Menachos Daf 32 - Why You Can't Turn Tefilin Into a Mezuzah
Summary
- The shiur on מנחות דף ל״ב opens with the laws of writing a מזוזה, including how to roll it, how to format the gap between שמע and והיה אם שמוע as *petuchot* versus *setumot*, and how much margin to leave above and below the text. The Gemara then probes why one may not make a מזוזה from תפילין, challenging whether the barrier is only *ein moridin mikdushah chamurah lekdushah kalah* or also differences in parchment type and the requirement of *sirtut*, and it concludes with practical rulings on *sirtut* and writing from memory. The daf ends with halakhot about respect for a ספר תורה when sitting near it and begins the laws of being קובע a מזוזה, including invalid placements such as hanging it on a stick or putting it behind the door.
- The shiur begins on the bottom of דף ל״א עמוד ב׳, four lines from the end, אמר רב חלבו. The shiur is sponsored by Dr. David Lander in honor of his wife and children and לעילוי נשמת his mother גולדה בת שמחה עליה השלום, נשמה שתהא לה עליה, and by the grandsons of Judith Fessel Goldsmith, יהודית בת שמשון, on the occasion of her יארצייט, her נשמה שתהא לה עליה.
- Rav Chelbo reports that he sees Rav Huna roll the מזוזה from אחד toward שמע, meaning from the end toward the beginning. Rav Chelbo reports that Rav Huna makes the פרשיות *setumot*, with Tosafot explaining in the name of Rashi that *setumah* can be made by ending the first parashah mid-line and beginning the next on that same line after a space, or by leaving space at the beginning of a line and beginning the next parashah mid-line. Tosafot and the Rambam (הלכות תפילין ספר תורה פרק ח׳ הלכה ב׳) define *petuchah* as ending mid-line and starting the next parashah at the beginning of the next line, while a Yerushalmi and מסכת סופרים call the “blank beginning of the line and start mid-line” format a *petuchah* and not a *setumah*.
- Tosafot asks why the Gemara says פרשיותיה in the plural when a מזוזה has only two פרשיות and therefore only one gap. Tosafot answers that the plural refers as well to the way the second parashah ends, written such that if there were another parashah it would emerge as *setumah*.
- A baraita states that רבי מאיר writes a מזוזה on דוכסוסטוס, shaped like a narrow long page, leaves margin above and below, and makes the פרשיות *petuchot*. רבי שמעון בן אלעזר explains in רבי מאיר’s name that since שמע and והיה אם שמוע are not סמוכות in the Torah, he leaves them *petuchot*, and Rav Chananel says in the name of Rav that the הלכה is like רבי שמעון בן אלעזר.
- The Gemara rejects that Rav’s ruling is about *petuchot* versus *setumot* and says it is about the margins above and below. Tosafot adds that one also leaves side-space for rolling, while the שיטה מקובצת argues that since the name שדי is written on the outside and was meant to be visible, leaving room to wrap might prevent visibility, and the מרדכי suggests making a small hole so שדי shows through.
- The Gemara defines the top-and-bottom margin as כמלוא אטבא דספרי, and the סמ״ג and the ראש cite the גאונים that it is חצי ציפורן; the בית יוסף (הלכות תפילין סימן ל״ב) explains the need to preserve מוקף גויל for letters that extend above like ל and below like ך and ן. Abaye argues that Rav must have meant margins and not *petuchot*, because Rav is strict about מנהג and the practice of the world is *setumot*, and the מהרי״ק adds that otherwise later Amoraim would be adopting a מנהג against Rav despite הלכה כרב באיסורין.
- The Gemara proves Rav’s devotion to מנהג from חליצה, where Rav says that even if Eliyahu comes and tries to move the ציבור away from using a סנדל, אין שומעין לו because שכבר נהגו העם בסנדל, with a נוסח difference between Rabbah and Rav Yosef leading to the distinction מנעל לכתחילה איכא בינייהו.
- Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak says that the מצוה is to make the mezuzah *setumah*, but if one makes it *petuchah* it is still valid, and he interprets רבי שמעון בן אלעזר’s *petuchot* as meaning אף פתוחות. The Gemara then tries to support this from a baraita that permits upgrading תפילין של יד to תפילין של ראש but not downgrading, and that forbids making a מזוזה from a worn ספר תורה or worn תפילין because אין מורידין מקדושה חמורה לקדושה קלה, while the Gemara challenges whether other differences should still block such a conversion.
