62. Connecting Rooms

11:4 Let us consider the case of two connecting rooms, each of which opens to the outside, but which also have a door between them. How do we determine which side of the door between these two rooms gets the mezuzah since neither way is any more inherently an entrance than the other? In such a case, the hinges are the determining factor: the room into which the door swings is considered “in.” This is only the case if the two connecting rooms are used equally. If one room is used more regularly, it is considered the primary room and the mezuzah is placed on the right as one enters that room.

11:5 The place a mezuzah belongs is the start of the top third of a doorpost. Higher than that is acceptable so long as it is at least a tefach (handbreadth) from the lintel. (The lintel is the horizontal part at the top of the doorpost; a tefach is in the vicinity of 3.5 inches.) If the mezuzah is affixed too low, it must be removed and properly placed, reciting the blessing of “likboa mezuzah” when doing so. If the mezuzah is placed too high, it must be removed and properly affixed but without reciting the bracha. The mezuzah should be placed within the tefach closest to the outside but if this is not the case, the mezuzah is nevertheless valid.