Menachot 32b (לב:) — the Talmud in English

But

he wrote them

for tefillin

on dukhsustos במקום בשר,

and the same law applies when they are written on the hair-side, for tefillin are fit to be written only on kelaf and on the flesh-side! [The reason that this deviation invalidates tefillin more than a mezuzah is that the sanctity of tefillin is more stringent. Rashba]

And if you wish, say: Changing this in both respects is subject to a dispute between tannaim!

The tannaim disagree concerning this law. The beraita from which we inferred that, when one lowers an item from a higher level of sanctity, one may make a mezuzah from worn-out tefillin, was taught according to the one who says that changing both features does not invalidate it.

As it was taught in a beraita: Changing this in both respects invalidates it!

Rabbi Aḥai declares it fit in the name of Rabbi Yehuda, son of Rabbi Ḥanina! And some say that he stated it in the name of Rabbi Yaakov, son of Rabbi Ḥanina!

The Gemara raises another objection against the beraita:

This indicates that one lowers

from a higher level of sanctity and

makes

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

But

a mezuzah

requires ruling,

for one must draw grooves in it with a reed to serve as lines according to which the mezuzah is written!?

As Rav Minyomi bar Ḥilkiya said that Rav Ḥama bar Gurya said that Rav said: Any mezuzah that is not ruled

is

invalid!

And Rav Minyamin bar Ḥilkiya himself said that the ruling of a mezuzah is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai!

But we do not find that tefillin require ruling. If so, how could one make a mezuzah from worn-out tefillin, when they lack ruling!? And we answered:

It is subject to a dispute between tannaim

whether a mezuzah requires ruling.

As it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Yirmeya says in the name of our Master: tefillin and mezuzot may be written without copying from a text

meaning that the scribe writing them need not copy them from another book, because we are not concerned that he might err in writing them.

And they do not require ruling!

Therefore, the beraita from which we inferred that, when one lowers an item from a higher level of sanctity, one may make a mezuzah from worn-out tefillin, was taught according to that tanna, who does not require ruling even for a mezuzah.

And we conclude:

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

And both this and that,

tefillin and mezuzot,

may be written without copying from a text!

And why do we not require that they be written from a book? Because

they are well memorized

and familiar to everyone, so there is no concern that one will err in writing them. Therefore, it is unnecessary to copy them from another book.

Rav Ḥelbo said: I saw

I saw

Rav Huna place a jug upside down on the ground

he overturned a jug onto the ground,

and he placed upon it

upon the jug

a Torah scroll. And afterward

afterward,

he sat on the bed

on which the Torah scroll had previously been lying.

He held

Rav Huna:

It is forbidden to sit on a bed on which a Torah scroll is lying

out of respect for the Torah scroll. Therefore, he placed it on the jug.

And Rav Huna disagrees

with

Rabba bar bar Ḥana.

As Rabba bar bar Ḥana said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: It is permitted to sit on a bed on which a Torah scroll is lying.

And if someone should whisper to you

that it is forbidden to sit there 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 on it; he leaped off and sat on the ground, and he appeared as one who had been bitten by a snake.

He was so distressed at having sat on a bed on which a Torah scroll was lying that his suffering appeared to him like the suffering caused by a snakebite! This implies that it is forbidden to sit on a bed on which a Torah scroll is lying!?

You should answer him:

There, the Torah scroll

was not on the bed on which he had been sitting; rather, it had been cast

onto the ground.

And since this constituted great disrespect for the Torah scroll, he was distressed by it.

Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: If one wrote

a mezuzah

as an ordinary letter

without carefully observing the defective and plene spellings and without ruling, like an ordinary letter,

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

by means of a gzera shava

from the word “writing”

to the word “writing” from “a book,”

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

And Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: If one hung it

a mezuzah

on a pole

placing the mezuzah on a pole beside the entrance rather than affixing it to the entrance—

it is invalid.

What is the reason? We require it to be “upon your gates,”

meaning that he must affix the mezuzah within the frame of the entrance itself.

A beraita also teaches accordingly: If one hung it on a pole, or if he placed it

affixing it to the wall

behind the door

the house is no longer protected by that mezuzah; rather, there is

danger

from harmful spirits in the house.

And it does not contain

by affixing the mezuzah in this manner

a mitzva.

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

The members of the royal household

of King Munbaz used to do this in their inns,

for when they traveled they carried mezuzot with them, and when they arrived at an inn they hung the mezuzot on a pole at the entrance

as a remembrance of the mezuzah!

Since they did not have permanent residences, they were exempt from a mezuzah, as explained below in the Gemara: one who dwells in an inn in Eretz Yisrael is exempt from a mezuzah for the first thirty days. And since they never dwelled in a permanent residence but traveled from city to city as members of the king’s household, they made for themselves a remembrance of the mitzva of mezuzah.

And Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: It is a mitzva to place it

the mezuzah

within the hollow of the entrance

and not outside the entrance 5 .

And we inquire concerning this:

Is it obvious

that he should not affix it outside, for

“upon your gates,” said the Merciful One,

meaning at the place where the gate is closed.