Menachos Daf 32 מנחוס דַף 32

Rebbe Chelbo says he saw Rav Huna roll his mezuzah from the word "אחד" to the word "שמע", ועושה פרשיותיה סתומות – and he would make its paragraphs closed (meaning, he ended the first פרשה, "שמע", in the beginning of the line, then left a gap, and began the second paragraph, "והיה", on the same line). This is challenged from a Baraisa in which Rebbe Shimon ben Elazar reports several of Rebbe Meir’s practices in writing a mezuzah, including that he made its parshiyos פתוחות – open (meaning, he began the second פרשה on a new line). Although they are written סתומות in a sefer Torah, Rebbe Meir explained: הואיל ואין סמוכות מן התורה – because [these פרשיות] are not adjacent to each other in the Torah. Since Rav said the halachah follows Rebbe Shimon ben Elazar’s reported ruling, it proves that the mezuzah’s פרשיות are written פתוחות!? The Gemara answers that Rav referred to another ruling of the Baraisa. Rav Yosef proves this, because the מנהג is to write the parshiyos סתומות, and Rav rules to follow the מנהג. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak says the mitzvah is to write them סתומות, but פתוחות is also valid, and Rebbe Shimon ben Elazar was reporting that Rebbe Meir would even make them פתוחות.

A Baraisa teaches that a sefer Torah or tefillin שבלו – which wore out cannot be made into a mezuzah (by removing those two פרשיות), לפי שאין מורידין מקדושה חמורה לקדושה קלה – because we may not lower a mitzvah item from a stringent kedushah to a more lenient kedushah. This implies that otherwise, the פרשיות of either would be valid for a mezuzah. The Gemara objects: והא בעיא שרטוט – but [a mezuzah] requires scoring its parchment, because Rav said a mezuzah which is not scored is invalid, and Rav Manyumi bar Chilkiyah said the שרטוט requirement for a mezuzah is a הלכה למשה מסיני!? The Gemara answers that it is a machlokes Tannaim, because Rebbe Yirmiyah said in Rabbeinu’s name: תפילין ומזוזות נכתבות שלא מן הכתב – tefillin and mezuzos may be written without copying from a text, ואין צריכות שירטוט – and they do not require scoring. The halachah is that tefillin do not require שרטוט, but a mezuzah does require שרטוט. Both may be written without copying from a text, because מיגרס גריסין – they are familiar to everyone, and a sofer will not make a mistake.

Rav Chelbo says he saw Rav Huna going to sit on a bed which had a sefer Torah on it, and he first overturned a jug and placed the sefer Torah onto it, and only then sat on the bed. He holds: אסור לישב על גבי מיטה שס"ת מונח עליה – it is forbidden to sit on a bed on which a sefer Torah is resting. This disagrees with Rabbah bar bar Channah, who quoted Rebbe Yochanan permitting sitting on a bed with a sefer Torah resting on it. He added that if someone will attempt to prove otherwise from an incident involving Rebbe Elazar, who was sitting on a bed, and he realized there was a sefer Torah resting on it, and he slid off and sat on the ground, ודומה כמי שהכישו נחש – and he appeared like a snake had bitten him, apparently from the great anguish for having sat on the bed with a sefer Torah, this is an incorrect deduction. For actually, the sefer Torah was on the ground, and that was what pained Rebbe Elazar so greatly.