ

Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 9:

"And you shall write them (the Parsha of Keriat shemah) on the doorpost of your house and on your gates.

The Talmud in Tractate Brachot, page 8a, and Shabbat, page 32, writes that in the merit of the mitzvah of affixing a mezuzah to one's doorpost, one merits a long life. However, if one neglects this mitzvah, then, G-d forbid, one's children die young.

So, as we see, the mitzvah of mezuzah should be taken very seriously. As you write, it's important to learn what the halacha would be in places that are not necessarily where one lives but rather an office where one works. Is there a mitzvah of mezuzah or not?

Can an Office be considered a home?

The question is, since the office is not a place where one sleeps, it may not be considered a home, and therefore one is not be obliged to affix a mezuzah.

The Shulchan aruch YD 286 seif 11 writes as follows:

שולחן ערוך יורה דעה הלכות מזוזה סימן רפו סעיף יא

סוכת החג, בחג, והבית שבספינה והחנויות שבשוקים, פטורים.

The Sukkah during Sukkot, a house on a boat , and shops in the markets are exempt (from the obligation of mezuzah).

ט"ז על שולחן ערוך יורה דעה הלכות מזוזה סימן רפו סעיף יא

דלאו דירות נינהו ונ"ל אפי' אם יושבין בהם בכל יום פטורים דכיון דאינם שם בלילה מיקרי עראי

The Taz on Shulchan Aruch, Hilchot Mezuzah siman 286, seif 11 explains the reason why the shop doesn’t need a Mezzuzah;

“Because they are not permanent residences, and even if they are used every day, they are exempt, since they are not used at night, they are considered as temporary lodges”.

We see from the Taz that if it is a place where one isn't there at night, one is exempt from affixing the mezuzah. Similarly, one could say that an office, since it is a place where one isn't there at night, should be exempt from the mitzvah of mezuzah.

Can an Office be compared to a Beis Ha’otzar?

The Taz then adds that one cannot compare a shop to a beis ha'otzar, which is a storage room that is obligated to have a mezuzah (YD Siman 286 Seif 2), since the storage room can be used day and night, whereas a shop is only used during the day.

However, the Pischei Teshuvah quotes the sefer "Yad Ha’ketanah," who asks two questions, on the Taz;

1. Even though a shop is a place where one doesn’t work at night, but since the merchandise is stored in the shop overnight, we should consider the shop as a "beis ha'otzar," a storage room which is obligated to have a mezuzah.

2. We find that the Shulchan Aruch in Seif 10 writes that there is an opinion that a beit midrash needs to have a mezuzah since people are there the entire day.

The Pischei Teshuvah concludes that the reason the Shulchan Aruch wrote that a shop is exempt from affixing a mezuzah is because it's referring to a kind of stall that one disassembles or clears out the stock every night, so it cannot be called a beis ha'otzar. Whereas a shop that one uses to keep the merchandise in overnight would be obligated to have a mezuzah.

In Practice:

Therefore, lehalacha, since there is a dispute among the poskim about whether we can consider an office as a beis ha'otzar or not, and in order to accommodate the opinion that a beis Hamidrash needs a Mezzuzah, we do affix a mezuzah on the doorpost of the office, but without reciting the bracha that we would normally say when affixing a mezuzah.

Mezuzah on the doorpost of a bomb shelter:

I do want to add that to be considered a beis ha’otzar, it must have a usage that one enters during the year to take or return things. However, if the room is like the miklat (bomb shelter) in Israel that one only enters during a “red alert” or if it’s a place where one stores the se’chach for Sukkot, that would not constitute it as a beis ha’otzar, and one is exempt from affixing a mezuzah.

Wishing you well.

Torah, Deuteronomy 6:9

Talmud, Tractate Brachot, page 8a

Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, page 32b

Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah, Hilchot Mezuzah, Siman 286, Seif 11

Taz ibid

Pischei Teshuvah ibid