[Avodah] Why does cold trump hot

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Sep 13, 2013 at 10:04:26AM +0300, harchinam wrote:
: What I learned [sorry, no source remembered; maybe someone else could
: supply?] is something that makes much more sense. It is SEASONAL...

Quoting http://revach.net/ask/article.php?id=2190 in full:
> Halacha - window in the winter
> Submitted by anonymous
> Answered by Rav Peretz Moncharsh

> Question:
> Is there such a halacha that if someone is cold during the winter
> the window has to be kept closed?

> Answer:

> While it is not an explicit Halacha in any primary source, there is
> a strong basis for it.

> There is a case in the Gemara in Bava Basra (22b-23a): Rav Yosef
> had a neighbor who was a doctor, who used to perform bloodletting
> (a common medical procedure in those days) in his yard, which was
> adjacent to Rav Yosef's house. This practice attracted a large number
> of ravens to the yard, which caused a major disturbance to R' Yosef,
> who was particularly sensitive to the noise (or filth) produced by the
> birds. The Talmud rules that R' Yosef was justified in his demand that
> the neighbor cease the offensive practice. This ruling is recorded in
> the Shulchan Aruch (C.M. 155:39), where the Rema adds that the same
> law applies to any form of intolerable nuisance, such as annoyances
> that are ordinarily bothersome to the average normal person, or to
> a sick person (if the complainant is ill) -- the one causing the
> disturbance must cease the offensive activity or do it elsewhere.

> In our case, since most people find an open window bothersome in
> cold weather -- and a closed window in warm weather -- they do not
> have to tolerate these inconveniences when a person or a group of
> people seeks to impose it upon them. The same argument, however,
> could be advanced just as well by the other party, who sees the open
> window as a nuisance even though it is a warm day, except for the
> following consideration:

> The Chazon Ish writes that a sick or insomniac person is not
> within his rights to complain about a neighbor's crying child. The
> reasoning behind this is that anyone who moves into an apartment
> or a neighborhood does so with the understanding that he will
> have neighbors and that there are certain normal noises produced
> by neighbors, one of which is the crying of a baby. The Talmud's
> ruling does not apply to ordinary nuisances that are a normal part
> of everyday life. Thus, no complaint can be lodged against people
> who create a "nuisance" that is part of the normal routine of life,
> such as keeping a window open in the summer and closed in the winter.

> posted: 2011-12-11 16:34:32

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man is equipped with such far-reaching vision,
micha at aishdas.org        yet the smallest coin can obstruct his view.
http://www.aishdas.org                         - Rav Yisrael Salanter
Fax: (270) 514-1507