- The shiur explains that the baraita treats תפילין as more קדוש than מזוזה, with Rashi tying relative קדושah to the “שם” on תפילין של ראש and to וראו כל עמי הארץ כי שם השם נקרא עליך ויראו ממך as אלו תפילין שבראש. Tosafot disputes Rashi’s “שם שין דלת יוד” framing and instead attributes the higher status to the שין on the תפילין של ראש as a הלכה למשה מסיני and to their visibility relative to תפילין של יד, and Tosafot raises a related doubt about entering a בית הכיסא with תפילין של יד.
- The Gemara challenges whether, if not for *ein moridin*, one could really make a mezuzah from a ספר תורה or תפילין given the formatting issue of *setumot* versus *petuchot*, and it suggests the baraita may refer to completing a missing line, not converting a whole parashah unit. The Gemara then raises the parchment issue from a baraita stating הלכה למשה מסיני תפילין על הקלף מזוזה על דוכסוסטוס, but answers that this is למצוה and that בדיעבד a mezuzah on קלף is valid, while תפילין on דוכסוסטוס is invalid. The Gemara addresses a further baraita of שינה פסול by limiting it to תפילין, then reinterpreting בין בזה בין בזה as two modes of error within תפילין, and then alternatively presenting that פסול-by-swapping parchment is a תנאי dispute, with רב אחא מכשיר משום רבי אחאי ברבי חנינא ואמרי לה משמיה דרבי יעקב ברבי חנינא.
- The Gemara raises *sirtut* as another obstacle, citing Rav Menyumi bar Chilkiyah in the name of Rav that any mezuzah without *sirtut* is פסולה and that *sirtut* of mezuzah is הלכה למשה מסיני. Tosafot suggests that one could propose an unusually *mesurtat* tefillin, while Rabbi Akiva Eiger (מהדורא קמא סימן נ) infers from the Gemara’s question that *sirtut* after writing does not help. The Gemara resolves the baraita by attributing it to a תנאי view, רבי ירמיה אמר משום רבנו, that תפילין ומזוזות can be written from memory and do not require *sirtut*, and it concludes הלכתא תפילין לא בעו סירטוט ומזוזה בעיא סירטוט ואידי ואידי נכתבו שלא מן הכתב because מיגרס גריסן.
- Rashi explains that הלכתא here means הלכה למשה מסיני, and the Ran distinguishes mezuzah as checked once in seven years versus tefillin as checked פעם ביובל, while רבינו יונתן says the thin קלף of tefillin is more prone to tearing from *sirtut*. Tosafot in גיטין reconciles the general rule not to write three פסוק-words without *sirtut* by citing Rabbeinu Tam that the minimal *sirtut* is one line above, while mezuzah requires lines for every row.
- Rav Chelbo reports that he sees Rav Huna avoid sitting on a bed with a ספר תורה by placing a jug upside down on the ground, putting the ספר תורה on it, and only then sitting. The Gemara explains that Rav Huna holds it is אסור לישב על גבי מיטה שספר תורה מונח עליה, and it notes a dispute with Rabbah bar bar Chanah citing Rabbi Yochanan that it is מותר. The Gemara answers the story of Rabbi Elazar who slipped to the ground in distress by saying that there the ספר תורה was on the ground, creating a greater ביזיון.
- Shmuel rules that if one writes a mezuzah like an *iggeret* it is פסולה, and the Gemara derives the need for careful “ספר-like” writing from a *gezeirah shavah* of כתיבה. Tosafot asks why a derivation is needed when *sirtut* is הלכה למשה מסיני and cites Rabbeinu Tam that *iggeret* refers to lack of precision in חסרות ויתרות rather than *sirtut*, while Rashi reads it as including both.
- Shmuel rules that תלאה במקל פסולה because בשעריך בעינן, and a baraita adds that hanging it on a stick or placing it behind the door is סכנה ואין בה מצוה. The baraita reports that the household of מונבז המלך would do this in their inns as a זכר למזוזה because such lodging is פטור from mezuzah as not a דירת קבע.
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