Article: Removing Mezuzos When Moving
Question:
I am moving from a building that has a Jewish landlord, but it hasn’t been rented out to the next tenant as of yet (so I don’t know if they will be Jewish).
Must I keep all the Mezuzos up? Or only the front door1.?
Also, if I must leave them up can I replace them with cheaper Mezuzos?
Article: Removing Mezuzos When Moving
When a person moves from a home or an apartment, the halachah is not to take down the mezuzos.
The reason:
- Most poskim explain that it is considered disrespectful to uproot a cheifetz shel kedushah (a holy item) from a home after it has already been established there.
- It is also considered a sakanah (a dangerous activity).
The reason for not removing the mezuzos is not that it deprives the next resident from keeping the mitzvah. However, if one is concerned that the next resident will treat the mezuzos with bizayon (disrespect), one should remove them.
If a person does not wish to leave their mezuzos, they have two options:
- They can switch them for inexpensive mezuzos and put up those.
- They can leave their own expensive mezuzos and ask the next resident for reimbursement.
From Halacha2Go Archives
#133
Questions & Answers:
Q. Does the fact that I will need some of them in my new house make any difference?
A. No.
Q. Is it ok if I leave up only one mezuzah?
A. No. You must leave all mezuzos up.
Q. May I take down my mezuzos if the next tenant in the apartment gives me permission?
A. No. However, when he will put up his mezuzos you can retrieve yours.
Q. I don’t know who the next tenant is, or what kind of renovations will be done. Is there a chshash of bizayon?
A. You should find out. If you are still concerned you may remove them.
Q. What’s considered a bizayon?
A. If you are concerned that if you leave the mezuza behind it would be defaced or discarded.
Q. Am I allowed to take them down to have them checked? By the time the checking will be finished, I would have returned the keys.
Are you trying to play some type of trick? Removing mezuzos from a home can be quite dangerous to the individual who does so. The rationale behind this rule is that Jews never uproot mezuzos from homes, leaving them bare without Hashem’s name. If you genuinely want to check them, you can do so, but then you would have to find a way to get them back even though you don’t have the keys anymore.
- To note that the outside door of a home is actually sometimes less likely to need a Mezuzah, or at least it might not be min haTorah – see details in article #671.
