Car Mezuzah

There is a relatively new religious object being sold today called a "Car Mezuzah." Very simply, it is a mezuzah that is specially designed to be placed in a car. Of course, the obligation to hang a mezuzah is only in a house. However, the question remains whether there is any sort of mitzvah fulfillment, or even protection from danger, by hanging a mezuzah in a car.

The Mishnah (Kelim 17:16) refers to a walking stick that has a compartment for a mezuzah. The Tosefos Yom Tov explains that "In the time of the Mishnah, there were people who would carry a mezuzah with them and thought that it is a mitzvah and a protection for them." About such people, the Mishnah is clear that there is an element of trickery involved in this walking stick, perhaps because such a person would trick others into believing that he was divinely protected by the mezuzah when, in fact, he was not because the mezuzah was not in a house.

On this explanation of the Tosefos Yom Tov, the Hiddushei Anshei Shem writes: "If there were such people, they were stupid." Rather, he explains, it is referring to the practice mentioned in Menahos (32b) of carrying a mezuzah on a stick to place on inn rooms which, technically, are not obligated in mezuzah because they are temporary residencies. The portable mezuzahs served as "a remembrance of the mitzvah" and nothing else.

It is hard to see how a Car Mezuzah serves as a remembrance of the mitzvah because cars are never obligated in mezuzahs. It seems much more comparable to the case of a portable mezuzah which, it seems clear, serves no purpose at all.

R. Moshe Feinstein, however, disagrees. In a responsum (Iggeros Moshe, Yoreh De'ah vol. 2 no. 141) addresses a mezuzah on a necklace. Is this degrading to the mezuzah or, to the contrary, is it a meaningful practice? For starters, he proves from the above Tosefos Yom Tov that there is certainly no prohibition in carrying a mezuzah around. Even if it is stupid as per the Hiddushei Anshei Shem, with which R. Feinstein takes issue, it is certainly not prohibited. The same would seem to apply to a Car Mezuzah. R. Feinstein is not entirely clear whether there is a divine protection for those who use such a mezuzah, but the impression I get is that he believes that there is.

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On the other hand, R. Shmuel Wosner (Responsa Shevet Ha-Levi, vol. 9 no. 221) accepts the position of the Hiddushei Anshei Shem and states that when there is no mitzvah there is no protection and, therefore, when there is not even a "remembrance of the mitzvah" there is no point in using a mezuzah at all. Thus, according to him, there is no benefit at all from a Car Mezuzah.