Menachot 32b — the Talmud in English

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that he wrote them

for tefillin

on dukhsustos instead of on flesh,

and the same law applies instead of hair, for the tefillin were rendered fit only on parchment and on the place of flesh! [And the reason that this change invalidates more in tefillin than in a mezuzah is that the sanctity of tefillin is more stringent. Rashba].

And if you wish, say: changing in both this and that is subject to a dispute among tannaim!

The tannaim disputed this law. And the beraita from which we inferred that if they lower something from a more stringent sanctity, they make a mezuzah from worn-out tefillin, was taught according to the one who says that changing in both this and that is valid.

For it was taught in a beraita: changing in both this and that is invalid!

Rabbi Aḥai validates it in the name of Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Ḥanina! And some say, in the name of Rabbi Yaakov son of Rabbi Ḥanina!

The Gemara further raises an objection against the beraita:

do they lower

from a more stringent sanctity

and make

a mezuzah from worn-out tefillin. And this is difficult:

but

a mezuzah

requires ruling,

for one must mark out in it with a reed grooves for the lines, in order to write the mezuzah according to them!?

For Rav Minyomi son of Ḥilkiya said in the name of Rav Ḥama son of Gurya in the name of Rav: Any mezuzah that is not ruled

is

invalid!

And Rav Minyamin son of Ḥilkiya himself said: the ruling of a mezuzah is a law given to Moses at Sinai!

But concerning tefillin we have not found that they require ruling. If so, how is it possible to make a mezuzah from worn-out tefillin, when ruling is lacking in them!? And we answered:

it is subject to a dispute among tannaim

whether a mezuzah requires ruling.

For it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Yirmeya says in the name of our teacher: tefillin and mezuzot are written without copying from a written text

for the scribe who writes them need not copy them from another book, since we do not fear that he might err in his writing.

And they do not require ruling!

Therefore, the beraita from which we inferred that if they lower something from a more stringent sanctity, they make a mezuzah from worn-out tefillin, was taught according to that tanna, who did not require ruling even for a mezuzah.

And we conclude:

And the halakha is: tefillin do not require ruling, and a mezuzah requires ruling!

And both this and that,

tefillin and mezuzot,

are written without copying from a written text!

And what is the reason that we do not require that he write them from a book? Because

they are well memorized

they are familiar in the mouth of every person, and there is no concern that they will err in writing them. Therefore, it is not necessary to copy them from another book.

Rav Ḥelbo said: I saw

I saw

Rav Huna overturn a jar onto the ground

for he overturned a jar onto the ground,

and placed upon it

upon the jar,

a Torah Scroll. And afterward

and afterward

he sat on the bed

on which the Torah Scroll had previously been lying.

He held

Rav Huna:

It is forbidden to sit upon a bed on which a Torah Scroll is lying

because of the honor of the Torah Scroll ; therefore, he placed it upon the jar.

And this disagrees

Rav Huna with

Rabba son of Rav Bar Ḥana.

For Rabba son of Rav Bar Ḥana said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: It is permitted to sit upon a bed on which a Torah Scroll is lying.

And if a person whispers to you to say

that it is forbidden to sit because we learned in tractate Soferim:

There was an incident involving Rabbi Elazar, who was sitting on a bed and remembered that a Torah Scroll was lying upon it, and he slipped away and sat upon the ground, and appeared like one whom a snake had bitten.

For because of his great distress at having sat on a bed with a Torah Scroll upon it, his distress appeared to him like the distress of one suffering from a snakebite! And it follows that it is forbidden to sit upon a bed with a Torah Scroll upon it!?

You have to answer him:

There the Torah Scroll

was not on the bed upon which he sat, but was thrown

upon the ground.

And since there was great disgrace to the Torah Scroll, he was distressed over it.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel: If he wrote it

a mezuzah ,

like a letter

without being precise about defective and plene spellings and without ruling, but like an ordinary letter,

it is invalid. What is the reason? It is derived

by a gezerah shavah

“writing”

“writing” from “book,”

for it is written concerning a mezuzah, “And you shall write them upon the doorposts,” and in a bill of divorce it is also written, “And he shall write for her a bill of severance”; and it may also be said that they derive it from the verse concerning Amalek, “Write this as a memorial in a book.”

And Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel: If he suspended it

a mezuzah

on a stick

by placing the mezuzah upon a stick next to the entrance and not affixing it to it—

it is invalid

. What is the reason? “Upon your gates” is required,

that he affix the mezuzah within the structure of the entrance itself.

It was taught likewise: If he suspended it on a stick, or placed it

by affixing it to the wall

behind the door ,

the house is no longer protected by that mezuzah, but there is in the house

danger

from harmful beings.

And there is not in it

in such an affixing of the mezuzah,

a mitzva.

For he must affix the mezuzah within the structure of the entrance and not behind the door.

The attendants

of the royal house of King Monbaz would do this in their inns,

for when they traveled on the road they carried mezuzot with them, and when they came to an inn they suspended the mezuzot upon a stick at the entrance,

as a remembrance of the mezuzah!

For since they did not have a permanent dwelling, they were exempt from a mezuzah, as is explained in the Gemara below: one who dwells in an inn in the Land of Israel is exempt from a mezuzah for the first thirty days. And since they never dwelled in a permanent dwelling, but traveled from city to city as the king’s attendants, they made for themselves a remembrance of the mitzva of mezuzah.

And Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel: It is a mitzva to place it

the mezuzah

within the hollow of the entrance

and not outside the entrance 5 .

And we inquire about it:

Is it obvious

that he should not affix it outside, since

“upon your gates,” the Merciful One said,

that is, in the place where the gate closes.